Opening of Dunkin’ Donuts Park may be pushed back to next year

The Hartford Stadium Authority has voted to file a claim with the stadium project’s insurer by a 4-0 vote.

This will mean that the whole case will be investigated and that the construction will be cancelled until further notice. How long this will take is not clear yet, but it may very well be that the YardGoats won’t play in Hartford at all this season.

But according to the mayor of Hartford, Luke Bronin, filing a claim with the constructor’s insurer does not mean that the construction cannot continue. “We have not terminated them. They have an obligation to continue the work”, Bronin said.

This filing for an insurance claim is named “calling the performancen bond”. This performance bond calling makes a lot of sense, according to stadium authority chairman Charles Matthews, because the insurer would try to get the construction back on track as quickly as possible.

Even if the this would mean that the opening of the stadium will be pushed back to 2017, the owner of the YardGoats is backing the city in their move: “The Yard Goats have already lost 54 percent of their home season and are on the verge of losing the entire 2016 season,” Solomon said in a written statement Thursday afternoon. “This is causing great hardship not just for our team, but for our fans, sponsors and the hundreds of Hartford residents who were counting on jobs at the ballpark.

“We stand behind Mayor Bronin and the Stadium Authority and believe they will do everything in their power to hold the developer accountable and use the contractual agreements in place to provide the funds necessary to complete the ballpark so that the team can come home to Hartford and play ball at Dunkin’ Donuts Park.”

According to Charles Matthews, the contractors have refused to pay the $50,000 and $15,000 fine. Another promise that they have broken, according to Matthews.

A sad development for sure.