With the announcement earlier this week that the Camden Riversharks were ending operations, it’s been confirmed that New Britain will be the replacement in the 2016 independent Atlantic League lineup.
Technically, the Riversharks aren’t moving to New Britain; operations at Campbell’s Field are winding down, and the New Britain Atlantic League effort is underway, with team officials temporarily located in city offices. By the way, voting opened today for the name-the-team contest: the choices are Bees, Hammer, Hard Hitters Hornets and Stingers.
New Britain Stadium was available after the New Britain Rock Cats (Class AA; Eastern League) announced plans to move to a new downtown Hartford ballpark and rebrand as the Hartford Yard Goats. There had been a few scenarios out there for how the Atlantic League would incorporate New Britain, but in the end the simplest scenario won out.
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