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Post by CHC8485 on Oct 29, 2020 11:11:43 GMT -5
HC-Maine in Portland at the SeaDogs stadium in late September would be a great idea. Hey - as long as we're barnstorming minor league baseball parks, I hear there's a stadium in Pawtucket that will have available dates in September going forward and they have hosted football in the past.
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Post by bfoley82 on Oct 29, 2020 11:18:08 GMT -5
HC-Maine in Portland at the SeaDogs stadium in late September would be a great idea. Why would Maine give up a home game for that?
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Post by hc87 on Oct 29, 2020 11:23:59 GMT -5
HC-Maine in Portland at the SeaDogs stadium in late September would be a great idea. Why would Maine give up a home game for that? I know Maine used to play hoop games in Portland years ago....Orono is such a freaking haul...made the trip a few times to see a brother who lived there for a time....
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Post by bfoley82 on Oct 29, 2020 13:14:29 GMT -5
I remember as a child watching the Boston Patriots play the Buffalo Bills (Jack Kemp at QB I think) at Fenway in a snowstorm. The sight lines weren't great, but as others have noted games like this were an event. I think a one-off at Polar would also be an event and a lot of fun. The Boston Patriots though that was their home stadium from 1963–68.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Oct 29, 2020 13:35:19 GMT -5
HC-Maine in Portland at the SeaDogs stadium in late September would be a great idea. Why would Maine give up a home game for that? Because the bulk of their alumni / fan base is in Portland, which is a 3+ hour drive from Orono. Kind of the poor-man's version of UMass playing a home game in Gillette. Not to mention the opponents' fan-base would be much more likely to come up for that. This would ACTUALLY be fan outreach, as opposed to Holy Cross playing a home game at a smaller, neutral-site baseball venue 1.5 miles from our campus.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Oct 29, 2020 13:39:12 GMT -5
HC-Maine in Portland at the SeaDogs stadium in late September would be a great idea. Hadlock Field seats 7,368. Seating is less than Polar Park. I cannot find a configuration chart for football at Hadlock Field. If a football game was to be played in the stadium, the seating configuration is far from ideal to watch a game. The Fordham game at Yankee Stadium was part of a series of events that weekend in NYC for the Become More Campaign. I am still not seeing the attraction to play at a venue not designed for football, particularly when part of the gridiron will be on the infield dirt. Football games, in the past, played in baseball stadiums were done out of necessity as a suitable football stadiums were not available with adequate seating. What is the rationale for playing a football game in a baseball stadium? en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadlock_Fieldwww.milb.com/portland/tickets/ticketinfoI generally agree with you on that. I was just trying to think of instances where it might actually make sense to play in such a venue. Portland is a geographic half-way point between Maine and Worcester and IMO it would behoove the University of Maine to play a football game and a couple hockey/basketball games in Portland every year to stir up interest in the biggest population center in the state.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Oct 29, 2020 13:54:01 GMT -5
HC-Maine in Portland at the SeaDogs stadium in late September would be a great idea. Hey - as long as we're barnstorming minor league baseball parks, I hear there's a stadium in Pawtucket that will have available dates in September going forward and they have hosted football in the past. How about playing a football game at Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field? It's ADA accessible so it might have incremental reach for Worcester locals who otherwise wouldn't come to a game at our historic 23,000 seat stadium. Complementary boiled hot dog for all Worcestah Bravehhaahhht season ticket holders. Parking for HC season ticket holders will be available in the football stadium, along with a bouncy castle.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Oct 29, 2020 14:07:19 GMT -5
Why would Maine give up a home game for that? I know Maine used to play hoop games in Portland years ago....Orono is such a freaking haul...made the trip a few times to see a brother who lived there for a time.... I know the second largest city in Maine is Bangor which is right next to Orono -- and the capital Augusta is maybe 90 minutes down I-95. But UMaine is definitely one of the more misplaced flagship state universities in my opinion. I would have to imagine the bulk of Maine residents looking to pursue 4-year degrees are located in and around Portland in addition to the area closer to Portsmouth, NH. Not to mention, metro-Boston and metro-Portland are logical landing spots for most alum. And Portland is a great town that is a sports vacuum. IMO, Maine football would have NDSU/Montana/Delaware-type potential if they were located here. They could legitimately generate "subway alumni" if they were based in Portland. And they could actually have a fighting chance to recruit in Men's Basketball instead of continuing to be "Fordham Lite".
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Post by sader1970 on Oct 29, 2020 14:37:50 GMT -5
UMass, Amherst is "misplaced" too if you are trying to get a place centrally located. Ever been to Storrs? A small state but no where near population centers of Hartford, Bridgeport, Stamford. An even smaller state, RI and the city-state of Providence and next largest "cities," Warwick and Cranston not near the URI campus.
