This Sunday on Face the State we have a fascinating topic: whether a new arena should be built in downtown Hartford, and whether that arena would mean the restoration of a major league sports team in Connecticut.
Our guests make up an all-star panel: Larry Gottesdiener, CEO of Northland Investment Corporation; House Speaker James Amann; Mayor Eddie Perez, and Al Victor, President of the Whalers Fan Club.
Watch the program and let me know what you think.
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Dennis House blog 
Dennis:
Great “Face the State” with discussions around Hartford revitalization and the Whalers. Public and private leadership should be commended for there efforts is bring life back into Hartford.
My concern is:
$75-100/ticket, (not including concession)
$10/parking
Dennis, we are at an economic cross roads (aka recession) that is impacting us all. I loved the Whalers, but I also love hockey. People will settle for AHL just to be able to afford the memories they’ll have with their kids.
Keep up the great job.
Steve
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I absolutely believe that Hartford and the state of CT can support an NHL team. We have some of the most die-hard sports fans in the country. Whenever I wear my Whalers gear out in public, I always get positive comments. I think if we can build a new arena, we can make it happen. The state really needs a professional team to get excited about. The Wolf Pack is a great team to watch, but it’s just not the same as having the NHL. My family and I used to go to Hartford at least a couple times a month when the Whalers were in town. Now I rarely find myself there. Having a team there would definitely revitalize the Hartford area.
Laura Mucci
Bristol, CT
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I don’t care how it happens, but Hartford needs at least one professional sports team. That’s one of my biggest gripes about living in Connecticut. We don’t have a home team. I can’t take farm teams seriously and although college sports are fun I prefer professional sports. We can’t keep allowing ourselves to be part of Boston’s market. We need our own identity in Hartford and a sports team like the Whalers again would help tremendously.
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The show today was encouraging–especially to see an organized approach with city and state govt. and the private sector working together–I’ve always known you’ve had great fans (starved as was mentioned) in CT.–the combo with UConn basketball would be great–I do wonder about getting more support from the southern part of the state and would go after corporate people vigorously–some of them align with the Rangers, however–another huge problem with the Whale is that they had a nonlucrative cable deal as I understand and ESPN never seemed to carry them. I have reason to be enthusiastic having suppressed my great emotions for years after my favorite team left
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I absolutely believe a new arena will bring the NHL back to Hartford. Many people have fogotten that a similar situation is how we got the Whalers in the first place. The Hartford Civic Center was being built in 1974 when Howard Baldwin was looking for a place to move the WHA New England Whalers out of Boston. He saw the new arena being built in Hartford, and decided to move here even before the building was complete. Ironically, this is also how the Whalers ended up in North Carolina. Raleigh was already building an arena for the the NC State Wolfpack basketball team, and that attracted the Whalers to that area. It would be nice to attract a team and get an arena deal together at the exact same time, but that doesn’t happen any more than buying and selling a house on the same day. I believe getting the arena deal inked will act as a magnet for the NHL. They may not speak of it publically, but I believe the NHL knows they are missing something special by not having a team in Hartford. We’re biased of course, but we really do have incredibly dedicated and die-hard fans here…some of the best hockey fans in the world. The Battle of New England with the Boston Bruins was just heating up, and that could have built into something special. With a new arena, this could happen again.
If we build a new arena, the Whalers will be back in Hartford.
Mark Lopa
Newington
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Hi Dennis,
I’ve been a Whaler Fan for over 20 yrs I started in 79-80 season with my family. I still belong to the Hartford Whalers Booster Club. We walked in the St. Patricks Day Parade in Downtown Hartford and wore our Whaler Jerseys. Everyone said bring back the Whalers.
When I went to the games I always had a good time. I met a lot of people through those years. I miss NHL hockey in Hartford.
The Booster club went to Montreal this past March, just so that we can see a NHL hockey game.
I work in downtown Hartford the only time the city isn’t dead is at lunch time and concerts. Any other time there isn’t anyone around. That is so sad. So many of the business have closed due to the Whalers leaving. Also all of the charities that the Whalers used to give to.
We had the best group of player and staff. I want another NHL hockey team in Hartford.
I believe, If you build it they will come.
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