UConn Games List - Gampel (Storrs) or XL (Hartford)...

[billyjack]

Quick compilation of seeing where UConn played their 9 annual home games in their last 3 years in the Big East-- 2011, 2012 and 2013, to see if there's a pattern of some kind... includes day of the week that the game was played.

There's not really any obvious pattern or trends... both weeknights and weekdays were played in either place. Quality of opponents didn't really seem to determine the location-- Rutgers played twice at XL, Pitt played at Gampel, most teams divided venues.

2013 Non Conf:
XL in Hartford (5 games):
Vermont.
New Hampshire.
Maryland Eastern Shore.
Fordham.
Washington Huskies.
all other OOC at Gampel, including Michigan State.

2013 BE:
XL in Hartford (4 games):
Louisville (Mon).
Cincinnati (Thurs).
Syracuse (Wed).
Rutgers (Sun).
Gampel (5 games):
Georgetown (Wed).
Providence (Sat).
Villanova (Sat).
DePaul (Tues).
South Florida (Sun).


2012 Non Conf:
XL in Hartford (5 games):
Maine.
Coppin State.
Arkansas.
Holy Cross.
Fairfield
all other OOC at Gampel.

2012 BE:
XL in Hartford (5 games):
Marquette (Sat).
Seton Hall (Sat).
St John's (Sat).
West Virginia (Mon).
Notre Dame (Sun).
Gampel (4 games):
DePaul (Wed).
Cincinnati (Wed).
Syracuse (Sat).
Pitt (Sat).


2011 Non Conf:
XL in Hartford (5 games):
Vermont.
Maryland Eastern Shore.
Coppin State.
Harvard.
Tennessee.
all other OOC at Gampel.

2011 BE:
XL in Hartford (5 games):
Marquette (Thurs).
Georgetown (Wed).
South Florida (Fri).
Syracuse (Wed).
Rutgers (Tues).
Gampel (4 games):
Providence (Sun).
Villanova (Mon).
Louisville (Sat).
Notre Dame (Sat).
.

So, 27 BE home games over 3 years.
XL in Hartford had 14 games.
Gampel in Storrs had 13 games.

Current seven BE teams had 12 games at UConn.
5 were at XL in Hartford.
7 were at Gampel in Storrs.

Former eight BE teams had 15 games at UConn.
9 were at XL in Hartford.
6 were at Gampel in Storrs.

[billyjack]

Funny, i just put itvon NESN, and they're showing a Bruins vs Whalers playoff game from April 1990, from Hartford. Whalers goalie is Peter (?) Sidorkiewicz.

[Husky_U]

Ya, they generally mix games randomly so both sites have good and bad games. One thing I wish they would do is move all XMas break games to the XL. Gampel is pretty dead without students on campus.

[Husky_U]

Funny, i just put itvon NESN, and they're showing a Bruins vs Whalers playoff game from April 1990, from Hartford. Whalers goalie is Peter (?) Sidorkiewicz.

My first ever sporting event was a 1992 Whalers game. And I still have a bunch of Whalers gear. Still my favorite logo in all of sports.

[billyjack]

Funny, i just put itvon NESN, and they're showing a Bruins vs Whalers playoff game from April 1990, from Hartford. Whalers goalie is Peter (?) Sidorkiewicz.

My first ever sporting event was a 1992 Whalers game. And I still have a bunch of Whalers gear. Still my favorite logo in all of sports.

It took me a long time to notice the H in the negative space of the W.

Kinda like how for a long time i had never noticed the M in the Expos' logo... kept seeing just like an E, L and B... but the M is the overall shape.

The Brewers baseball glove logo i immediately saw the M and B for Milw Brewers.

[Hall2012]

It took me a long time to notice the H in the negative space of the W.

Kinda like how for a long time i had never noticed the M in the Expos' logo... kept seeing just like an E, L and B... but the M is the overall shape.

The Brewers baseball glove logo i immediately saw the M and B for Milw Brewers.

Wow! Total opposite for me on the Expos' logo. I've always seen the M, but this post just made me google it to look for the E L? B...what would an L stand for? E B makes sense for expos baseball.

[Friarsfan94]

It took me a long time to notice the H in the negative space of the W.

