ROYSE CITY -- A $12-million minor league baseball stadium is on the way to Royse City.
Royse City, Royse City ISD, and a company called Ventura Sports are teaming up on the project.
The stadium, to be built just off I-30 and FM 2642, will anchor a 17-acre mixed-use development.
Royse City ISD has agreed to pay $24,000 a year for 15 years. It's still unclear what the city will contribute.
"At this point, we don't know the city's participation totally at this point, but there will be some," said Larry Lott of the Community Development Corporation with Royse City.
At $12 million, it's not quite the Dallas Cowboys' new Star facility in Frisco -- that project tops $1.5 billion. But it is very similar in the way the deal is structured.
Also similar to the Star deal, the school district will get access to the facility. It's set to open for the 2018 baseball season, and all varsity and JV games will take place in the stadium.
"The project will be unique -- not only to the area, but to the region," Lott said. "We believe that the ability to pull people from this region will go way east... The opportunity to pull people into these events is going to be great."
Ventura Sports will operate the stadium and foot the majority of the bill. CEO Mark Schuster says an independent minor league team will use the stadium as it's home field.
Like the Air Hogs in Grand Prairie, that team will not be affiliated with an Major League Baseball team and has yet to be named.
"It will really be a community destination place," Schuster said. "Any day that we go without putting something in this ballpark is a missed opportunity for us."