Not really sure what to make of this, but: Howard Baldwin, the former owner of the Hartford Whalers and current manager of the minor-league Connecticut Whale, has issued a proposal for a $105 million renovation of whatever it is the Hartford Civic Center is called these days. (It looks to be named after either a shirt size or a controversial oil pipeline.) The cash would pay for improved concessions areas, “seating enhancements,” a Hard Rock Cafe or Planet Hollywood, and all the other usual stuff that teams want.
Of course, Hartford doesn’t actually have a team (other than the Whale), so left unknown is who would pay for all this, and what kind of revenue it would generate if its customers would be limited to Phineas and Ferb Live fans. Spending $105 million isn’t actually all that much in modern-day arena reno terms — just look 100 miles southwest for an example — but still, somebody’s got to pay for it somehow. You can’t monetize fears about being the next New Haven Coliseum.