You can raise the roof for the incoming Hartford Yard Goats, but you will not see a roof over right field in the new downtown stadium under construction.
That's an item that's off the table on the project because the cost is too lofty. More seats are being added in right field, so the team had expressed interest in having more of that area covered, but it didn't fit in the $56 million budget. Not including that roof saves $305,000 dollars on Dunkin' Donuts Park.
"If you're going through all the groundwork of tearing up the entire lot only to cut away on part of it, what would you really be saving?" Reese Hart, of Bloomfield, said.
But that doesn't mean Yard Goats fans will have to sit in the sun or the rain to watch a game at the stadium, now under construction at the corner of Trumbull and Main streets in Hartford.
"If it's going to be really hot out, we’re going to have to suck it up and wear some sunscreen," Daisy Infantas, of Hartford, said.
There will still be a boomerang shaped roof covering seats from first to third base.
"Now there going to get much less amenities for their buck," Bruce Rubenstein, of Hartford, said.
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Hartford City Councilor Kenneth Kennedy (D) said "we will all be able to judge this in a couple years whether the right decision was made or not."
While the roof idea is in the toilet, there is one amenity the Yard Goats would not let city officials flush from the stadium project plans -- toilets with the automatic flushing option. City officials considered cutting it, but the team said no and is picking up the $21,000 tab for the toilets to flush themselves so fans will be able to use modern restrooms.
"You should be focused on the ballgame not whether the toilet flushes or not ," one woman said.
Other than that plumbing, piping and HVAC cost savings, officials say the cost cutting on the project is most likely done, but "the work and the construction is ongoing," according to Michael Looney, project manager and development services employee for the city of Hartford.
"The park is a living thing so we meet weekly to discuss any issues," Looney said. ".... The main point is that the city committed to a stadium for $56 million and the city is not going beyond that number."
Any decision for the project to go over budget would need Hartford City Council approval.
Construction is on track for the ballpark to be finished by March 11, 2016 in time for the 2016 season.
The Hartford Yard Goats are a Double A minor league team, formerly known at the New Britain Rock Cats.
