East Hartford’s Rentschler Field needs $63 million upgrade, new study says. ‘it’s like walking into a time capsule’
A top-to-bottom study of East Hartford’s Rentschler Field — home to the University of Connecticut’s football team — recommends $63 million in improvements to ensure the venue keeps up with evolving Division I standards.
The cost of the renovations to the state-owned, 38,000-seat stadium, which turns 20 next year, could be spread out over five years. The investment would carry the stadium through the next 10-15 years.
The renovations would cover new roofs and the replacement of aging elevators and a broad spectrum of building systems; dealing with major water leaks; and upgrading technology, especially for game broadcasts, that has been outdated for years.
The report was presented Wednesday to a committee of the Capital Region Development Authority, the quasi-public agency that oversees the stadium’s operations. The full board of directors will review it Thursday.
Jim Swords, a principal in the Boston office of Atlanta-based Populous, the high-profile sports stadium consultant that conducted the study, said the maintenance has been kept up as much as it was possible.
“The thing you see, it’s almost like walking into a time capsule of a 20-year-old stadium,” Swords said, before Wednesday’s CRDA committee meeting. “Nothing has been really upgraded or changed really very much. The finishes are dated, you go up into the club and suites, and they look exactly like they did 20 years ago.”
What is recommended goes well beyond routine, yearly maintenance and would require the big-ticket investment to bring the stadium well into the 21st century, Swords said.
State-taxpayer financing of the improvements would come at a difficult crossroads for the stadium, opened in 2003 at a cost of $92 million to showcase a rising UConn football program.
UConn football has struggled in the past decade, however, without a winning season since 2011. Attendance, which has declined dramatically in recent years, has cut heavily into concession sales necessary to fund the stadium’s operations. Some of that has been made up with professional soccer, lacrosse and other events booked at the stadium.
UConn’s lease at the stadium expires in 2023, but the university’s athletic department has said the football team will continue to play its home games in East Hartford. A new lease would have to be negotiated. Other management contracts also are expiring next year.
UConn couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
This fall, the football program has the new leadership of coach Jim Mora, and attendance at the first two games at Rentschler — as measured by tickets presented at the turnstiles — exceeded 10,000 for each game. Attendance hasn’t reached those levels since 2019, according to statistics from CRDA.
Turnstile attendance was 15,657 for last weekend’s match-up against Syracuse, the highest single-game attendance since 2018. Football was not played at Rentschler during the pandemic in the 2020-2021 season.
UConn lost to Syracuse in a rout, 48-14.
Technology major deficiency
The $63 million expenditure on the stadium would have to pass muster with the governor, state lawmakers and taxpayers — with financing provided by borrowing through the sale of state bonds or another avenue.
“You could spend two, three times that, realistically, put a dome on it,” Michael W. Freimuth, CRDA’s executive director, said. “But that is not what we’re saying. We are saying there are things that just need to be dealt with.”
Some of the building mechanical systems are so old that replacement parts for repairs are no longer manufactured.
The 150-page report resulting from the study lists technology as a major deficiency. Television broadcast operations must arrive a couple of days before a game to set up fiber optic systems, stringing cables rather than just plugging into the building. Fans now demand greater wi-fi and wireless access and more video and television monitors.
“The presence of outdated technology impedes not only game day operations, but the state’s ability to operate the stadium in a safe and responsible manner,” according to an executive summary of the report.
The video surveillance system has been updated in an “ad hoc” fashion over the years, but 18 of 35 cameras in the stadium aren’t working properly. Parking lot cameras don’t have video recording, the summary said.
Freimuth said the stadium takes a particular beating because most of it is exposed to the weather year-round. Freimuth said the state has invested just $7.8 million into the stadium since it opened, all after 2012.
Freimuth said he hopes to have the first two of five years of financing — $12 million each year — included in the next governor’s two-year capital improvement budget proposal. If successful, the priority for the improvements would need to be determined, Freimuth said.
Now was a logical time to pursue the study, which cost $330,000, because of the age of the building, coupled with the expiration of the lease and other management agreements, Freimuth said.
“So, all these things are kind of queuing up,” Freimuth said.
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.
