It's not technically a minor-league team, but Jefferson City will be home to higher-level baseball next summer.
The Jefferson City Renegades will open their inaugural season as a M.I.N.K. League team in June 2017.
The team is the result of an effort to bring a professional Frontier League team to the Capital City - still a long-term goal, but one that's on the back burner for now.
"It's going to be very high-level baseball," said Steve Dullard, president of the board for nonprofit Missouri Sports Betterment, which will operate the team. His fellow board members are Don Irwin and Denny Atwell.
The M.I.N.K. League - formed in 1910 and composed of teams from Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas - offers a venue for collegiate athletes to play and continue developing their skills during the summer months. The league uses wooden bats to simulate the experience of playing on a professional minor-league team.
The Jefferson City Renegades will become the ninth team in the M.I.N.K. League, which includes several other Missouri teams like the Branson Nationals, Joplin Outlaws, St. Joseph Mustangs and Sedalia Bombers.
Jefferson City fits well into the league, said Dan Gerson, owner of the St. Joseph team and head of the league's expansion committee.
"The size of the community is perfect for a team like this. They have a great business plan," Gerson said. "The facilities are good; he's getting a lot of support from the community. I think all the things are there."
League leaders' initial verbal vote was unanimous to approve the Renegades' entry, and it will become official at the league's fall meeting in October.
When Dullard began a community campaign in early 2015 to gauge interest in bringing Frontier League baseball to Jefferson City, the goal was to renovate the Jefferson City Parks and Recreation-owned Vivion Field in Washington Park extensively to meet the minor-league team's needs.
Progress - and capital - on that project stalled over the past six months, Dullard said.
"Our long-term goals are still Frontier League," he said. "But I view it as, if I didn't get something at least going and started, it would never happen."
The M.I.N.K. League offers an opportunity to bring a summer sports attraction to town - without the same level of financial commitment, although the team does pay a franchise fee - while further documenting community interest in a baseball team.
With the M.I.N.K. League, "your financial requirements aren't as still, and the stadium requirements are a lot more loose," Dullard said. "Vivion meets the stadium requirements, although ideally we'd raise some funds to get new dugouts."
Parks and Recreation Director Todd Spalding said his department sees no issue with prioritizing the Renegades' schedule at Vivion Field during June and July.
"I think it's a wonderful opportunity to program some space that normally we don't program a lot in the summertime like that," Spalding said. "It could be a really strong economic impact for the community."
The St. Joseph Mustangs, founded in 2009, were among the top 10 teams for best summer collegiate baseball attendance in 2016, averaging 2,275 fans per game.
"The only way we've been as successful as we've been is with a tremendous partnership with the city. There's no other way it would have worked," Gerson said, noting the city of St. Joseph contributed funds along with the team ownership to renovate the Mustangs' Phil Welch Stadium, which has a capacity of more than 4,000.
As for renovations at Vivion Field, which seats up to 700, Parks and Recreation is open to ideas as funding allows. The Jefferson City Jays baseball program has put some money into the field as well, and Dullard said the Renegades plan to work with the high school team to improve facilities for both users.
Parks and Recreation staff would also run the concessions during Renegades games. While no formal agreement has been reached, the department and the Renegades are discussing whether some concessions proceeds could go toward renovation costs.
With player recruitment already in progress, the Renegades have enlisted the help of a head coach recently made free agent - Mike DeMilia, former coach of the Lincoln University baseball team before the university cut its baseball program this past May.
"It's kind of a stroke of luck that he's still around," Dullard said. "Mike's goal - and I totally agree with him - is making sure we're bringing back as many former local high school talents as possible, especially for the first couple seasons - players from Helias, from Jeff City, from Fatima, Blair Oaks who've gone out and had success in college and want to come back for the summer."
Players from across the country will round out the 25- to 30-man roster, and non-local players will stay with host families.
The M.I.N.K. League season spans more than 40 games, including playoffs, with around 22 home games.
"With bringing in a college wood bat team, we're hoping to show that, 'Look, this has been a great attraction; people are really loving it,'" Dullard said.
If they're successful, they hope to take another run at bringing a Frontier League team to Jefferson City, which could mean building a new stadium and finding a location for it.
They'd likely ask the city to commit land and infrastructure to the project.
"It requires more serious capital in order to operate a Frontier League team," Dullard said. "The very bare minimum that a development group will come in and put money in is if the city is providing infrastructure. At that point, we think we'd be able to provide the ability for investors to come in and run a team."
Looking several years down the base path, Mayor Carrie Tergin said it's a possibility.
"As mayor and as a city we would do whatever we could to help accommodate this league to find a viable location in Jefferson City," Tergin said. "Jefferson City is a sports town. With our central location, I think we have a lot of potential when it comes to sports."
One very preliminary idea proposed for a minor-league stadium is the on the site of the old Missouri State Penitentiary, Dullard said.
The MSP property, currently used most by the Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau for historic tours and recently the site of the Salute to America festival's headliner concert, is owned by the state of Missouri, which developed a master plan for its development in 2003.
The master plan provides for preservation of MSP's historic aspects; it also shows the MSP Parkway designed to extend from Lafayette Street through the site to Chestnut Street and includes plans for office and retail space, hotels, exhibition and multipurpose space, an auditorium, a farmers market, an interpretive center and 22,000 square feet of conference center space.
"The proposal that was put together was something that didn't really alter the master plan; it said, 'Hey, let's just move the stuff inside,'" Dullard said. "The concept was that we could show the footprint of a convention center and the ball field and a hotel, if we really wanted to, inside the walls."
The Jefferson City Council approved a resolution in March to pursue a long-term lease with the state to explore public and private development for part of the MSP site. So far, the City Council and state Office of Administration have not entered into a lease agreement, so the city can't speak for what could be feasible on the MSP property.
If higher-level baseball in Jefferson City ever did escalate to that level, it wouldn't necessarily mean a minor-league team would replace the summer collegiate team, which could relocate or work its home schedule around a minor-league team's, Dullard said.
"I think the M.I.N.K. League will provide a great taste of what could be," he said. "And if the community decides that they're satisfied with that, then we'll run it forever. M.I.N.K. League's been around for 100 years, so I don't see it going anywhere."
Previous coverage:
Baseball team developer, LU to talk about stadium idea, July 5, 2015
Support building for Renegades, April 24, 2015
Minor-league team organizers relying on small donations to gauge interest, March 21, 2015
New minor league baseball team hopes to find a home in Mid-Missouri, March 8, 2015