At UConn, New Stadium, New Doubts

"This stadium is a major part of our Division I-A effort, and we built the stadium while relying on promises made to us by Miami and reassurances that have proved false," said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who is spearheading a lawsuit filed against Miami and the A.C.C., alleging that Miami reneged on promises that it intended to remain in the Big East for the foreseeable future. "That's the reason I remain so angry and so adamant. All the information that we continue to uncover reaffirms that Miami and the A.C.C. knew of our reliance on false assurances even as we were building the stadium and trying to build a better team."

Blumenthal does not regret the state's spending the money to build the 40,000-seat stadium. Few do in this sports-mad state, which has fallen hard for UConn men's and women's basketball.

"Certainly, these events were unexpected," he said. "But the decision to build this stadium still makes sense and is a sound one. The Big East will survive and we will hold Miami and the A.C.C. accountable for the damage they have done. There are very energetic efforts under way to make Connecticut football something special, to fill the stadium and to attract fans."

Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal is still making up the law as he uses state funds to continue his attack against the University of Miami and the A.C.C. to cover the state's own negligence.

All the schools contracting to enter the Big East Conference - including Connecticut- knew that any or all could cancel the agreement on paying a stipulated $1 MM termination fee. University of Miami did just that. (This fact is conveniently omitted from the NY Times report. No surprise here, the objective of the Times clearly is to write a pro-Connecticut story. Bias? What bias? It's just more "news" unfit to print.)

As reported, Blumenthal is continuing to use court action to intimidate and coerce Miami into staying in the Big East. Here is the chief law officer of the state of Connecticut abusing legal process to cover over the gross negligence of state officials who backed the stadium building plan, while knowing full well that none of the Big East schools were precluded by contract from leaving the conference.

The Connecticut officials' stadium plan was built on the hope that all the schools would remain in the conference. This didn't happen, and now those same officials- including the state's chief law officer- should be held accountable.

Any corporate executives guilty of such monumental negligence would be removed. So too should the Connecticut officials. Purely and simply, they've spent $91.2 MM creating a nationally ranked stadium without a nationally ranked group of colleges to compete in it.

After cutting the red ribbon opening the stadium today, the next things that should be cut are the negligent Connecticut state officials-- starting with Attorney General Blumenthal-- who created this $91.2 MM white elephant.

Well, not that this justifies the expense, but UConn opened with a 27-10 win over Indiana in its new stadium. Beating a Big 10 team, even if not one of its best, is a very big deal.

I was probably all alone on this issue, but when the ACC was looking for acquisitions, I was urging a serious look at UConn -- a proven power in basketball (men's and women's), and clearly they're committed to building a football program.

I am a UConn alum as well as a season ticket holder at Rentschler (the new stadium). As a taxpayer, I can't think of many other ways to make a good investment in our flagship public unviersity than in increasing prominence in (and revenue from) sports besides basketball.

The game was fabulous, the atmosphere was great - we have never really had tailgating or a large turnout for UConn football games in the past, I have the feeling that will be different from now on. Will we ever be a University of Michigan or Ohio State? Doubtful, but this is a pretty big deal for those of us living here.

Blumenthal took the departure of Miami and Virginia Tech personally for some reason...he jumped on it like a wounded tiger. I do think that these schools are making a mistake in the long run (UConn is not the only Big East football school to be improving rapidly), but they did have the right to do it according to their contracts.

First, congrats on UConn's big win. It got to be exciting to be a part of the rebirth of major college football in New England, which aside from intermittent success by BC, has been mostly absent since the Ivy League de-emphasized the sport. (I once went to a Yale game, by the way [boola, boola], and the size of their stadium is testamony to the fact that it was once big there, long ago.) Not that I'd know anything about good college football lately, my two almas mater being Vanderbilt and UNC. Watching the Tar Heels play Florida State was like watching a guy go bear hunting armed with a hickory switch. But I digress.

Unlike many FReepers, I'm not an absolutist when it comes to taxpayer-funded structures, be they city halls or stadiums. These are, after all, small potatoes when compared to commuter rail, which every city of a half million or more seems to crave absent any evidence of economic logic. It's a matter of scale, and without knowing much about the particulars of the stadium, its funding, its projected revenues, etc., I'll make no judgment.

With respect to the Connecticut Attorney General's hissy fit, I can only assume he's trying to score political points for his own benefit, just as the Virginia Gov tried (and I suppose succeeded) to score points by forcing Virginia Tech into the ACC, just as at least one contender in the coming GOP gubernatorial primary here in NC is trying to make the ACC consider East Carolina for its 12th team. The lawsuit will go nowhere, in my opinion, but there's plenty of grandstanding and demagoguery potential.

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