Re: UConn to apply to Hockey East
So
the Hartford Courant requested and received the consulting report UConn received about the upgrade. Some details I was able to glean:
1) The consultants estimated an upgrade to 3500 was feasible on the current site (assuming no major changes or new land acquisitions), to a cost of $10.8 million. As I suspected, the best way to expand would be to build up the roof space a la Matthews. An encouraging number if accurate, but it doesn't fit with the HEA desire for at least a 4000 seat arena (the number is cited as a minimum, but it's also stated as not a deal breaker, simply requiring extra approval from the commissioner and/or the conference membership; if HEA is as interested in UConn as it seems, that could be a formality, but that remains to be seen). 3500 is not so far off from 4000, however.
2) Based on this, the XL Center seems to be very in-play as a partial home for the team in the long-term. AEG, the rink owner/operators, seem to be very interested in having the hockey team aboard, including offering dedicated space in the arena for UConn hockey (their own locker rooms and equipment room, and a dedicated lounge area). Stafford is projecting 11 home games would be at the XL Center (meaning 6-7 would be at Frietas).
3) The plan developed by Stafford to address scholarship equivalencies would be not to add any new sports, but instead add 4.6 to women's tennis to bring them up to the NCAA limit of 8, and 10.1 to women's rowing to bring them up to 18, 2 shy. It's unclear where the other 3.3 would be derived, but it's possible UConn is already that many spots overbalanced towards women's athletics in the first place. Men's hockey would be given full scholarships by 2014-15, phasing in six per year starting with next season.
4) The study notes at least two Hockey East schools declined to participate in the survey, so the figures derived were 'more modest'. It's pretty useless to speculate on who and why, but I have to imagine one of them is Boston College.
5) The overall anticipated budget would be expected to increase to just over $3 million, including the cost of 18 scholarships, renting dates at the XL Center, additional support staff and 'equity expenses' given to women's ice hockey and the other scholarship increases. They do expect a large increase in ticket revenue into the range of the 'modest expectations' from the HEA schools surveyed (2500 average attendance plus $12.50 anticipated ticket prices), but an additional 2.3 million or so would be needed to cover expenses. Of note: UConn's fundraising is equal to the HEA average, and facility revenue (which currently goes directly to the AD rather than the program specifically) is not far behind.
