When the Capital City Bombers left Columbia in 2004 , all hope for a professional baseball team was lost — until now.
Columbia was home to a professional baseball team for 21 consecutive years and then they were without. But the tradition has been restored and a team is returning to the capital city in 2016.
Now, they just need a name.
Jason Freier, CEO of Hardball Capital, the owners of the Columbia team, said that the company will let the people of Columbia pick the team's name.
The company announced the "Name Our Team" contest that will allow residents to go online and submit a team name and logo.
"To us it is extremely important that we have community involvement in this process," Freier said. "We want to make sure that the name is by and from the community and one that will be embraced by the community."
The winner of the contest will be revealed in the spring of 2015. They will receive a prize pack and will throw the ceremonial first pitch Opening Night of the new ballpark.
Along with giving the public a chance to come up with the team name, Hardball Capital will be conducting research and interviewing people to understand what the community wants for the mascot.
Freier said that the team name should be three things: local, unique and fun. He said that's the reason he is giving the community a chance to name the team.
"We aren't the ones in the best position [to name the team]," Freier said. "The entire purpose is to listen to the community and find the answer to that question 'What makes Columbia special? What makes Columbia unique?'"
The city announced earlier this year that a minor league baseball team will be moving to Columbia.
According to Freier, the team is in the final stages of schematic design with an architect and looks to break ground later this fall on a new stadium.
The stadium, which will be built on Bull Street, will hopefully be completed by March 1, 2016, about a month before the 2016 baseball season starts.
"We think that's very much achievable of a goal," Freier said. "We are pretty comfortable that the timeframe is achievable."
Columbia's new team will be a current minor league team affiliated with a larger Major League Baseball team that will move to Columbia to play. Right now, Freier says he does not know which team will be moving to Columbia, he just knows it is definitely going to happen.
"In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter where the team is playing now, it will play here," Freier said. "At the end of the day where it comes from is less important to us than how all of that works when [the team's] here in terms of its identity and the ballpark."
To submit a team name, go to columbiaproball.com and fill out the form on the homepage.