Eastern League Moves Hartford’s Home Games For Duration Of 2016

The inevitable is now official: The Hartford Yard Goats, Double-A affiliate of the Rockies, will not play a game in Hartford this season.

The Eastern League on Friday announced the sites of the remainder of the team’s scheduled home dates for the season, all of which had to be moved to road cities after continued delays and turmoil in the construction of Hartford’s new Dunkin’ Donuts Park. Currently, the ballpark is being inspected and assessed by the city’s insurance company, and no construction is taking place.

The ballpark was scheduled to open this April, after the team moved from New Britain, Conn., to Hartford and changed its name from the Rock Cats to the Yard Goats. After construction issues scuttled its plans for an on-schedule opening, the next tentative home opener was slated for May 31. Two weeks in advance of that date, the developers, DoNo Hartford and Centerplan Co., were supposed to have turned the stadium over to the city to give it time to get everything prepared for the opener.

That did not happen. In fact, the developers reported to the city that the remaining work on the stadium would take at least 60 days to complete. Moreover, in addition to the extra time, the developers told the city that they’d need money in excess of the initial $47,050,000 price tag.

Instead, Hartford mayor Luke Bronin and the city terminated their contract with Centerplan and DoNo Hartford, which also were scheduled to help oversee the development of the area surrounding the stadium, and brought in an insurance company to assess the rest of the work that needed to be completed. Now, what was supposed to be Dunkin Donuts Park has been padlocked and sits empty, awaiting both a team and a resolution.

Tim Restall, the Yard Goats’ general manager, said that the team has known for a few weeks that the 2016 season was an impossible goal.

“In the last couple of weeks with regard to the stadium, with the city contacting the surety for the construction bond and looking at how long that takes to review,” he said, “that’s when we really started planning to make sure we had a game plan in place that we could play the games.”

In the meantime, the Yard Goats have spent the entire season playing as the home team in road or neutral-site Eastern League stadiums, or at Dodd Stadium, in Norwich, Conn., the home of the short-season Connecticut Tigers. Despite the advance notice, crowds for some of their games have been tremendously sparse. In their 40 “home” openings this year, official attendance is 38,707, an average of just 968 fans per game.

The dream of minor league baseball in Hartford in 2016 is officially dead. Now the team and the league will wait and see if Dunkin’ Donuts Park by the time the 2017 season rolls around.

Before the season, the Rockies and the Yard Goats extended their Player Development Contract through the 2018 season. Despite the nightmare season, Restall says the Rockies have been understanding throughout the process and have made no effort to try to back out of the agreement.

“They understand. They took the best approach to this. When we first found out in January, we sat down with them,” Restall said. “They’ve been great and understanding. They’re frustrated as well, but they know that it’s not us and they’ve been great partners. I couldn’t even imagine doing this without a better partner.”

Five “home” series remain for the Yard Goats. Two against the Harrisburg Senators, slated for July 28-31 and Aug. 25-28, will be played in Manchester, N.H., home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. An Aug. 5-7 series against the Binghamton Mets has shifted to Binghamton, while series against Bowie (Aug. 16-18) and Trenton (Aug. 19-21) similarly have been shifted to Bowie and Trenton.

In the meantime, Restall and the rest of the Yard Goats’ staff are continuing to stay busy despite having no games to play until next year. His staff on Friday was out in the community working on a beautification project, for example. They’ll continue to make their presence felt throughout Hartford to remind people about the Yard Goats.

“They’re continuing to foster relationships, continuing to do that and continuing to be out there,” Restall said. “The thing is, just because the ballpark’s not ready doesn’t mean the Yard Goats aren’t going to be there. We’re here, and we’re not going anywhere.”

The rest of Hartford’s home schedule in detail:

July 28-July 31 (Hartford vs. Harrisburg)
July 28: Harrisburg vs. Hartford at New Hampshire, 5:05 p.m.
July 29: Harrisburg vs. Hartford at New Hampshire, 1:05 p.m. (doubleheader)
July 30: Harrisburg vs. Hartford at New Hampshire, 5:05 p.m.
July 31: Harrisburg vs. Hartford at New Hampshire, 1:05 p.m.

August 5-August 7 (Hartford vs. Binghamton)
August 5: Binghamton vs. Hartford at Binghamton, 6:05 p.m.
August 6th: Binghamton vs. Hartford at Binghamton, 5:05 p.m.
August 7th: Binghamton vs. Hartford at Binghamton, 1:05 p.m.

August 16-August 18 (Hartford vs. Bowie)
August 16: Bowie vs. Hartford at Bowie, 6:35 p.m.
August 17: Bowie vs. Hartford at Bowie, 1:05 p.m. (doubleheader)
August 18: Bowie vs. Hartford at Bowie, 6:35 p.m.

August 19-August 21 (Hartford vs. Trenton)
This series will now be played at Arm & Hammer Park in Trenton, NJ.
August 19: Trenton vs. Hartford at Trenton, 5 p.m.
August 20: Trenton vs. Hartford at Trenton, 1 p.m.
August 21: Trenton vs. Hartford at Trenton, 1 p.m.

August 25-August 28 (Hartford vs. Harrisburg)
August 25: Harrisburg vs. Hartford at New Hampshire, 5:05 p.m.
August 26: Harrisburg vs. Hartford at New Hampshire, 1:05 p.m. (doubleheader)
August 27: Harrisburg vs. Hartford at New Hampshire, 1:05 p.m.
August 28: OFF DAY