The New Britain Bees baseball club has been sold.
Newtown resident and current club General Manager Brad Smith has purchased the team from an ownership group that included Frank Boulton, Mike Pfaff, Anthony Iacovone, Tony Amin and Vic Picone.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The Bees are part of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League and play at New Britain Stadium, former home to the New Britain Rock Cats before the team changed names and moved to Hartford to play at Dunkin’ Donuts Park.
In January, New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart announced the Bees extended their lease to play in the city for five more years.
The Bees were originally in the independent Atlantic League, but announced in 2019 that it would join the Futures Collegiate Baseball League in 2020.
According to the team, more than 15,000 fans walked through the New Britain Stadium turnstiles to watch the Bees make their Futures League debut during the 2020 season, which was Smith’s third as the team’s GM.

The Futures League has seven teams, all located in New England, made up of collegiate athletes competing in a minor league-style format. Each team plays 68 games per season. It wasn’t immediately clear what the league’s plans were for 2021.
Smith has a long history in minor league baseball. His first 10 years in the industry, from 1995 to 2005, were with the Chattanooga Lookouts (AA, Cincinnati Reds). In 2005, along with his late father Dale Smith, he purchased the Kannapolis Intimidators (A, Chicago White Sox).
Smith served as the Intimidators team president through the 2015 season, when he sold the club. Additionally, from 2014 to 2016, the Smith family owned the Wilmington Sharks of the Coastal Plain League.
Smith, a 1995 graduate of Middlebury College, was a four-year starting shortstop for the Panthers, including being named team captain for the 1995 season.
