HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Two decades after losing the NHL’s Whalers, its only major-league sports franchise, the city of Hartford is experiencing an athletic revival by embracing the minor leagues.
Construction has begun just south of downtown on a $10 million project to convert an old football stadium into a modern soccer pitch that will serve as home in the spring for a new professional team, Hartford Athletic. It will be part of the USL, a tier below Major League Soccer.
That project follows the development north of downtown of the $70 million Dunkin Donuts Park, the 6,100-seat baseball stadium that opened in 2017 as home to the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats, which moved from nearby New Britain. That opening came a year late and millions over the original budget because of major construction issues, but it drew an Eastern League best 408,942 fans this past summer, selling out 47 times.
“We’re not going to sit around and pine away for the past,” said Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin. “One of the things that drew me and my family to Hartford was it was a smaller city where you could become part of the fabric of the community in a way that you never could in a place like Boston and New York and still have tremendous arts and cultural diversity and sports.”
The city’s location, at the intersection of two major interstates, with large Puerto Rican, Colombian, Peruvian, Polish and other immigrant communities, helped draw Hartford Athletic here.
“They all play soccer,” said Joseph Calafiore, a co-owner. “Then we’ve got the great youth soccer in the suburban areas. We’re going to knock this out of the park.”
The team has had more than 1,500 people sign up for access to season tickets at the 5,500-seat Dillon Stadium. Julian Davis, 25, of Windsor, is one of them. He put his name on a mailing list while visiting the club’s information tent outside a recent match between Peru and the United States at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.
“I love the Yard Goats and I’m going to love Hartford Athletic,” Davis said. “It will be really nice to have our own team that I can lose sleep over.”
The two franchises join the Hartford Wolf Pack, the AHL affiliate of the New York Rangers, which replaced the Whalers in 1997. That team draws about 4,000 fans a game to the XL Center, the 15,000-seat arena which also hosts UConn basketball and hockey.
Chris Lawrence, the head of business operations for the Wolf Pack and general manager of the XL Center, said while there is now more competition for the entertainment dollar in Hartford, they believe developing the city as a sports destination is good for everyone.
“Getting people comfortable with coming downtown and staying downtown, it’s important,” he said.
Bronin said the Yard Goats have been an important economic driver in the city.
“It has been, whether you measure that in the number of people coming back into the city and rediscovering Hartford or whether you measure it in dollars spent in the city or in a renewed sense of shared identity in the region,” he said.
The minor league franchises have been heavily involved in promotions and community activities to boost brand recognition and create bonds with the fan base. A community center at the Yard Goats’ park hosts non-baseball projects, such as an ambassador program for teens, teaching leadership skills and providing internship opportunities. There are also arts and culinary programs for the city’s youth.
Hartford Athletic co-owner Bruce Mandell said the Hartford teams have very different fan bases. But both the Yard Goats and Hartford Athletic have chosen to wear blue and green, the old Whaler colors. The idea, Bronin said, is to help give the city a sports identity, similar to the way in which Pittsburgh is associated with black and gold.
“Nothing would be more exciting than a Saturday night and we’re sold out and the Yard Goats are sold out and people are flooding into downtown Hartford,” Mandell said.
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