Kinda like how for a long time i had never noticed the M in the Expos' logo... kept seeing just like an E, L and B... but the M is the overall shape.

The Brewers baseball glove logo i immediately saw the M and B for Milw Brewers.

Wow! Total opposite for me on the Expos' logo. I've always seen the M, but this post just made me google it to look for the E L? B...what would an L stand for? E B makes sense for expos baseball.

There is no L. It does look that way, but the Expos themselves gave a definitive explanation in the late 80’s/early 90’s. The overall M stands for Montreal. The E stands for Expos and the B for baseball.

Now, to throw another curveball into this, I am with you guys that there’s definitely an L there, but I never saw the B. I always thought it said “ello” lol.

[billyjack]

It took me a long time to notice the H in the negative space of the W.

Kinda like how for a long time i had never noticed the M in the Expos' logo... kept seeing just like an E, L and B... but the M is the overall shape.

The Brewers baseball glove logo i immediately saw the M and B for Milw Brewers.

Wow! Total opposite for me on the Expos' logo. I've always seen the M, but this post just made me google it to look for the E L? B...what would an L stand for? E B makes sense for expos baseball.

Right, an L would make no sense... "Expos League Baseball" makes zero sense... "pitcher" in French is "lanceur" but why would that be on the logo?

I bought a early style Expos cap with the white front and red middle. Anytime i wear it i usually get comments from a couple of strangers with them naming their favorite Expo.

The rest of my post below is only half serious:

Sorry to any Pirates, Phillies or Dodgers fans (especially cuz they each won the World Series those years), but i always thought those teams got in the way of those exciting upstart homegrown Expos teams in 79 and 80 and 81.

Pittsburgh had their dynasty from 1970 to 1975. Philly had their cool upstart years from 1976 to 1978. LA had the 1974 thru 1978 versions. Except for 1971, none of those PIT-PHIL-LA teams could win a World Series. And now the 79 and 80 and 81 versions were the same re-treads, now with boring players-for-hire thrown in...

Like, c'mon, in 80 no one outside of Philadelphia wanted to still have to look at fuckin Ron Reed and Larry Bowa running around again, but now with painfully boring Dick Ruthven and Bob fuckin Walk?

Or Pittsburgh, ok another post season of Rennie Stennett and Jim fuckin Rooker, but now win guns for hire like Jim Bibby and Phil Garner... freakin Ed Ott...? Yeesh, again?

Or Bill Russell and Burt Hooton? Really? We gotta do this again with these guys? Rick Monday?

I wanted to see Dawson, Carter, Cromartie, Rogers, Valentine, Parrish, all homegrown talent on Montreal...

end of rant

[LMS]

For the unfamiliar, why does UConn play games at two different arenas in two different cities? Do fans buy season tickets separately or how does that work?

[billyjack]

For the unfamiliar, why does UConn play games at two different arenas in two different cities? Do fans buy season tickets separately or how does that work?

UConn used to play all games at their tiny on-campus fieldhouse thru like 1978.

By around 1979, the program was doing well enough (borderline Top 20 team) where they played most games at the XL Center (back then known as the Hartford Civic Center).

When the Big East started for the 1980 season, UConn was already settled into the Hartford CC.

By around 82 or 83, Gavitt had all Big East teams move into (or have the option to play in) pro-size city arenas.

Gampel was built on-campus with around a 9k capacity, in time for the 1990 season, where UConn made their first Elite-8. This followed other schools building 8k to 10k on-campus arenas-- Villanova's Pavilion (1987 maybe?) and Boston College's Conte Forum (1988?). I guess with the big bucks the 9 of us were making, there was a push to build on campus venues to save money and to give students an easier way to attend games.

Since Gampel was completed, UConn has kind of split games between the two arenas. Of the 9 teams back then, the ride from Storrs to Hartford has always been the biggest pain in the ass (Georgetown to Landover was a pain too from what i heard), cuz you have to drive on 2 lane roads to go back and forth, and say Route 44 goes thru these sleepy New England towns from 1780 with a tiny common, white church, a 4 way stop sign, and crickets... game nights cars could fly thru at like 65 mph... i might be exaggerating a smidge, but that's the general idea.

Anyway, that's a little of the background of UConn hoops venues.

Maybe a UConn fan can fill in the blanks a little more.