City Council has green-lighted a plan to build a 5,000-seat baseball stadium in the Princess Anne Commons area of the resort city and launch a minor league baseball team to play there.  The organization that submitted the proposal, Virginia Beach Professional Baseball, LLC, included in their stadium bid plans to build 17 new baseball and softball fields in the neighboring area to host national, regional, and local competitions. 

            A public contest to name the new team will soon be opened, according to ballparkdigest.com.  As the plan stands, the team will join the Atlantic League in 2015. 

By the numbers:

5,000 + 2,000

The stadium will contain 5,000 spectator seats and an additional 2,000 berm seats.

2

The number of tenants who will make use of the field.  The primary tenant will be the Beach’s new Atlantic League professional baseball team.  The stadium’s secondary tenant will be a team from the Coastal Plain League, a summer wooden bat league, according to city documents accessed at vbgov.com.

10-0

The unanimous City Council vote to pursue the construction of a minor league stadium.

$40 million

The new stadium’s estimated price tag, according to baseballamerica.com.  While construction is to be privately financed, the proposal asks the city to conduct $7.3 million worth of road and infrastructure improvements to prepare for the new stadium.

60,000 ft.

The square footage of additional commercial space created by the new stadium plan.

30 years

The term of the initial lease to Virginia Beach Professional Baseball, LLC, to operate the new facility on city property.