OSU in Columbus is really one of the few state universities near a population center.
New York's system is de-centralized as is California.
On the other topic (boy, this thread is running far afield), I went to the Yankee Stadium game and, for my money, I would have just as soon they played on the Fordham campus - though HC got screwed out of a home game as that game was initially to be played at Fitton. I don't need "an event" when I want to go see a football game. That includes Polar, McCoy or anywhere else. Just play at Fitton and, maybe at night for an occasional change.
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Post by hc87 on Oct 29, 2020 14:55:48 GMT -5
Not an expert on the matter but I think most flag-ship universities (on the East Coast anyway) were purposely put in regions not highly populated. Speculating but possible reasons being: to keep the school's populace away from the teeming masses, drive up the population/economy of the school's home etc.
Be curious if anyone here is more knowledgeable on this subject.
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Post by sader1970 on Oct 29, 2020 15:23:36 GMT -5
sader1998 helped write a book about the history of UConn and did a lot of research. (" Red Brick in the Land of Steady Habits: Creating the University of Connecticut 1881-2006"). I'm too lazy to dig out his book for a definitive answer but my recollection was that the Storrs site was chosen because some rich Nutmegger donated the land. Free is always a great price. Almost as good as $1 for a Quonset hut fieldhouse.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Oct 29, 2020 15:28:49 GMT -5
Not an expert on the matter but I think most flag-ship universities (on the East Coast anyway) were purposely put in regions not highly populated. Speculating but possible reasons being: to keep the school's populace away from the teeming masses, drive up the population/economy of the school's home etc. Be curious if anyone here is more knowledgeable on this subject. True not to mention a lot were "land grant" universities which is why they sprang up in middle of nowhere. Fortunately, it works out that a lot of schools are centrally located despite being in small towns. Penn State -- State College might be the geographic center of the state, maybe slightly to the East. In between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Rutgers - hard to go wrong in a state as compact as NJ but Piscataway easy trip from both NYC and Philly burbs. Maryland - College Park right outside DC Virginia - UVA is pretty reasonable both from Richmond and Northern Virginia (they have a LOT of students from northern VA). Va Tech is in Blacksburg which is a hike from those population centers. North Carolina - NC State in Raleigh, UNC in Chapel Hill. Vermont - UVM in the only real "city" in the state UNH - Durham basically a Boston suburb. Ohio State - Columbus is the state capital and also pretty equidistant from Cincy and Cleveland areas. Dayton, OH also close. Michigan - UM and MSU both essentially Detroit suburbs. Cornell was the original "land grant" school in NY. Now 70% private 30% SUNY.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Oct 29, 2020 15:31:29 GMT -5
UMass, Amherst is "misplaced" too if you are trying to get a place centrally located. Ever been to Storrs? A small state but no where near population centers of Hartford, Bridgeport, Stamford. An even smaller state, RI and the city-state of Providence and next largest "cities," Warwick and Cranston not near the URI campus. OSU in Columbus is really one of the few state universities near a population center. New York's system is de-centralized as is California. On the other topic (boy, this thread is running far afield), I went to the Yankee Stadium game and, for my money, I would have just as soon they played on the Fordham campus - though HC got screwed out of a home game as that game was initially to be played at Fitton. I don't need "an event" when I want to go see a football game. That includes Polar, McCoy or anywhere else. Just play at Fitton and, maybe at night for an occasional change. Amherst is definitely "misplaced" by my definition. Worcester County probably would've made the most sense. We don't need the local competition though. You could get to UCONN or URI in 60-90 minutes from any corner of those states. You could say same of University of Delaware.
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Post by longsuffering on Oct 29, 2020 16:35:10 GMT -5
UMass, Amherst is "misplaced" too if you are trying to get a place centrally located. Ever been to Storrs? A small state but no where near population centers of Hartford, Bridgeport, Stamford. An even smaller state, RI and the city-state of Providence and next largest "cities," Warwick and Cranston not near the URI campus. OSU in Columbus is really one of the few state universities near a population center. New York's system is de-centralized as is California. On the other topic (boy, this thread is running far afield), I went to the Yankee Stadium game and, for my money, I would have just as soon they played on the Fordham campus - though HC got screwed out of a home game as that game was initially to be played at Fitton. I don't need "an event" when I want to go see a football game. That includes Polar, McCoy or anywhere else. Just play at Fitton and, maybe at night for an occasional change. No place in RI is far away...except URI. It is an attractive campus, however.
