Bridgeport seeks $185M from state for upgrades to venues

Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim is seeking $185 million in state bond money to finance renovations at the Webster Bank Arena and The Ballpark at Harbor Yard.

According to the trade journal Arena Digest, Ganim”™s request came after Gov. Dannel Malloy”™s proposal in February of a $250 million upgrade for Hartford”™s XL Center. The venue hosts the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack and Malloy sought to upgrade the XL Center in the hope of luring an NHL franchise to fill the void left by the 1997 departure of the NHL’s Hartford Whalers.

But Malloy”™s proposal caught Ganim by surprise, resulting in his effort to gain state funds to upgrade Bridgeport”™s venues. “As soon as the governor”™s budget came out with $250 million for XL, the mayor said, ”˜We really need to do something for Bridgeport,”™” said Av Harris, the city”™s director of legislative affairs and public policy.

Webster Arena hosts another AHL hockey team, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, and Fairfield University”™s men”™s and women”™s basketball teams, and has staged A-list entertainment events ”“ most recently, an April 27 concert by The Chainsmokers. The Ballpark at Harbor Yard is home to the Bridgeport Bluefish, an Atlantic League of Professional Baseball team. However, the team”™s operating agreement with the city expired at the end of last season and was only renewed for one year to accommodate negotiations for a new long-term deal between the stakeholders.