FAYETTEVILLE (WTVD) -- Baseball fans in Fayetteville are celebrating the return of Minor League Baseball to the city.
Fayetteville Mayor Nat Robertson and Houston Astros President Reid Ryan signed a 30-year agreement to field a Minor League team in a downtown stadium the city is building.
The mayor said a new stadium and Class-A team will bring a quarter-million people to downtown Fayetteville every year.
The Houston Astros say fans can expect big things!
"Whatever your expectation level is of this club, I promise you we're going to exceed it," said Ryan. "The transformation of downtown is going to be something to behold. The memories are made at this ballpark, the quality of life that the citizens of Fayetteville get to enjoy."
The groundbreaking for the new stadium will happen next spring. Construction workers will have to work fast, as the home opener in Fayetteville in the spring of 2019.
This agreement will bring an affiliated Minor League Baseball team back to Fayetteville for the first time since 1998, when the Detroit Tigers left.