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Post by longsuffering on Oct 29, 2020 16:45:59 GMT -5
Not an expert on the matter but I think most flag-ship universities (on the East Coast anyway) were purposely put in regions not highly populated. Speculating but possible reasons being: to keep the school's populace away from the teeming masses, drive up the population/economy of the school's home etc. Be curious if anyone here is more knowledgeable on this subject. The barns and fields that show the agricultural roots of UConn are visible the way I approach the campus. UMass also began as an agricultural college. The Stockbridge School of Agriculture still remains. A good place to go for a two year degree in turf management, or whatever they call it today, and get hired right away by a golf course or other institution. I wouldn't be surprised if HC has had Stockbridge grads as some of the staff responsible for the award winning grounds.
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Post by bringbackcaro on Oct 29, 2020 21:44:04 GMT -5
We have a perfectly good football stadium and I see no need to play home games elsewhere. I do see the appeal of playing in an historic venue (Yankee Stadium) or for novelty (Fenway—and historic to boot) but I don’t see the appeal of playing in a minor league baseball field. Wouldn’t we want to draw more than Polar’s capacity as others have suggested? Let’s start a list of things Polar Park has that Fitton does not: 1) Lights - Becomes more of an event, not competing with the long list of activities families have going on Saturday mornings/early afternoons 2) Beer - Draw a crowd looking for a fun night out (then convert them into tailgates at HC) Attendance at Fitton games has steadily declined over the last 10+ years, and the average age of those still going to games is only going up. HC should be doing everything it can to market itself to new potential fans/customers in the Worcester community, and a 1-off event like this with a chance to market to the local community as a unique, sold out event (versus a 1:00 kick against Brown or Dartmouth in a 3/4 empty stadium that wouldn’t even register with the vast majority in the Worcester community unless an errant field goal went through their windshield on 290) should be a no-brainer.
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Post by HC92 on Oct 29, 2020 22:09:27 GMT -5
Just a friendly reminder that we are not actually scheduled to play a game at Polar Park. We could really use some real games to talk about.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Oct 30, 2020 5:46:00 GMT -5
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Post by sader1970 on Oct 30, 2020 7:06:58 GMT -5
Thanks to that background in agriculture, the UConn Dairy Bar has the best ice cream in the state per popular surveys and my personal experience.
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Post by rgs318 on Oct 30, 2020 7:19:17 GMT -5
That is good to know!
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Post by trimster on Oct 30, 2020 10:48:44 GMT -5
Thanks to that background in agriculture, the UConn Dairy Bar has the best ice cream in the state per popular surveys and my personal experience. I like your hat.
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Post by longsuffering on Oct 30, 2020 21:29:14 GMT -5
Thanks to that background in agriculture, the UConn Dairy Bar has the best ice cream in the state per popular surveys and my personal experience. I've seen that sign. Thanks for the recommendation. Spring and a vaccine is coming.
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Post by longsuffering on Oct 30, 2020 21:37:20 GMT -5
We have a perfectly good football stadium and I see no need to play home games elsewhere. I do see the appeal of playing in an historic venue (Yankee Stadium) or for novelty (Fenway—and historic to boot) but I don’t see the appeal of playing in a minor league baseball field. Wouldn’t we want to draw more than Polar’s capacity as others have suggested? Let’s start a list of things Polar Park has that Fitton does not: 1) Lights - Becomes more of an event, not competing with the long list of activities families have going on Saturday mornings/early afternoons 2) Beer - Draw a crowd looking for a fun night out (then convert them into tailgates at HC) Attendance at Fitton games has steadily declined over the last 10+ years, and the average age of those still going to games is only going up. HC should be doing everything it can to market itself to new potential fans/customers in the Worcester community, and a 1-off event like this with a chance to market to the local community as a unique, sold out event (versus a 1:00 kick against Brown or Dartmouth in a 3/4 empty stadium that wouldn’t even register with the vast majority in the Worcester community unless an errant field goal went through their windshield on 290) should be a no-brainer. Thanks for starting the list of things that Polar Park has that Fitton does not BBC. I'll add one. 1) Lights 2) Beer 3) $100 million in debt A good argument to counter the smaller capacity at Polar than at Fitton is that if HC schedules a game there relatively early after the Park's opening it likely would be a sell out and a hot ticket to get which adds excitement. If social distancing is still needed however, Fitton has an advantage.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Oct 30, 2020 21:46:36 GMT -5
Beer is nice -- I bet the soda selection is also more extensive at Polar Park.
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Post by Tom on Oct 31, 2020 8:16:35 GMT -5
Beer is nice -- I bet the soda selection is also more extensive at Polar Park. One of the few stadiums where you won't be able to get a Coke
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