The New Bern Board of Aldermen gave the final approval for a nine-year lease agreement to bring a summer baseball team to the city.
The New Bern Southpaws will play ball at Kafer Park in Downtown as part of the Old State North League.
Meanwhile, up in Greenville, the name of its summer collegiate team was announced.
The Greenville Yard Gnomes will begin play this summer at Guy Smith Stadium. The City of Greenville is renovating the stadium to accommodate more seating, add handicap accessible seats, and update its concessions.
City officials have doubled down on sports a route for economic development. At its workshop session earlier this month, the city council heard results from a study looking at building state-of-the-art sports complexes. Councilmembers appeared enthusiastic about the approach, given the attention and tourism the city received from last year's Softball Little League Championship.
