Waco leaders want a minor league baseball team in town.

City and business leaders in Waco, Texas have decided that the city needs a minor league baseball team and they have started the mechanism in an attempt to lure a potential owner to the city. There is no stadium plan at the moment. Right now, Major League Baseball is not interested in putting a minor league team in the Texas city. But the city has commissioned a study of what it needs to do to build a minor league baseball park that would anchor a stadium-village. The Chicago, Illinois-based Hunden Partners will do the research. The City Manager Bradley Ford said the baseball stadium idea and team criteria will ultimately rely on the findings of the Hunden study and the master developer the city chooses for the project. The master developer of the project could be chosen soon.

Waco used to house minor league teams. The first team that called Waco home was the Waco Babies of the Texas League in 1889. There have been nine different teams that have a history in Waco but it has been 68 years since the city saw an affiliated minor league team. The Waco Pirates of the Big State League ceased operations in 1956 when its working agreement with the Pittsburgh Pirates ownership expired. Ford said Waco’s interest in baseball began in 2022 when an experienced ownership group expressed interest in Waco. The city began exploring ballpark concepts in the greater downtown vision, and it has received interest ranging from independent baseball leagues to Double-A minor league affiliate developers. Ford said a potential team would need to bring previous operation experience and ability, as well as a long-term financial commitment to construction, a long-term lease of the facility or both. There is a long way to go before Waco officials can even offer a stadium to anyone but Waco is in the stadium game.

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