Hartford Yard Goats' ballpark won't be ready for Opening Day, team may play first month on road

After a meeting between the developer of the Hartford Yard Goats' new home ballpark and the city of Hartford's stadium authority on Tuesday afternoon, this much is clear: Dunkin' Donuts Park will not be complete in time for the team's home opener on April 7, according to the Hartford Courant.

Furthermore, the Colorado Rockies' Double-A affiliate is reportedly considering playing the first full month of the 2016 season on the road, with WNPR reporting that owner Josh Solomon is adamant the Eastern League ball club will not open play in an incomplete stadium.

The ballpark developer and city officials met on Tuesday morning, the most recent chapter in continued attempts to find some sort of solution to their budget and construction impasse. Even with new Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin imploring both sides to get on track for Opening Day, it appears that is now out of the question.

Purple Row reached out to Yard Goats assistant general manager Mike Abramson to comment on the situation, but he declined to do so at this time.

With the team now looking to spend at least the first several weeks of their schedule away from Hartford, it'll be interesting to see whether it affects who the Rockies assign to their Double-A affiliate to begin the season. While it's easy to speculate on paper which minor leaguers ought to be in Hartford in 2016, though, we ultimately won't know anything in regards to player development until spring training, anyways.

We will keep you updated with what's happening around the Yard Goats and Dunkin' Donuts Park as we continue to learn more about the situation.