New England Teams Cast your vote...

[Lora Knepper]

Ok... so I guess I have to recomment on this one

First off, we all know that UTC's done great things for the New England Regional - took them a bit to get used to things, but overall, I think they have improved year by year they have been the sponsor. I don't know Connecticut well enough to comment on the location change from Hartford to New Haven.... but knowing the area we were in at the Meadows in Hartford, it has to be for the better.

That said, I still miss the old Manchester regional. I miss being in the college gym, and although I know we have outgrown the school, I REALLY miss stadium seating and the Manchester area in general. It's still odd for me to think of teams staying at the Holiday Inn Center of New Hampshire just for Kickoff, and not for a regional like I did in '98.

I also understand what Matt said about location. My gut feeling wonders though, if something returned back to New Hampshire, would it be easier for the New Hampshire teams to attract and retain their sponsors? It seems the like the rate of team withdrawal in that area increased exponentially since the regional was moved south. And really, we already have a Long Island and a New York City Regional... I think it might be a good idea to have one farther north than CT. Perhaps we could get schools and companies from VT, NH, and ME to come and look and perhaps sponsor new teams, or give those exsisting ones an extra hand?

All that said, if there wasn't desire to move back to Manchester (which I'm all for), then maybe it's time to take another look at the Worcester Centrum? Just a thought.....

~ lora