Rockford, Illinois-You'll have several options next summer for watching a ball game in the Statelne.  There's the RiverHawks, the Snappers, the Thunder and now a new baseball team that's setting up shop in Rockford.

WTVO has been reporting about this for more than a year.  Wednesday the official word came that Rockford will have a wooden bat league baseball team next year.  27 year old Joe Stefani, the youngest majority owner of a sports team in the United States, is the man behind the team.  He's the head of Three Strikes Baseball Corporation. 

The team will play at Marinelli Field on the south side of downtown Rockford.  Marinelli Field has been the home of many former Rockford minor league baseball teams.

"We're going to be putting money into doing upgrades at the facility," said Stefani.

Wooden bat leagues have been around for decades.  They're summer leagues for college players giving them a place to play when school is out.  They use wooden bats instead of the aluminum bats that they use on their college teams.

"It's very different from the other competition in town with the RiverHawks," said Stefani.  "The difference is these kids are the stars of tomorrow."

Stefani rattled off the names of Ryan Howard, Joe Girardi, Neal Cotts and Kirby Puckett as former wooden bat league players in Illinois.

Stefani says major league scouts flock to these games, and many of the players wind up getting drafted by major league organizations. "This is the new way of scouting," said Stefani.  "This is how kids get scouted now because scouts don't have time to go to the U of I (Illinois) and see one player.  Here they come to one game and can scout 6, 7, 8 players that they're interested in."

Stefani says local players will be given ample opportunity to play on the team.  The team will play 27 home games between Memorial Day weekend and early August.  Stefani is hoping about 30,000 fans total will turn out. 

Stefani plans to cater to fans and families who are on a tight budget.  Ticket prices will run as low as four dollars.

"We are going to have the lowest ticket prices in Rockford by far.  Every Tuesday is two dollar Tuesday.  Every Monday will be an unemployment night.  As long as you show a vailid ID and prove you're on unemployment you get a free ticket to a game on Monday."

Stefani says his team will create 100 mostly part-time jobs for Rockford.  And he emphasizes that the team isn't seeking any incentives or tax breaks from the city. 

The news of a baseball team back in Marinelli Field in Rockford's fifth ward is welcome news to fifth ward alderman Venita Hervey.

"This is going to pull in a lot of families from the surrounding area," said Hervey to  WTVO.  "I love the fact they've priced the tickets reasonably."

The team will compete in the new Great Plains League.  A name the team competition is beind held through the end of this month.  You can submit a suggestion for a team name by going to www.RockfordsNewTeam.com.