Amidst another sad tale of a public stadium failing to fill all the grandiose promises of economic fulfillment comes perhaps the greatest epitaph you’ll ever see.
“People drive into the stadium, they tailgate and they drive out. The fastest way they can get in and the fastest way they can get out. Even our package stores haven’t seen an influx of economic benefit.” [Emphasis added.]
When you can’t even do it for the liquor stores, you know you’ve got a real lemon on your hands.
Get The Picture 
Well, that is a nice Cabela’s they have in east Hartford.
But not many alternatives up there as the Huskies are not exactly the Patriots and Storrs can make Starkville look like Las Vegas.
Perhaps ESPN can invite UConn play their home games in the studio?
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It’s UConn… WTF did they expect?
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Man, don’t get me on my soapbox about public financing of stadiums. If stadiums were great investments they wouldn’t even bother with public investment. If you surround the stadium with a Wrigleyville it MIGHT work, but most places surround it with an ocean of parking. I also don’t get this idea that we need a stadium to increase civic pride. If a town wants to improve its economic fortunes, start growing its own businesses. My Braves fandom still hasnt recovered since they blew up the team and moved to Cobb.
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at least Suntrust cost a billion less than the Benz…….how many years do you have to amortize that expense(1.4 billion) over in order to call that a reasonable investment .While I agree that public financing of pro sports ,or any sports for that matter,is questionable at best and probably just wrong….. at least I go to games in Cobb and I hadn’t been to Turner in years. Atlanta -Fulton Co just over played their hand with the Braves.
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Guess they haven’t tried that famous promotion:
4 Tickets – 4 Hot Dogs & 4 Cokes
Better gear up for more Monster Truck Rallies!
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Idiots.
I grew up one town over from East Hartford. College football just isn’t a thing. You could have put Boston College in that stadium, and the results wouldn’t have been that much better.
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That’s funny. I did too – grew up in Glastonbury. I remember when the UConn/Yale game used to be a big thing when they were both I-AA. Should have stayed that way.
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I was sentenced to 4 years of hard time working in Hartford right after college. Lived in Manchester, CT and couldn’t agree more that UConn football and East Hartford were dead in the 1980s and 90s. We used to refer to the NHL team as the Hartford Failures before they left the state.
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Small world, so did I – GHS class of 85. Lost track of all the happenings back there after my parents moved in 97, so I didn’t know about Rentschler Field until that article. I guess dropping back down to FCS would be tacit admission of failure.
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What is it with politicians and their love affair with stadiums and trains?
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Graft would be my guess.
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An easy way to steal taxpayer money & get accolades & perks for “revitalizing” a dumpy part of town.
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Politicians build things they can put their names on which, they think, means they will be remembered. They don’t get the same satisfaction from spending money on things that actually benefit people. (I know, this isn’t the Playpen.)
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Don’t forget roads and bridges..
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Mildly surprised that watching the product UConn has put on the field has not increased liquor sales.
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So move the liquor INSIDE the stadium like everyone else is starting to do. If you pour it, they will come. Problem solved.
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On that subject how’s Turner Field doing these days?
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https://atlantaintownpaper.com/2017/09/report-17-million-tax-breaks-approved-summerhill-midtown-projects/
https://atlanta.curbed.com/neighborhood/64/summerhill
Construction for Georgia State student housing and shops are underway across the street. The finished projects will include a new basketball arena and a ballpark on the site of the Atlanta Stadium.
Atlanta would have not lost the Braves if the city had demonstrated a willingness to work with the organization on many of these same initiatives. Instead, the city believed they had all the leverage in negotiating a new lease and milking the surface parking revenue.
Turns out they did not. They badly overplayed their hand.
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