Concert promoters may start taking a closer look at Rentschler Field in East Hartford after A-lister R&B superstar Chris Brown packed in 30,000 Saturday night at the stadium, ending an 18-year, major concert drought.
"We're now on the map," Ben Weiss, general manager of the stadium, said Monday. "That was one of the goals with this show is to make us visible. We've been raising our hand for a while, but now, we've done one. And we're hopeful that leads to more."
Oak View Group, which controls the day-to-day management of the stadium, has been pushing for a major concert at Rentschler -- known as "The Rent" -- for the last five years, Weiss said. Weiss said conversations are now active that could lead to bookings in the next two years, the timeframe for scheduling.
The stadium opened in 2003 as the home field for the University of Connecticut football program. But ever since then, some have said it is not used enough -- especially to justify recent annual operating losses and the capital improvements that are needed for a venue exposed to punishing New England weather.
The stadium had an operating loss of $900,000 in the fiscal year ended June 30, the first $250,000 of which is picked up by UConn. The venue is in the midst of a five-year, $60 million capital improvement upgrade funded by the state. One of the most critical repairs -- a $2.5 million new roof over covered portions of the stadium -- is under construction.
In recent years, the stadium has captured some high-profile tournaments such as U.S. men's professional soccer.
East Hartford Mayor Connor Martin said Monday the more frequent use of the 36,000-seat stadium -- roughly 33,000 for concerts -- could now develop, following Saturday's concert.
"We have this massive asset in the middle of our town that gets pretty underutilized outside of UConn's football season," Martin said. "So when you have something like this that's costing millions of dollars, you want to make sure it's being programmed regularly. We're leveraging an asset in East Hartford that the region can enjoy."
The final report on the Rentschler concert -- the first major music event since The Police played the venue in 2007 -- was still being assembled Monday, including the number crunching. But Martin and others said the concert appeared a success, judging by social media posts and comments from those that attended the event.
Martin said he was excited -- but also anxious -- in the lead-up to the event. The number of concert-goers expected was more than double the average attendance for a UConn home game last season. Martin said town services, including police and fire, were at the ready.
"I was extremely pleased with how the show went overall," Martin said. "I mean, we had no violence, no fights, no shootings. Nobody got hurt."
However, there are challenges that still need to be worked out, Martin said.
Traffic entering the parking areas around the stadium went smoothly because gates opened early for the 7 p.m. show. But there was congestion after the concert ended, likely because concert-goers weren't familiar with the surrounding streets, Martin said.
In addition, some nearby residential streets attracted parking from vehicle operators seeking to avoid parking fees of $50 or more around the stadium.
"The thing that we are going to need next time is making sure parking is almost solely on stadium property and not on residential streets, which can have a negative effect on my residents' quality of life," Martin said.
How a more prominent role in concert bookings at Rentschler could shake out has yet to be seen, considering its close proximity to both PeoplesBank Arena, the former XL Center, in downtown Hartford and the Xfinity Theatre in the city's North Meadows.
Michael W. Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority, which is responsible for the stadium, said Rentschler could focus on the larger, summertime shows that prefer a larger stadium, but maybe not one as large as, say, Gillette Stadium. Gillette -- the home turf of the New England Patriots -- is twice the seating size of Rentschler.
Freimuth said downtown Hartford's PeoplesBank Arena, with 16,000 seats could cater to exclusively indoor concerts, primarily in the winter and spring. One of the primary aims of a $145 million renovation of the downtown arena is to attract more concerts.
In between is the Xfinity Theatre, which combines 7,500 indoors seats with enough outdoor space to bring the total up to 30,000. Concert promoter and manager Live Nation Entertainment operates Xfinity and also ran the Chris Brown concert.
Freimuth said the Chris Brown concert also was a trial run to see if the cost to stage a concert at Rentschler makes financial sense.
"It took five days to put it together, and you've got to figure you have to ask the question: 'Does this make sense dollar-wise?' " Freimuth said.
The set-up required cranes and other heavy equipment for staging and the sound system, all the while protecting the field for the UConn home opener on Saturday against the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils. (Freimuth said the gridiron is intact for the game, with only some minor damage on the sidelines.)
"You go to (Xfinity) and it's basically turnkey," Freimuth said.
Even so, Live Nation, which paid a rental fee of $100,000 and was responsible for other expenses for the show, gave positive initial feedback, Freimuth said.
Live Nation did not immediately return a call Monday seeking comment.
"Subject to some of these cost issues, I think it's going to lead to a couple more shows," Freimuth said. "Because I really don't know if we understand it all just yet."