A Connecticut businessman wants state money to fund a new waterfront professional soccer stadium in Bridgeport, and local lawmakers say they’re firmly behind the project. At least one important decision-maker, however, isn’t quite convinced — Gov. Ned Lamont. On Tuesday, tech entrepreneur Andre Swanston announced he’d been awarded an MLS Next Pro franchise, as part of a long-term plan to bring high-level professional soccer to Bridgeport first announced in October. The team, called Connecticut United Football Club, would play in a new stadium Swanston hopes to build on the lower East Side along along the Pequonnock River, currently home to the vacant Winners Shoreline Star off-track betting facility. In announcing the new team, Swanston cited an estimate from the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis at the University of Connecticut that the proposed stadium would generate over $4 billion in economic impact over the next 25 years, creating more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent jobs.
https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/politics/article/ct-bridgeport-soccer-stadium-funding-lamont-18602668.php