baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. It is the home of the
New Britain Bees
The New Britain Bees are an American collegiate summer baseball team based in New Britain, Connecticut. They are a member of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL), a wood-bat league with teams in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connectic ...
of the
Futures Collegiate Baseball League
The Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL) is an eight-team collegiate summer baseball league. It has four franchises in Massachusetts, two in Connecticut, and one each in New Hampshire and Vermont.
Format
The Futures League is a wood-bat ...
. Opened in 1996, the stadium seats 6,146 spectators.
The stadium is part of the city facility known as Willow Brook Park and is sometimes referred to by this name also. It is adjacent to
Beehive Field
Beehive Field is a stadium in New Britain, Connecticut. The ballpark has a capacity of 4,700. It is primarily used for baseball and was the home of the New Britain Red Sox (Boston Red Sox AA affiliate) from the time of their move to the city in 1 ...
, where the New Britain Red Sox played for 13 seasons after moving from
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
in 1983. The park also contains Veteran's Memorial Stadium, a facility for football and soccer.
New Britain Stadium hosted the Eastern League All-Star Game on July 16, 2003, before a then-record crowd of 7,169 fans. On the last day of the 2004 season, it welcomed its two millionth visitor. A new all-time attendance record was set on June 17, 2006, when 7,567 packed the stadium for a Rock Cats regular-season game against the
Akron Aeros
The Akron RubberDucks are a Minor League Baseball team based in Akron, Ohio. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They play in Canal Park, located in downtown Akron, which seats 7,630 ...
. This record was ultimately broken on August 28, 2015, when 8,672 fans watched the team's last Rock Cats Friday home game.
Features
The stadium is laid out with split-level seating. A concourse runs around the middle of the seating area, and fans walk down toward the field to reach the box seats, or continue upward to reach reserved seats and general admission seating. Fans reach the seating area through four tunnels, each with a set of stairs coming up from the main concourse below. This concourse is at ground level, underneath the upper seating areas; it contains concessions, restrooms, the gift shop, and access to team administrative offices. While fans cannot see the game in person from the concourse below, it does provide an enclosed dry refuge in case of a rain delay.
Skyboxes (the "suite level") are located at the top of the seating bowl, on either side of the press box. Access is by elevator from the main concourse two levels below.
At the top of the third-base seating area is a beer deck featuring beers rom New Britain Craft brewery Alvarium, and patio area which is open to all fans. Down the right-field line, the " Comcast Patio" is another area with grills, picnic tables, and a large tent, which can be rented for groups of 25 or more. Down the left-field line is a kids' play area with an inflatable slide, a moonbounce, a speed-pitching machine, and other activities.
Also located inside New Britain Stadium are plaques bearing the names of the New Britain Sports Hall of Fame. Including the 2020 class, there are 292 inductees representing the city's athletic history from 1850 to date.
History
The need for New Britain Stadium grew out of a new set of ballpark standards issued by the National Association of Professional Baseball Clubs in the early 1990s. Due to the growing popularity of minor league baseball, and the wide variety of facilities that were in use at the time, that governing body thought it best to establish consistency and minimum standards for such things as dugouts, locker rooms, press boxes,
seating capacity
Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...
, etc., across all the minor leagues. On a case-by-case basis, franchises were given certain time periods in which to achieve compliance.
At this time, the Rock Cats were still playing at Beehive Field, which—despite some recent improvements—still fell far short of meeting the league minimums. A big hangup was the
seating capacity
Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...
, which was about 2,000 shy of the new requirement of 6,000 to support a double-A franchise. The estimate was that bringing Beehive Field into compliance would have cost at least $2–3 million, and this was also at a time when other brand-new stadiums were being constructed around the Eastern League. Rock Cats owner Joe Buzas was also faced with pressure from the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...
organization (which was the team's major-league affiliate at the time) to move the team closer to the heart of
Red Sox Nation Red Sox Nation is a term used for fans of the Boston Red Sox. The phrase was coined by ''Boston Globe'' feature writer Nathan Cobb in an October 20, 1986, article about split allegiances among fans in Connecticut during the 1986 World Series between ...
—preferably Springfield, Massachusetts. Eventually in August 1994, after receiving pledges of financial support from the City of New Britain, Connecticut governor
Lowell Weicker
Lowell Palmer Weicker Jr. (; born May 16, 1931) is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the 85th Governor of Connecticut. He unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for president in 1980. He was ...
, and New Britain's largest employer,
Stanley Works
Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., formerly known as The Stanley Works, is a Fortune 500 American manufacturer of industrial tools and household hardware and provider of security products. Headquartered in the greater Hartford city of New Britain, ...
, Buzas announced that he would keep the team in the city and begin construction of a new ballpark.
Groundbreaking occurred on June 1, 1995, and construction moved quickly while the Rock Cats played out their last season at Beehive Field located right next door. New Britain-based Kaestle-Boos, Inc., was selected as the architect, and the Brunoli Construction Company of Avon was chosen as general contractor. The new stadium was built from scratch in less than 11 months. Obstacles along the way included the need to move New Britain High School's baseball and softball fields (also located next door; those teams now use the still-standing Beehive Field); environmental issues including redirecting the flow of a nearby stream; and jurisdictional conflicts, since part of the stadium grounds is actually located in the town of
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
. Nonetheless, a wildly successful Opening Day was held on April 12, 1996—successful except for the fact that the Rock Cats were shut out by the
New Haven Ravens
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
, 3–0. They got their first win the next day, returning the shutout over the Ravens, 7–0.
As an epilogue to the stadium negotiations, Red Sox general manager
Dan Duquette
Dan Duquette (born May 26, 1958) is an American baseball executive. He is the former general manager of the Montreal Expos, Boston Red Sox, and Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball. He is also the founder of the Dan Duquette Sports Academy ...
announced in September 1994—less than a month after Buzas' decision to stay in New Britain—that the Red Sox were pulling their affiliation and moving to
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.
Following the Rock Cats departure to Hartford after the 2015 season, the New Britain Bees began play at New Britain Stadium. The team played in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball from 2016-2019 before the team became a collegiate summer baseball league team in the
Futures Collegiate Baseball League
The Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL) is an eight-team collegiate summer baseball league. It has four franchises in Massachusetts, two in Connecticut, and one each in New Hampshire and Vermont.
Format
The Futures League is a wood-bat ...