Marysville signs deal to bring MLB affiliate league baseball team to YS

The Marysville City Council on Friday unanimously approved the deal that will bring the High Wheelers baseball team, which played its inaugural season last year at UC Davis, to Marysville and improve player safety and the fan experience at Bryant Field.

Under the terms of the license, the High Wheelers ball club will pay the city $5,600 a month for three years for use of the four-acre soccer field, which has hosted baseball in many iterations since the 1940s.

The license agreement calls for substantial player safety and customer experience improvements costing more than $500,000, with the city paying for $250,000 of those costs and the ball club footing the rest of the bill.

Improvements include lining the outfield walls and railings along left field and right field; a solid color eye screen in center field to help batters see the ball better; a TrackMan digital performance tracking system to help identify ball speed, launch angle, spin rate and carry distance; minimum two and possibly three step clocks; portable toilets for players a referee’s changing room with toilets and showers; and a video scoreboard in right-center field.

The city will also receive 50 cents per ticket to go into a dedicated fund specifically for ballpark maintenance. The Pioneer League plays a 96-game season from May through September, so 48 home games are guaranteed.

The contract also calls for the city to increase the brightness of the lights. Costs for that were not immediately available.

Under the agreement, the ball club, which will change its name to the Yuba Sutter High Wheelers, will also have licensing rights to promote concerts and other events at the four-acre park.