In a statewide push to "bring in more and larger events, public and private groups have formed the Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau -- the state's first unified group of its kind," according to Brian Dowling of the HARTFORD COURANT. The bureau is a "marketing partnership between the state Department of Economic and Community Development and the Greater Hartford Convention & Visitors Bureau, which has taken the name of the larger group." The Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau is a "private, nonprofit agency and will market various venues through" a $1.3M marketing contract with the state. The new bureau will "establish a membership of venues, restaurants, hotels and various other businesses related to the convention industry." As part of the consolidation, a "sports events panel that formerly advised the state legislature and the state's division of culture and tourism, will now be part of the convention and sports bureau." The culture and tourism agency "is now under DECD, overseen" by Commissioner KIP BERGSTROM. AEG CT Senior VP & GM CHUCK STEEDMAN will chair the bureau's sports marketing arm (HARTFORD COURANT, 6/28). Meanwhile, in Hartford, Rick Green writes under the header, "Good Signs On Hartford's Horizon Even Without NHL." Green: "The NHL isn't coming back. But I'll bet there will still be some kind of minor league team in Hartford for years to come, even without" Whalers Sports & Entertainment President HOWARD BALDWIN, whose company earlier this week lost its role as day-to-day operator of the AHL Connecticut Whale (HARTFORD COURANT, 6/28).
