State to purchase rights to keep New Haven tennis tournament in state

2013 New Haven Open champion Simona Halep (Photo courtesy WTA)

In the late 1990s, Connecticut lost its National Hockey League franchise — the Hartford Whalers — for greener pastures that ended up being North Carolina. The state didn’t want to see that happen again.

The Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) is expected to approve a proposal next week to purchase the rights to host the New Haven Open women’s tennis tournament for $618,000, Office of Policy and Management Secretary Ben Barnes said. A group from North Carolina was poised to purchase the tournament and move it out of Connecticut. The tournament is held each year at Yale.

The money to purchase it from the U.S. Tennis Association will come from the Manufacturing Assistance Act, which is funded with loans repaid to the state. Read more about this story at CT News Junkie.com.