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OCTOBER 2, 2017 • HARTFORD BUSINESS JOURNAL | 47 Sports Impact UCONN The many championship banners hanging from the XL Center rafters say it all: UConn men's and women's basketball is a force. The count: 11 national championships for the women in the last 25 years and four for the men. A force no doubt on the hardwood, but also on the streets of Hartford, too, when the teams play their games downtown. Geno Auriemma, who has coached all 11 women's titles, doesn't know the economic impact of the teams on downtown, but "I just know that we're going to get 10,000 to 12,000 people, eight nights a year when we come down there, nine if you count an exhibition game," he said. "If you add in the men's team, that's another nine, so that's 18 nights that we're going to be bringing that many people into downtown," he said. "I would like to think that the businesses downtown benefit from us being there, if they take advantage of it." There's also the energy and emotional impact, Auriemma said. Women's and men's college basketball is extremely impactful in communities without professional sports, he added. "Here in Connecticut, we're fortunate at the university, in that we are kind of the sports entertainment, whether it's during the fall for football, or in the winter with basketball and now with ice hockey at the XL Center," he said. "So we do bring a certain vibe to the region, to the state, and the fact that we've been so successful and won, people around the country where you go (and) say, 'UConn basketball,' they know exactly what you're talking about." When Auriemma arrived in 1985, it wasn't that way. UConn wasn't necessarily among the top schools in the U.S. or even New England. Now, it's a top 20 public institution in the U.S. "What we've generated in winning championships and the level of recognition that we've gotten for the university, throughout the country, whether it's all the games on ESPN or CBS, all the newspaper articles, all the magazines, you can't put a price tag on that," Auriemma said. "We've generated more interest in the state of Connecticut, in the last 20 years especially, than I think any other entity that's in the state of Connecticut." UConn basketball provides an identifier and sense of community engagement around the teams, in addition to the economic jolt, said Oz Griebel, president and CEO of the MetroHartford Alliance. "It gives you a sense of identity, you're from Connecticut, people know who the UConn women's basketball team is … so it's a point of pride," Griebel said. H. Scott Phelps, president of the Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau (CTCSB), sees the UConn hoops effect when he's promoting the state at trade shows, where people often mention basketball when they visit the Connecticut booth. "There's an identity there that UConn basketball and Connecticut obviously are one and the same," Phelps said of people's comments. "So it's a big plus, it's a positive connotation right from the start." Bob Murdock, CTCSB's director of sports marketing and director of national accounts- affinity markets, said the link is especially apparent through the women's team. "You have a connection, it's definitely an identifying factor for us as a state," he said. UConn sports shape Hartford region's identity; provide economic jolt By John Stearns jstearns@HartfordBusiness.com UConn's championship basketball coaches have included Jim Calhoun (top three photos), Geno Auriemma and Kevin Ollie (bottom, center).