The Connecticut state government has formally declined to devote taxpayer funds for the construction of a minor league soccer stadium in Bridgeport, the state’s most populous city.
CTInsider reports Economic Development Commissioner Daniel O’Keefe confirmed that state funding will not be directed into the new stadium project. While $16 million in state funds were approved to remediate the property where the stadium is slated to be built – a contaminated former industrial site – the $127 million in public funding sought by tech millionaire André Swanston for the home of his Connecticut United Football Club was turned down.
It is unclear what will happen next. Swanston’s purchase option period for the acquisition of the proposed stadium site expired last summer. The state funding to help clean up the site will not be allocated until Swanston owns the parcel. Swanton’s $1.1 billion project was presented as being primarily funded by private sector money.
Photo: Artist’s rendering for the proposed stadium
