When the Huskies are in town, bars are crowded, stores are busy, and restaurants flourish.Basketball - Economic aspects ; Economic conditions - Connecticut

Owen Canfield

English

Research Papers in Economics

28 REGIONAL REVIEW Q4-Q1 2003/4
UConn basketball is big in central Connecticut, and
not just for the university.  By Owen Canﬁeld
UConn basketball is never
completely dormant in Con-
necticut. Even through the hot
summer, blue and white Husky
dog posters adorn front win-
dows, and one doesn’t have to
drive very far to find a Husky
flag flying outside a fan’s home.
Travelers and vacationers from
Nantucket to Normandy rou-
tinely catch sight of strangers
with shirts or hats sporting sym-
bols of the school. “Go UConn!”
they call to each other as each
goes his way.
But in early September, Husky fever starts
to spike. Department and apparel stores move
their UConn displays to the front and lay in
new supplies and designs. Shirts, workout
suits, jackets, sweaters, socks, scarves, hats,
and blankets bearing all manner of UConn
signs, stamps, and symbols are hot items.
Rows of large white foam “helmets” made in
the image of a Husky dog’s head sit on shelves
at every Wal-Mart. The Husky spirit runs so
deep that many Connecticut residents have
gotten in the habit of planning Christmas par-
ties and winter birthday celebrations around
the UConn basketball schedule. When the
men’s and women’s teams are simultaneous
national champions, who can blame them?
UConn alums have been devoted to their
Huskies for decades, but the teams began to
attract national attention when UConn left the
Yankee Conference to help form the Big East
Conference in 1979. With basketball power-
houses like Seton Hall and Villanova in the
new conference, television networks clamored
to broadcast the Big East’s games. By the mid-
1980s, the Husky men were already playing
some of their games at the 15,000-seat Hart-
letter from storrs, connecticut
The Husky men and
women—simultaneous
national champions in
2004—attract a loyal
and raucous following.
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sREGIONAL REVIEW Q4-Q1 2003/4 29
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REGIONAL REVIEW
ford Civic Center, but attendance began to
surge when coach Jim Calhoun was hired in
1986. Large, modern Gampel Pavilion opened
on campus in January 1990. And the women’s
basketball program under coach Geno Au-
riemma grew more successful as well.
But it wasn’t until the 1994-1995 season that
the Husky men and women captured the re-
gion’s, and the nation’s, attention. “That’s
when [Capt.] Rebecca Lobo and the Husky
women beat Tennessee during a regular sea-
son game,” says Tim Tolokan, associate di-
rector of athletics for licensing and athletic tra-
dition. “It was a sensational win, and that team
went on to finish 35-0 and win the national
championship. At the
same time, the UConn
men were sent west in
the  NCAA  tourna-
ment.  They  lost  to
UCLA, 102-96, in the
Round of Eight, but
most observers felt that
UConn-UCLA game
was the true national
championship game.” 
Connecticut’s state
legislature sat up and
took  notice.  “Three
weeks later the legisla-
ture approved UConn
2000,” notes Tolokan.
This $2.3 billion, 20-
year university infrastructure and facilities im-
provement  project  has  helped  transform
UConn. “The state, including members of the
legislature,  was  euphoric  over  these  two
teams,” says Tolokan. “People were saying
these kids, these 25 or 30 kids in shorts, had
made Connecticut people feel good about
themselves.” The university has also benefit-
ed from a nine-fold increase in alumni dona-
tions to the school over the last decade, growth
which many attribute to the teams’ success.
But the impact of UConn basketball goes
well beyond the university or even the legis-
lature. After all, nearly 10,000 people show up
each season just to see the teams’ first prac-
tices—and these people need to eat. The
roads into and out of Storrs are dotted with
restaurants and stores benefiting from the
game-day traffic, and the University book-
store does brisk business when the teams are
in town. Some 30 miles west, when games are
played  at  the  Hartford  Civic  Center,  the
state’s capital city leaps to life. “The impact
is huge,” says R. Nelson Griebel, president
and CEO of MetroHartford Alliance. “It’s a
very different city on those 20 dates.” Restau-
rants flourish. Bars are crowded, especially af-
ter men’s games. Downtown retail stores are
busy. Business in nearby malls picks up, too,
as ticket-holders stop to do some shopping.
Even those who don’t go to games still end
up  supporting  the  team  by  watching  the
games on television. The UConn men are
consistently featured on the networks, in-
cluding ESPN and CBS. The women appear
mostly  on  Connecticut  Public  Television
(CPTV). Larry Rifkin, executive vice presi-
dent of CPTV, says his station “will take every
game we can get.” He notes that while “pro-
duction  costs  are  often  quite  heavy,”  the
games pay for themselves. Corporate spon-
sorships and individual donations—appeals
for pledges take place before and after each
game as well as during halftime and time-
outs—more than cover the costs. Indeed, the
station recently raised more than $30,000 in
one  night  by  broadcasting  an  eight-hour
UConn women’s basketball feature, offering
shirts, caps, banners, and media guides in ex-
change for pledges.
When the end of basketball season is at
hand, Husky fever will die down, but it won’t
die away. Fans will find themselves searching
the newspapers for news about next year’s
team members, post-season honors, or per-
sonal appearances. Husky flags and posters
will still be in evidence, though not quite as
prominently; displays will be moved to the
back of the stores. Life will return to what re-
gions that don’t live and breathe basketball
might think of as normal. 
But after years of Husky fever, it’s the in-
fectious, agreeable ambience of basketball
season that makes the people of central Con-
necticut feel most at home. S
Owen Canfield is a freelance au-
thor and retired Hartford
Courant columnist who writes
about sports and life in central
Connecticut.
When the
Huskies are
in town, bars
are crowded,
stores are
busy, and
restaurants
ﬂourish

Letter from Storrs, Connecticut: UConn basketball is big in central Connecticut, and not just for the university

http://www.bostonfed.org/economic/nerr/rr2004/q1/q403104letter.pdf

Letter from Storrs, Connecticut: UConn basketball is big in central Connecticut, and not just for the university

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