http://www.courant.com/sports/other/hc-d...190.column

Growth Spurt For Rutgers Football
Desmond Conner | NBA, College Football, College Basketball
July 17, 2008
PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Drills, saws and scissor lifts. Oh, my.

You wouldn't want to hear all that around your house at 6 a.m. every day, but it's music to the ears of Rutgers athletic director Bob Mulcahy, who guided 40 media members wearing hard hats through what amounted to a mess at Rutgers Stadium Wednesday afternoon.

But come Sept. 1, the season opener on Labor Day at 4 p.m. on ESPN against Fresno State, a club level section that will seat about 1,000 will be in place.

And in 2009, nearly another 12,000 seats will be added to the South end zone, bringing the capacity to about 56,000.

Is that big enough for you now, Notre Dame?

Ah, you know we were going there, but we'll get back to that.

Rutgers' expansion is in response to the growing popularity of the program.

"We have just about 12,000 people that have put down deposits for additional seats," Mulcahy said. "And we're simply moving now to meet that demand. You make the jump when you have the opportunity. That's the business decision you make."

With that in mind, should UConn have expanded Rentschler Field after the Huskies won the Motor City Bowl in 2004? Or, how about after claiming a share of the Big East championship last season?

Certainly it would have been a leap of faith, but had the decision been made, we might have seen a Notre Dame-UConn game in Connecticut rather than in Foxborough, Mass., or New Jersey, where the Huskies are on the hook to play Notre Dame in "home" games in 2013, 2015, and 2017.

When Rentschler Field — which holds about 40,000 — was built, it was done with the possibility of expansion. A minimum of 10,000 seats could be added to the UConn side.

Jeff Beckham, of the state Office of Policy and Management, said there's been no talk of expansion.

"It's not something that would be difficult to do but money, the cost of doing it, might be an issue; times are tough," Beckham said. "No one has come to us with that request."

UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway said through a spokesman that until season tickets are sold out for years and there's a waiting list, expanding Rentschler Field is a dead issue.

It's not fair to fans to have to go to another state to watch the football team they support, but that's what UConn agreed to in order to play Notre Dame.

Nobody wants to hear anybody knocking on their door for money right now. If New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine didn't realize that before, he does now. Rutgers is taking out a bond for $72 million of the $102 million project and Corzine is heading the fundraising effort for the other $30 million. The governor also pledged $1 million of his own.

Reportedly, about $250,000 sits in the fundraising pot. And it's all Corzine's money.

It's likely they'll reach their goal. Folks are crazy about the Scarlet Knights since they got hot. As the media left the building site, Mulcahy was proud to point that out.

"The year we went 11-2 [2006], it just picked up like an explosion," Mulcahy said. "We went from 11,000 season ticket sales to 25,000."

UConn has 24,000 season ticket holders — up about 1,000 from last year — but it's conceivable the Huskies will have at least another 3,000 when the students return to campus for the school year.

Granted, Notre Dame's primary reason for playing UConn in Foxborough and New Jersey is for recruiting purposes, but maybe at least one game can be played in Connecticut if The Rent is expanded.

Yours truly's grandfather used to say, "Just because your head's pointy doesn't mean you're sharp."

There should be a way to appease UConn fans.

A more realistic goal would be to bring in more marquee teams to Rentschler Field. Expansion would go a long way toward accomplishing that. When Rentschler opened in 2003, fans expected to see more than just the Temples of the world.

Fans thought big. We all did. But outside of Big East games, it's been small-time nonconference opponents, granted with a sprinkling of name programs.

If you get the fans excited about UConn's opponents, they will come.

How's that for vision?

Somebody had it when The Rent was built.

1) If UCONN signs a long-term deal with Notre Dame that calls for ZERO UCONN home games in East Hartford...I'd say stadium expansion for UCONN over the next 5-6 years will remain a long shot at best.

2) Also, RU is having some challenges with its phase 2 expansion (i.e. phase 1 which calls for 1,000 club seats and suites is already on target), in regards to much higher construction costs (i.e. all bids came in well over budget) and the challenge of fund raising as the Gov said he would help raise $30 million in donations a while ago...as the current total raised is just $250,000.

ND would not have played at UCONN even if we had 50K seat stadium. They have said they want to play near the NYC and Boston markets. Therefore, expansion would not have made any difference for ND.

UCONN just needs an awesome season. After that, you will see demand for tickets go way up. They just want to see a winner in CT like they are used to. We are not interested in a middle of the tier or loser for 100 years like some other FB programs.

Also, I think he is wrong on our season ticket count. After all it is said and done, I expect UCONN to have about 30K in season ticket holders for this year.