public DbConnection()
{
    try
    {
        // This will load the MySQL driver, each DB has its own driver
        Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver");
        // Setup the connection with the DB
        connection =     DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:mysql://url/team_staging?"
                        + "user=X&password=X");
    }
    catch (ClassNotFoundException ex)
    {
        Logger.getLogger(DbConnection.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
    }
    catch (SQLException ex)
    {
        Logger.getLogger(DbConnection.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
    }
}

package persistence;

public class DatabaseUtils {
    private DatabaseUtils() {}

    public static Connection getConnection(String driver, String url, String username, String password) throws Exception {
        Class.forName(driver);
        return DriverManager.getConnection(url, username, password);
    }
}