Venue Detail
Hartford Yard Goats
RSV Pro Facilities Report
February, 2016
Hartford Yard Goats
Owner: Josh Solomon League: Eastern League, Eastern League, Northern
Venue
Dunkin’ Donuts Park, , Hartford, CT Owner: Hartford Stadium Authority Built: 2016 Soft drink:
Naming rights
Sold to: Dunkin' Donuts
Financing
A quasi-public group known as the Hartford Stadium Authority was created to own and finance the $56 million ballpark. The group borrowed money and paid Centerplan Construction to build the venue. The city had planned to borrow the money itself for the project, but sought private financing after receiving pressure from the public. It then decided that the developer would borrow the money and own the ballpark, and the city would lease it. But officials later switched to the stadium authority plan, saying it would save money.
The Yard Goats began play in 2016.
Under its agreement with the city, the Yard Goats franchise, an Eastern League affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, gets the first $50,000 from naming rights. The team and the city split the rest. The city’s projections call for $225,000 a year in naming revenue for Hartford, meaning that Dunkin’ Donuts must pay $500,000 for the name or the projections will fall short.
That revenue is all the more important as the city’s proposal to collect a $1-a-ticket tax has struck out at the Capitol.
The city originally sought to get a portion of the state’s admissions tax – about $426,000 annually – to help pay for the ballpark, but the plan was scrapped after opposition from legislators. A second effort to get state funding for Hartford also was defeated.
Half a million dollars a year for exclusive naming rights could be considered a profitable deal for Double A ballparks. But metro Hartford is larger than almost all other Double A markets – and wealthier.
The city makes annual payments of about $4 million to the authority for 25 years. The Yard Goats will pay the city $500,000 annually in rent for the first 15 years of a 25-year lease, and $600,000 annually for the final 10 years. At the end of Hartford’s lease with the municipal authority, ownership of the stadium will revert to the city, officials have said.
The city is required to put $250,000 into a capital reserve fund for repairs the first year and $150,000 annually after that. The city will also be required to contribute $100,000 a year from annual fixed rent, revenue received on city-sponsored events or from naming rights. (Facilities, Baseball, Minor League, Professional Sports, Venue)