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Could The Hartford Whalers Resurface With “Arena-vation”?

By Chris Gay

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 Recent arena developments could clear a path for the return of the Hartford Whalers 

A Capital Region Development Authority (CDRA) report (commissioned from NHL-approved architectural consultant firm SCI) to present options for the 40-year old XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut was publicized last Thursday. And it yielded good news. Its findings indicate a feasible way for the state of Connecticut to clear its biggest obstacle in any potential effort at bringing back the Hartford Whalers.

The existing XL Center located downtown was formerly known as the Hartford Civic Center, inside which is housed the Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum. It’s where the WHA New England Whalers and NHL Hartford Whalers once played.

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The XL/Civic Center was built in 1975 and seated around 10,000. Its construction allowed the New England Whalers to move from Boston, MA to Hartford, CT. In 1978, a major snowstorm collapsed the arena’s roof. It was rebuilt while the Whalers played their games 30 minutes north in Springfield, MA. The restoration added an additional 5,000 seats.

At issue since 1980 however is that the concourse/concessions/rest room facilities, etc. originally built to accommodate 10,000 fans, now had to serve over 15,000.

Another significant issue now is that the 35/40 year-old venue is very much outdated by comparison to its contemporaries. Its amenities and luxury suites/sky boxes are a far cry from anything you’d see anywhere around the NHL, with the exception of the even-older Nassau Coliseum. And this is the New York Islanders last year in that ancient edifice before they move to Brooklyn.

While Hartford was-and remains-an excellent location for the NHL, quite frankly its arena has been an albatross. And if left as is will grow continually more so as the two major casinos 40 minutes south, and an MGM Grand soon to go up in Springfield, snag more and more of the entertainment and musical acts that Hartford used to get.

A new arena is not just necessary for a potential NHL return, it’s essential to halting Hartford’s slow slide into obscurity.

Without a downtown arena, UConn basketball would be playing all of its games in the much smaller on-campus Gampel Pavilion in Storrs; an otherwise nondescript farm town several miles from much of anything, and the better part of an hour away from Hartford.

A new arena would also revitalize a city that is dire need of revitalization. In addition to UConn and the NHL, it could easily mean hosting events such as major tournament games and the NCAA Frozen Four.

Hartford is a beautiful, richly historic New England city, but aside from a few great museums, Hartford Stage and the Mark Twain House, (apart those employed there) there are few reasons for people to visit with regularity.

Hosting major events would be hugely beneficial to its commerce, as common sense dictates that businesses and eateries open where thousands of people consistently congregate.

Hartford has had more than its share of tribulations. And each one, including being used in part by the New England Patriots and now-Carolina Hurricanes, only hastened to grow its inferiority complex while slowing and tamping its plans for progress.

But now there’s a chance to rectify that, and a chance is really all you can ask for. And the timing for it could not be more perfect.

For years, Hartford has been saddled with the AHL affiliate of the New York Rangers. Most of the Hartford hockey fan base does not like the Rangers, either dating back to their NHL rivalry, or because of how poorly the Rangers  have treated the Hartford market. (Knowing this they’ve still steadfastly remained for nearly two decades; refusing to leave for other cities which would much rather host them)

As a result, the AHL Hartford Wolf Pack is hardly supported at all, because few hockey fans, rather sensibly, would pay good money to support a team they don’t like.

Unfortunately, outsiders looking in take the Wolf Pack’s pitiful attendance to mean that the market itself doesn’t support hockey. Nothing could be further from the truth.

This is why the timing of UConn hockey’s entrance into Hockey East could not, as mentioned above, have been more perfect.

In terms of fanfare and coverage UConn hockey has been a very distant cousin to UConn basketball for quite some time. This year though, they joined Hockey East. And even with traditional hockey powerhouses like Boston College and Boston University, while the Wolf Pack has floundered about with fan support, UConn’s been at or near the top in attendance all season while playing in the same building. That’s a pretty solid accomplishment.

And while there certainly have been long-time UConn fans at the games this year, you can be very sure that a good portion of those in attendance are Whalers and Connecticut hockey fans who have been waiting 18 long years to be able to actually cheer on a home team, instead of against one, in their own city.

Rooting on their home squad is a luxury most fans elsewhere can take for granted; as they should. It seems that only in Hartford would such a scenario even exist, let alone for nearly 20 years.

This finally gave Hartford and Connecticut recognition for being the fantastic hockey city and state that they are. And it happened in a year in which we might finally, at long last, see some legitimate movement on the arena issue beyond the $35 million band aid that was affixed to the venue this summer to keep it going.

The neutral report also indicated that there was plenty enough of both legitimate fan and corporate support to make a new, or significantly refurbished, arena viable. This should finally quiet the very small, but amazingly resilient, group of naysayers who always appear to relentlessly try and shout down anything that might be a positive for Hartford or its future growth. It should, but it’s doubtful.

However this time, there may be too much that is beneficial for even their voices to quash.

Later this year, Hartford is building a nearly $60 million dollar AA baseball stadium downtown. Just across the Connecticut River in East Hartford sits Rentschler Field, home of UConn’s football team. It’s now time to complete the trifecta and construct the arena that would guarantee there would be events going on in Hartford through every season, all year ‘round.

Now to get down to brass tacks. Whatever choice Hartford makes, the arena will remain right where it is now. There’ll be no alternate downtown or suburban sites discussed.

