Hartford stadium soap continues

A few days ago you could read here that the 17 May deadline for Dunkin’ Donuts Park wasn’t met by the contractor.

More news has been published on the delay.
A new goal has been set for the first home game of the YardGoats. The intention is to play their first home game on June 21. This date is rather crucial as the team is now playing its home games in the stadium of the Connecticut Tigers in Norwich. That team of the A Short New York-Penn League will start its season on June 22nd and combining two schedules will be hard.

The Eastern League announced the changes on Thursday. In the meantime, the team will play seven more games at the home of the short-season Connecticut Tigers and shift its series with Reading back to Pennsylvania. The schedule is as follows:

May 31 — OFF DAY
June 1 vs. Trenton at Dodd Stadium — 4:05 p.m. (doubleheader)
June 2 vs. Trenton at Dodd Stadium —  1:05 p.m.
June 3 vs. Portland at Dodd Stadium — 6:05 p.m.
June 4 — OFF DAY
June 5 vs. Portland at Dodd Stadium — 4:05 p.m. (doubleheader)
June 6 vs. Portland at Dodd Stadium —  1:05 p.m.

June 14 at Reading (Reading, PA) — 6:35 p.m.
June 15 at Reading (Reading, PA) —  6:35 p.m.
June 16 at Reading (Reading, PA) —  1:05 p.m.

But… the date of June 21st is not engraved in stone yet.

After it was announced, earlier this year, that the cost of construction would overrun the calculation, a new agreement was made in which May 17 was set as deadline for the construction companies to have finished the stadium for a substantial part. There should be enough time then to finish the project before the newly scheduled opening date May 31.

The city of Hartford is still mulling on the steps to take. One of them can be that the city will seek financial restitution from the stadium developers, DoNo Hartford LLC and Centerplate Cos, because of the delay. The proposed fines would be $50,000 for the first day past the deadline of May 17 and another $15,000 each day afterward.

The mayor of Hartford doesn’t want to make a prediction about the targeted opening day. Too much has gone wrong already.
Spicy detail on this farce is that the Stadium Authority of Hartford has declared on Tuesday that the stadium won’t open until July….