Sports
March Madness Takes On New Meaning At XL Center
Fans were delayed from getting into a game. Crews had only 45 minutes to clear out the stadium for the next game.
HARTFORD, CT — Things got hectic Thursday at the XL Center after a short gap between NCAA men's basketball games.
Due to TV schedules there was less than 45 minutes between games and some fans missed part of the Villanova-St. Mary's game, according to the Hartford Courant. The Villanova game was pushed back 25 minutes, but still seats were mostly empty until partway through the first half of the game.
Management for the XL Center said they tried their best to turn around the stadium in a short time window.
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Earlier in the week UConn women's basketball head coach Geno Auriemma complained about the condition of the XL Center and said he'd prefer to play at the team's home base in Storrs.
Still many complained on Twitter.
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XL center is at fault to an extent, but the game times they were given were awful, the earlier session needed to start earlier instead of 2pm
— b~ruhveto (@BillRoveto) March 22, 2019
I blame the @NCAA as well, all it takes is one quick tour of the XL Center and they should be crossed off the venue list.
— Okidawu (@MattOliveira21) March 22, 2019
Yeah that ones def the NCAA’s fault, but the XL center needs to up their game. Took forever to get food/drinks, go to the bathroom, even the scoreboard was wrong 90 percent of the time. They had the teams reversed for half of session 1
— Todd (@toddmort22) March 22, 2019
Were you stuck at the @XLCenter door and missed the start of the @NovaMBB vs. @stmarysca game? @marchmadnesshttps://t.co/TXspr8mLcT pic.twitter.com/cGBymqlO4e
— Rick Green (@VTConfidential) March 22, 2019
Yeah it was really bad. I got there at 7:00, I didn’t get in until 10min left in the first half. They were also running out of food already/bathrooms were disgusting. The scheduling was on the NCAA but everything else def on the XL center, that place is so beat.
— Katie Langille (@hernameisCady) March 22, 2019
Hartford crowd at tip-off for Villanova. Had to clear the arena for the night session. What a mess. pic.twitter.com/rQcElq49Vv
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) March 21, 2019
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