Yard Goats Facing Season On The Road

Things have gone from bad to worse for the Hartford Yard Goats this season. Now, the team’s scenario is careering rapidly toward the worst case.

Hartford mayor Luke Bronin at a Monday press conference on Monday announced that the stadium’s developers, DoNo Hartford and Centerplan Cos., were being removed from the long-delayed project.

The announcement came after the developer took issue with the team’s release of the still-unfinished items at Dunkin Donuts Park, which was last scheduled to be turned over to the Yard Goats on May 17 in preparation for a May 31 opener.

At Monday’s news conference, according to the Hartford Courant, Bronin revealed that the impetus for the decision involved an e-mail from the developers notifying him that the remaining work would take at least 60 days to complete.

Also at issue, Bronin said, was the concern from the developers that they might not have the funds to complete the project without requesting more money from the city. The stadium was already slated to cost the city $47,050,000.

Now, according to the Courant, the fate of both the stadium and the Yard Goats’ chances of playing a true home game this season lie with Arch Insurance.

Bronin and the city pulled the surety bond and asked the insurance company to step in and take the necessary steps to make sure the project was completed.

He explained his actions at the time in a statement.

“Back in January, when it became clear that the developers were far behind schedule and millions over budget, we brought all parties to the table to finance the gap. That was the right thing to do to keep things moving. At this point, however, the developers have repeatedly missed deadlines and, we believe, continue to run over-budget.

“We have no choice but to bring the surety to the table to manage and finance completion of the ballpark. The developer has threatened to abandon the job if we call the bond, but to do that would be another breach of contract.”

With the latest actions, it’s becoming more and more difficult to see the Yard Goats playing a game in Hartford this season. To date, they’ve  played most of their games in road parks, either as scheduled or as the “home” team, a designation that gets them little else other than the opportunity to bat last.

They’ve also played a number of game in Dodd Stadium, in Norwich, Conn. The problem with continuing that plan is that the stadium is scheduled to get a full-time resident on June 22, with the short-season Connecticut Tigers of the New York-Penn League are scheduled to play their first home game.

The Eastern League is expected to release its plans for the rest of Hartford’s season later this week, but with padlocks on the gates of Dunkin Donuts Park and more than two months of the season already in the books, it’s looking more and more likely that Yard Goats will be nomads until next season.