S
ome college football teams play in stadiums that put fans so close
to the action that the spectators feel like they can reach out and
touch the players. These stadiums are intimate and are part of what
has made college football special.
Other stadiums are ultra-modern edifices that feature the latest
in facilities such as luxurious suites and spacious locker rooms.
The home of University of Connecticut football — Rentschler
Field — happens to be both. The stadium is the newest and most
modern BCS college football stadium in the country.
Rentschler Field, located in East Hartford, opened on Aug. 30,
2003, as the Huskies defeated Big Ten Conference member Indiana,
34-10.
UConn has now played 33 games in the facility over the past
five seasons and has posted an impressive 25-8 record at Rentschler
Field – including a perfect 7-0 mark last year to set a UConn singleseason record for home wins.
The Huskies have sold out 22 of their 33 Rentschler Field
games, including a streak of 12 in a row. UConn has played to a 96
percent of capacity during its time there before a total of 1,268,596
fans.
The building of the facility and its management is the result of
incredible teamwork and dedication between the state’s Office of
Policy and Management, the town of East Hartford, United
Technologies Corporation and the assistance from numerous public
and private sector organizations. The result of this cooperation gives
the people of Connecticut the opportunity to view college football
at its highest level in a world-class facility.
The natural grass playing surface of Rentschler Field is 26 feet
below grade at the stadium, which features stadium seating, outdoor
chairback seating, fully enclosed club seats and luxury suites.
The tower at Rentschler Field includes levels for suites, club
seating and media/game management facilities.
There are 38 suites in the stadium and more than 600 seats in
the club area, which also includes a 12,000-square foot function
area, which is used by club patrons on gameday and is available for
meetings and social events the remainder of the year.
The outdoor seating
area of Rentschler Field
ENTSCHLER IELD
includes nearly 4,000
UICK ACTS
chairback seats with the
rest being bleacher seatOwner: State of Connecticut
ing. Rentschler Field is
Developer: State of Connecticut Office of unique in the fact that it
Policy and Management (OPM)
has handicap accessible
seating on the field level.
Architects: Ellerbe Becket
The media facilities
Construction Manager: Hunt/Gilbane
are some of the most
Joint Venture
modern in the country
Facility Manager: Northland Investment
with seating for 125
Corp. and AEG Facilities
media members in the
Primary Tenant: University of
main press area. There
Connecticut Athletics (football)
are also separate booths
Budget: $91.2 million
for television and radio
Stadium Footprint: 8.5 acres
broadcasts. That level
Stadium Building: 595,596 square feet,
also includes booths for
including field and seats
coaching staffs, security,
Capacity: 40,000
public address announcTotal Site: 75 acres
er, scoreboard operation
and other gameday facilParking: Approximately 10,600 spaces at
the stadium and on the Pratt &
ities.
Whitney campus.
The concourses at
Rentschler Field provide
Site History: Pratt & Whitney Airfield,
named for Pratt & Whitney founder
generous, open and barFrederick Rentschler and donated to
rier-free circulation for
the State of Connecticut by UTC in
entering and exiting the
1999.
facility. The concourse
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also provides easy access to various concession and novelty stands
and restrooms.
The stadium features state-of-the-art facilities for members of
the UConn football team, including an incredible locker room area.
The main UConn locker room is 3,750 square feet and has
space for 125 players. There is also a coaches locker room, equipment area and medical training rooms.
There is also a spacious visiting team locker room area with
similar amenities.
The audio and video facilities at Rentschler Field are some of
the most advanced in the country. The sound system is de-centralized with approximately 300 digital-quality speakers providing the
audio.
The west end of the stadium features a scoreboard that has a
24-foot by 32-foot video replay screen.
All parking for the stadium is located within the footprint of
the stadium site – which makes it unique for a college football facility. In total, there are 10,600 parking spaces at the Rentschler Field
site.
Rentschler Field features lighting with four towers in each corner of the stadium and a bank of lights on top of the press box.
Rentschler Field is a facility built for Connecticut, by
Connecticut. Through a concerted effort, the stadium project far
outpaced the state’s requirements to help small, women and minority-owned companies grow with ongoing economic development.
This means contractors and individuals that may never before have
been able to benefit from projects of this scale helped build their
skills, their companies and their careers while they help build their
community.
The various East Hartford area non-profit groups that staffed
the concession stands on game days are able to generate approximately $65,000 on an annual basis through their work at the games.
Rentschler Field is also the home of the Connecticut High
School Coaches Hall of Fame, which is located on the southwest
concourse.
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The “original” Rentschler Field, an airfield which later saw the likes of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia
Earhart, was dedicated on May 24, 1931. Those taking part in the ceremonies were (left to right): Donald
Brown, President of Pratt & Whitney Aircraft; United States Senator Hiram Bingham of Connecticut;
Edward A. Deeds, United Aircraft Board of Directors; F. Trubee Davison, Assistant Secretary of War;
Frederick B. Rentschler, Founder of Pratt & Whitney Aircraft and Chairman of United Aircraft Corporation
(now United Technologies Corporation).
The stadium was developed by the State of Connecticut Office
of Policy and Management. The facility was designed by the architectural firm Ellerbe Becket and the construction manager was
Hunt/Gilbane joint venture. The primary tenant at Rentschler
Field, which is managed by Northland Investment Corp. and AEG
Facilities, is the UConn football program.
In addition to UConn football, the stadium also played host to
a pair of Bruce Springsteen concerts on Sept. 16 and 18, 2003, a
concert by the Rolling Stones on Aug. 26, 2005 and the Police on
July 31, 2007. It also serves as the home of the annual Governors’
Cup High School All-Star game between Connecticut and Rhode
Island.
International rugby matches have been played at Rentschler
Field in the summers of 2004, ’05 and ‘08. The facility is becoming
a mainstay in soccer. An exhibition soccer game between the British
teams of Liverpool and Glasgow Celtic was played on July 26, 2004;
an exhibition women’s soccer match between the United States and
China on Aug. 1, 2004; a men’s World Cup qualifying match
between the United States and Trinidad and Tobago was played on
Aug. 17, 2005; the United States men’s national team playing their
final tuneup before 2006 World Cup against Latvia on May 28,
2006; and an exhibition women’s soccer match between the United
States and Norway on July 14, 2007.
UConn received the Governor’s Leadership Award in
December of 2003 for its efforts in the first year of play at
Rentschler Field. The annual award is given to an individual or
group that has done an outstanding job in bringing together a wide
spectrum of people and resources to bear on a significant development issue in Connecticut. UConn was cited for working hard to
assure that Rentschler Field was a significant economic resource for
the greater Hartford region and a point of pride for the high quality of life in the area that business leaders seek.
The 75-acre site for the stadium was donated by United
Technologies and sits on a former airfield — Rentschler Field —
which opened in 1931 and saw the likes of Charles Lindbergh and
Amelia Earhart. In addition to the donation of the land for the stadium, UTC is allowing another 100 acres of its land to be used for
gameday parking.
There is a display on the history of the site as an airfield in the
stadium.
The “original” Rentschler Field was dedicated on May 24,
1931. The company air field served as a base for experimental flight
tests of airplanes, engines and propellers and was also used for servicing and overhauling engines. In later years the airfield was used for
general aviation for United Aircraft Corporation — now United
Technologies Corporation. The field was de-commissioned as an
active airport in the 1990s.