The report essentially provided three viable options to Connecticut. (The monetary figures are approximate) Summarized and paraphrased, they are:

1) $500 million: Completely tear down the current structure and build a brand new arena in its sizable footprint.

2) $300 million: A significant retrofit/upgrade such as what was done recently at Madison Square Garden. An “arena-vation”, if you will.

3) Tear down the current structure and do nothing.

That last option doesn’t seem too palatable. Neither does continuing to add multi-million dollar band aids to the venue until it eventually comes to the end of the line.

Knowing Hartford like many of us here do, the 2nd option is the one that immediately jumped off the page (or screen) at us as the one it’d likely choose.

I spoke with Pete Hindle who writes on hockey in Hartford for the Examiner and co-hosts the local television show The Whaler Guys. He attended the SCI meeting in Hartford, and I asked him about it. (You can read Hindle’s own article on the subject by clicking here)

“There are three options, and option two was so fitting that I feel like they were set up so that even a drunk could decide to pick the one in the middle,” Hindle responded.

It sure seems that way. He was also impressed by the corporate showing Thursday:

“When sitting in the room it was brought to our attention that a handful of top executives from corporate Hartford were observing the detail of the options presented.” Hindle then continued, “and I thought it was very impressive that the Hartford corporate community would take the time to attend. I think that shows that Hartford has the corporate support to sustain an NHL franchise.”

What’s been clear to many for a while should now be completely clear to the state, city, hockey fans and citizenry: the XL/Civic Center has unquestionably outlived its usefulness. And NHL or no NHL, there’s no way the state is going to leave UConn basketball out in the cold.

There’s also no way it’s going to pay $500 million for a new arena when it can get a very similar, refurbished one for $200 million less.

But that choice is probably the smartest, anyway. While a brand new arena would be fantastic, according to the report that would mean there’d be no place on the current site for any team to play for at least three years.

The refurbished arena, however, would allow for both hockey and basketball to be played all throughout the time the arena-vation is going on.

Best of all, either option would be acceptable to the NHL.

As much as many of us truly love Hartford, it has had a tendency to either drag its feet on progress or make puzzling decisions on the progress it does choose to go forward with.

The state and city should really look upon this SCI report as a huge Christmas gift. It tells them everything they need to know about the incredible benefits this project, if green-lit, would provide for greater Hartford.

If an arena-vation deal is signed, it immediately makes Hartford much more of an attractive NHL destination.

The positives include:

-Geography. The Bruins and Rangers were rivals that ensured nearly every game of theirs in Hartford was a sellout or close. The rivalries would be even bigger next time, especially with the Rangers. Montreal was also a big draw. In general, the Whalers, Rangers, Bruins and Islanders would save big money on travel costs with a team in Hartford as opposed to elsewhere.

-Hockey interest. Connecticut is a huge hockey state, and the Whalers fan base was great and supportive. In their 18 NHL years the Whalers had three winning seasons, won one playoffs series and suffered through some of the worst trades and ownership issues in NHL history. Yet still, with as consistently awful a product as they were provided, they outdrew the Bruins for five of those 18 years. They also achieved every season ticket goal that Peter Karmanos required of them to stay, and then he moved the team anyway. Connecticut has two top-notch collegiate hockey programs (Yale and Quinnipiac) and one on the rise in Hockey East. (UConn) It has also produced several NHL stars and captains. Not too shabby for a state you can drive completely across in around two hours.

-High profile alumni. There are numerous former Hartford Whalers teammates currently employed in high-level NHL positions. Just to name a few of many who might want to come home one day and finish what they started on the ice here, are Chicago Black Hawks head coach Joel Quenneville, (picture above) his assistant Kevin Dineen, Hurricanes GM Ron Francis and Arizona Coyotes coach Dave Tippett.

There has also been a significant amount of support for Hartford across North America. Former Whalers general manager Emile Francis once called Hartford “the Green Bay of hockey”.

And no, it’s certainly not secluded like the Packers are. But there plenty of hockey fans outside Connecticut cheering on the Whalers secondarily, after whatever their own favorite team is.

Francis was right. Hartford Whalers gear has been a top seller for the NHL for some years now. You can hardly turn on a televised hockey game in any arena without seeing someone sporting a Whalers shirt or cap.

It’s also a different era in hockey than it was in 1997. The salary cap that didn’t exist then now allows smaller markets to compete.

For more of Pete Hindle’s perspective, and after him having had a few days to consider what he’d seen and heard at the SCI meeting, I asked him for his own opinion on the future of the NHL in Hartford in light of the newly announced arena report.

“My thoughts are that so many have told Hartford “never, ever”, and it turns out in reality that you never say “never.” Hartford has a shot, and it looks like a good one,” Hindle said.

There’s no way that Hartford would get an expansion team, it would have to be a relocation. But there is more than one team out there consistently playing in front of thousands of empty seats.

Howard Baldwin, the Whalers initial owner, has said in the recent past (and I’m paraphrasing) that in 1979 Hartford was the solution to a problem, and that they might be a solution to a problem again in the future. And he’s right.

We have the fan base, the corporate support and a love for Hartford and the game of hockey. What we don’t have is the team or the arena. However that last problem can now be rectified with a little foresight and optimism.

And while there’s no guarantee that Hartford would see the NHL again with a new arena, it is very much guaranteed that it will not be seeing it without one. The ball is now in Hartford’s court.

It’s time, at long last, to finally shake off that inferiority complex along with the perpetual naysayers.

It’s time to believe in ourselves.

It’s time to bring home the Hartford Whalers.

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