I ended up getting back into the field of health care (becoming the CEO of ConnectiCare), and spent much of the next decade in the Hartford area. I never wanted to sell the team, but the team’s financial losses were painful, and took their toll over eight seasons. “Bittersweet” is the best word I can think of to express my feelings right now. It has been especially nostalgic this past week when many former employees have said that their jobs at the ballpark were “the best they ever had”. My wife, Jackie and I went to weddings of the ballplayers and of the staff, including those who met their spouses right here in Bridgeport. For years, I fantasized about writing a book about the unique and special people I got to know so well at the ball park. Four of my children (five of six, if you count my daughter-in-law) worked at the Bluefish at one time or another, and we had fantastic staff, players, and fans. We lost money, but everything else about my experience was extraordinarily positive. Bottom line: we had to sell a lot more tickets, sponsorships, concessions, etc. Unlike affiliated baseball where major league teams provided the players free to their minor league counterparts, we were in an independent league and had to provide salaries and benefits (e.g., workers compensation) to our players. We had over 20 sellouts that year, our 20 sky-boxes were all sold out, and we had a big crowd virtually every game.Īlas, even in those early years, the team never made any money, because the business model was extremely challenging. We were upset in the playoffs that first season by the Atlantic City Surf, but came roaring back in 1999 with a 78-42 record and captured the first professional sports championship in Bridgeport in 95 years. We had a full house one Saturday night when our game was rained out, but most of the crowd stayed anyway as we showed the classic baseball movie “The Natural” on our jumbotron screen as the rain poured down. ![]() Radio station, KC-101 even proclaimed our concourse to be the best singles meeting place in Southwestern CT. We had large crowds and extraordinary enthusiasm. I believed the team could turn a profit, but would have been content just to have it break even each year. I also wanted to be part of the transformation of a city I had come to love over two decades of building my business here. I did so in part because baseball and fast pitch softball had been such an integral part of my life and I dearly wanted to marry my passionate avocation with a real-life vocation. When I was asked to invest in the team over 20 years ago, I said ‘yes’ when dozens of other potential investors said “no”. I readily admit that it is hard for me to be objective about such a move. Since it was announced last week that the City of Bridgeport may agree to a deal to convert the ballpark into a permanent amphitheater, I have been inundated with queries about how I feel about the Bluefish most likely leaving town to relocate to another city outside of Connecticut. My executive assistant, Diane Coniglio, came with me (from PHS) and a whole new chapter in my life began. Even though I had moved to this area 20 years earlier, I had never actually worked in Bridgeport until I decided midway through our first season in 1998 to move my office from Trumbull into the Ballpark at Most of you know I decided to be the major investor in the Bridgeport Bluefish when the team was founded in 1996, and so began a decade of my life when I was absorbed, even transfixed, by this professional baseball team that became such an integral part of our region during that period. Quarterly Review of Economic Development. ![]() Government Relations & Legislative Resources.2022 Holiday Dinner & Leadership Awards.Leads Group & Business Referral Network. ![]()
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