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WNPR News sports coverage brings you a mix of local and statewide news from our reporters as well as national and global news from around the world from NPR.

Hartford State Senator Opposes New Rock Cats Stadium

City of Hartford

Earlier this week, Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra called the plan to move the New Britain Rock Cats to the capital city a "done deal." 

Now, as he and the city council begin to discuss and debate the measure, at least one state lawmaker says he's concerned. "I couldn't support this proposal as it is," said State Senator Eric Coleman. "I just hope we're not at a point where folks in Hartford are so desperate that they're willing to grasp at anything in hopes that it will work."

Listen below to Coleman's comments on WNPR's Where We Live:

For the better part of a year and half, city officials negotiated with the Rock Cats behind closed doors. They said the deal needed that kind of confidentiality, lest it fall apart.

Coleman said that kind of secrecy alienated some people at the state legislature -- including him. He said he didn't find out about the plan until it was announced publicly. "I'm not certain why for 16, 17, 18 months," he said, "somebody from city hall would have been working on this proposal without drawing in some of the stakeholders, or even some of the key people in city hall."

For the record, Coleman lost the Democratic party's senate endorsement to Council President Shawn Wooden. Wooden supports the baseball stadium plan, although he has also said it has to be fully vetted by the council.

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Jeff Cohen started in newspapers in 2001 and joined Connecticut Public in 2010, where he worked as a reporter and fill-in host. In 2017, he was named news director. Then, in 2022, he became a senior enterprise reporter.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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