NORMAL - An ownership group headed by Mike Veeck was recommended to the Heartland College board and Normal City Council on Tuesday as the best-suited to bring a minor league baseball team to Normal and build a $12 million stadium at a Heartland site.

Alan Sender, chair of a committee studying the feasibility of bringing professional baseball to Normal, cited Veeck's "credibility in baseball, his experience in baseball pretty much all of his life, the fact he wanted to be in Normal as badly as he did and he's one of the premier marketers of baseball in the country.

"All of that puts him in great stead, and he has a very strong, supportive group behind him. When a name like Veeck wants to come to your community, you tend to pay attention."

Veeck, who has indicated he would place a Normal team in the independent Frontier League, is the son of former Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck. Mike Veeck has worked for four major league teams and has owned or partly owned several minor league teams.

"Mike has said he would be president and CEO of the local team," Sender said. "That's quite an investment. He's not (just) lending his name to this."

Heartland would contribute $3.5 million it had planned to spend on its own athletic complex, while the town of Normal would pay for infrastructure improvements around the stadium site and offer the team sales tax rebates on concessions and souvenirs.

"I thought he (Sender) presented a persuasive case for the stadium, but that doesn't mean there aren't devil in the details," Heartland President Jon Astroth said. "There is work to be done by Heartland staff and town staff to analyze some of the documents before us."

The Heartland board tabled a recommendation to move forward with plans for its own sports complex. The board will further discuss the Veeck proposal at a June 3 meeting.

"When you weigh the pros and cons, in my judgment, it's a big benefit, and not just a benefit to the college," Astroth said. "The college is really interested and sincere about wanting to be part of a community development project."

The stadium would feature 3,000 to 3,500 chairback seats with additional capacity for 2,000 in picnic areas.

Normal Mayor Chris Koos indicated the Normal council will consider the Veeck proposal at its first meeting in June.

"We'll discuss our contribution to this project," he said. "We'll have more significant numbers to talk about, and we'll take formal action on those recommendations. I don't see any stumbling blocks moving forward on this. I think we've got the basis for a good working partnership."

Koos said he was initially skeptical about the project because it is unusual for an outside investor to provide the majority of funding to build a stadium.

"I thought because it doesn't happen, it probably won't happen," he said. "The discussions early on were about a privately built stadium, a privately owned team and no public bonding for any of this. I feel this project can stand up under anybody's scrutiny in terms of doing what we said we were going to do."

While the Normal team would not debut in the Frontier League until 2010, the goal remains for Heartland baseball and softball to have a field at the stadium ready for use next spring.

"I think it's a very workable partnership," Astroth said. "This seems to have very strong potential to add to the quality of life in Bloomington-Normal. If we can assist in that, we want to do it."

Astroth said the Heartland soccer teams also would play at the stadium. That would require a synthetic playing surface.

"I would prefer grass," Veeck said last week. "But that's not going to be a deal breaker."

Sender and the baseball committee, which included Normal council members Jeff Fritzen and Adam Nielsen, had three proposals they considered viable. Two would place a Normal team in the Frontier League and one in the Northern League.

"The key to the long-term success of a venture like this is promotion within the community, becoming a community partner and being able to promote yourself successfully," Fritzen said. "Mike Veeck's track record is hard to argue with there."

Michele Steinbacher contributed to this report.

Veeck plans to include Tom Whaley, executive vice president of the St. Paul Saints of the independent American Association, and Steve Malliet, general manager of the River City Rascals of the Frontier League, in his ownership group.

"Then we'll see if we can get any other of my reprobates to join me," Veeck joked. 'There will be some friendly bankers out there. I think they will find our credit to their liking."

Michele Steinbacher contributed to this report.