Sports
Connecticut Governor Says No State Funding For A Bridgeport Soccer Stadium
The team starts the 2026 season without a home field.
The state of Connecticut isn’t interested in putting up money to build a small soccer stadium in Bridgeport to house a Major League Soccer development team. André Swanston is the owner of the Connecticut United Football Club of Major League Soccer’s NEXT Pro and he was looking for state funding to build a stadium. Bridgeport Mayor Tom Gaudett was not happy with Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont’s decision. “We’re obviously disappointed. We’ve put a lot of time and energy into this.” The state of Connecticut is investing $145 million to upgrade the arena in Hartford and is throwing another $15 million into an arena in Bridgeport which houses the American Hockey League’s Bridgeport Islanders franchise, a business that could soon be departing Connecticut. The state also wants to keep the Women’s National Basketball Association’s Connecticut Sun franchise from leaving. Lamont called the reported $127 million for the proposed Bridgeport soccer stadium “a pretty big ask”. The state has allocated $16 million to clean up the Bridgeport site Swanston has picked to build a stadium-village
Bridgeport is the fifth biggest city in New England with about 150,000 people within the city limits. It is not a city with money but south and west of Bridgeport is one of the wealthiest areas of the country, New York City’s bedroom community, Fairfield County. There is a major problem right now. The Connecticut United Football Club franchise nowhere to play and its first home game is scheduled for April 11th. Swanston, a tech entrepreneur who lives in Fairfield County, thinks he can land an expansion team in Major League Soccer and an expansion team in the National Women’s Soccer League with a Bridgeport stadium. The planned stadium-village would include housing, restaurants and a hotel. Swanston has a long road ahead of him in getting funding for a Bridgeport soccer stadium-village.
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