NORMAL - The new Frontier will feature a stop in Normal in 2010. Frontier League commissioner Bill Lee watched on Tuesday as Heartland College approved an agreement between the school, the town of Normal and a Mike Veeck-fronted Normal Professional Baseball LLC to build a stadium on Heartland grounds.

The stadium would be home to a minor league team in the independent Frontier League that would begin play in 2010.

"I'm really pleased with everything," Lee said. "I think this is going to be something really great for the entire community and great for our league."

The 12-team Frontier League's season runs from mid-May to early September. The West Division has Illinois teams located in Rockford, Marion, Crestwood and Sauget, with others in Evansville, Ind., and O'Fallon, Mo.

"(Normal) fits very nicely into the West Division, fits like a glove," Lee said. "This community is going to have an awful lot of fun with this club when it opens up."

The Frontier League's East Division has teams in Kalamazoo, Mich., Waterford, Mich., Traverse City, Mich., Florence, Ky., Chillicothe, Ohio, and Washington, Pa.

Lee said his league is contemplating additional expansion in the next two years.

"There are things that are moving," he said. "We're working on possibly breaking ground (on a stadium) in Avon, Ohio. We've got another one or two we're working on."

Lee declined to reveal the franchise fee to gain membership into the Frontier League.

"I don't give that out. It's a one-time fee," he said. "From that point forward, it's all about getting the stadium built and finding the partners here within the business community to assure its success for the long term."

The Frontier League had a record 1.5 million fans last season. Southern Illinois (Marion) is the current attendance leader at 4,224 per game. Last is River City (O'Fallon) at 1,572.

In regard to Veeck's group, Lee said, "I think you folks will have great owners here."

Veeck plans what he called a "citywide promotion" to arrive at the nickname for the Normal team.