Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • August 10, 2020 • Hartford Business Journal 15 2020 NOMINATION DEADLINE: AUGUST 30, 2020 This award identifi es outstanding companies and leaders who have supported nonprofi t organizations, along with nonprofi ts and nonprofi t executives who have made a signifi cant impact on the community over the last year. KNOW SOMEONE WHO BELIEVES IN MAKING A DIFFERENCE? NOMINATE TODAY! EVENT PARTNERS: PRESENTED BY: GOLD SPONSORS: If you have questions about this event, please contact Christina Zuraw at 860-236-9998 x134 or email czuraw@hartfordbusiness.com COMMUNITY & NONPROFIT EXCELLENCE VISIT WWW.HARTFORDBUSINESS.COMHBJEVENTS COMMUNITYEXCELLENCENONPROFITAWARDS TO NOMINATE TODAY. mained committed to their combined annual pledge of approximately $1 million. The Athletic is also still shopping the naming rights of Dillon, a 5,500- seat stadium renovated in 2018, to potential local and regional sponsors as it works to achieve profitabil- ity by 2022. Mandell said the team will also need to draw roughly 5,000 paid at- tendees per game if it's going to break even next year. "I think really the question would have been if we didn't have a season," Mandell said. "That would have been very negatively impactful." Philadelphia-based Spectra, which provides venue management services for the XL Center and Dillon, played a major role in presenting new ideas on how to curb the spread of COVID-19 at Dillon, officials said. Many focused on closing sections of the stadium to fans, and teaching event staff to enforce new hand-washing and face mask requirements, among other tips. With Dillon's seating capacity limited at 25%, Mandell said the Athletic's first three home games prove it can safely manage crowds of about 1,375 fans. "Now we will consider slowly, potentially, trying to increase that," Mandell said. "But again, with safety being the number one priority." Kicking the can Hartford Yard Goats management was not surprised when league officials canceled the team's 2020 season in late June, according to General Manager Mike Abramson. After all, the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies at the time would have only been able to host about 30 home games at Dunkin' Donuts Park, which has led the Eastern League in total attendance for two consecutive years. Weeks earlier, the Yard Goats also struck a deal with the city to skip one of its two $250,000 ballpark rent pay- ments because the club was not likely to host games this year. "It's different than it was for us in 2016, when the reason we weren't playing in Hartford was because the new ballpark wasn't built," Abramson said of development hiccups that delayed the ballpark's debut and forced the team to play its inaugural season entirely on the road. Abramson said his staff has turned its attention to hosting and developing smaller events at the stadium. The new "Dinner on the Diamond" event, he says, has been especially popular with fans, who can share a socially distanced meal on the field for $20 or more per person. The team is also opening the stadium for amatuer-level baseball games, and is hoping to host its an- nual par-3 golf course event later this year. Its annual Brew Fest will likely be canceled this fall, Abramson said. Pandemic ends playoff bid The long-established Hartford Wolf Pack was on pace to hit its 2019-2020 attendance goals when the coronavi- rus pandemic put its season on ice in March, team officials say. In the first five months of the season, the team won 21 of 30 home games at the XL Center drawing 119,015 fans, or 3,967 per contest. At- tendance was also expected to climb this spring as the franchise earned its first playoff appearance since 2015. "We had the moment, and there was quite a bit of excitement going into the tail end of the year," said Ben Weiss, the XL Center's general manager who also oversees business operations for the Wolf Pack. "Those final two-and-a- half months are our biggest months, and it had a big impact on us losing those final eight games." An undisclosed number of the XL Center's 45 full-time employees, and more than 500 part-time event staff, were furloughed due to COVID- 19-related shutdowns, Weiss said. For now, the venue, he says, cannot fully move forward with planning Wolf Pack or UConn basketball and hockey games this fall and winter until the state and leagues offer guidance on how to safely host fans indoors. But Weiss and Freimuth both agree there's still time to implement new protocols and train staff for XL Center events this fall. "We are working on a reopening plan, but that depends on what our new capacity will be," Weiss said. "We are assuming it will be limited." The Hartford Yard Goats 2020 season at Dunkin' Donuts Park was canceled due to COVID-19. PHOTO | HBJ FILE

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