Newtown resident Brad Smith has acquired the New Britain Bees, a minor league baseball team, for an undisclosed sum.
Smith has worked as the team”™s general manager for the past three years and received approval from both the Futures Collegiate Baseball League and New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart to complete the purchase.
The acquisition of the Bees is the latest minor league team purchase for Smith. In 2005, he partnered with his late father Dale Smith on buying the Kannapolis Intimidators, a Chicago White Sox Class A affiliate, serving as the team”™s president through 2015 when he sold the club. The Smith family also owned the Coastal Plain League”™s Wilmington Sharks from 2014 to 2016.
Smith is the second Fairfield County resident who can claim ownership of a baseball team. Last September, Greenwich billionaire Steve Cohen acquired the New York Mets in a deal valued at $2.475 billion, a record-setting amount for a U.S. sports franchise.