^ The biggest issue is quality/management of the facilities. New Britain Stadium is built on a city park (Willowbrook Park) and is part of the city parks & recreation system. As a result, the city's collective bargaining agreements stipulate that only park and rec workers can maintain the field and facility. So basically, a guy could be mowing a park on the other side of town at 11 a.m. and then lining the field for that night's game later in the day. Most teams - even in the minor leagues - have their own dedicated groundskeeper and ground crew. If you travel to other parks in the league, you can see the difference between the field in New Britain and other fields. Also, as a result of this inflexibility, the Rock Cats lose a lot of games to rain outs that other teams get in. Generally speaking, they are always near the top of the league in openings lost. They lost something like 9 dates in 2011 when the next lowest team only lost 5. Some teams only lose 1 or 2 in a year. If these happen on a Friday or Saturday, they can be devastating to a team. In fact, they lost a game earlier this year, where it rained during the mid-morning and parks & rec department didn't tarp the field. The game had to be called despite it being sunny and 50 at game time. That was probably the last straw for them.
The team has tried for years to get the city to allow them to hire their own grounds crew and maintain the field and facility themselves. The team, city, and union have thus far been unable to come to a deal.
The stadium in general also needs some work. It's a nice enough place, but the other parks in the league have passed it by over the years, and it's starting to really show it's age. (It will be 20 in 2016). The offices/club houses/press box are really small compared to others around the league. Plus, they are at the point where things like seating/railing/fixtures will need to be replaced and its unclear where the money for that will come from.
Of note, the owners are relatively new, having bought the team in the spring 2012. They are from Eastern Mass., so they don't have a lot of ties to the community. It wouldn't shock me if this was part of a larger plan to "scorch the earth" and deflate the market, making it easier to move the team elsewhere out of Conn.
