The City of Ottawa has reached an agreement in principle that would bring a Double-A baseball team back to Ottawa as early as 2013.

The city's potential deal is with Beacon Sports Capital Partners, who are proposing a 10-year lease of Ottawa Stadium — with two five-year extension options — for an Double-A team in the Eastern League of Minor League Baseball.

Beacon Sports will invest $2 million into the facility and will lease a new scoreboard for an additional $1 million. The city, in turn, would need to invest $2.7 million for stadium improvements and $3 million to help the stadium meet Minor League Baseball standards.

The team would rent the stadium for $257,000 a year for the first 15 years of the deal, up from the $108,000 the city was charging the previous tenants — the semi-pro Ottawa Fat Cats.

City to invest $5.7 million

In total, the city will invest $5.7 million while Beacon Sports will invest $5.5 million.

The deal was scheduled to be recommended to the city's Finance and Economic Development Committee in a report Thursday.

"This is an important milestone towards bringing professional baseball back to the City of Ottawa for the enjoyment of all residents," said Mayor Jim Watson in a statement. "Returning pro ball to Ottawa will allow the city to preserve this important purpose-built facility, maximize the use of an existing city asset and provide an additional recreation venue for our residents.

"It also permits us to minimize the city’s financial resources being directed to the facility over the long term."

Chiarelli hopes to bring Jays affiliate

Ottawa Coun. Rick Chiarelli spearheaded the effort to bring a major-league affiliate back to the city, and said he hopes whatever team Beacon brings is affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays.

He called the deal a win for the city.

"Even if we did not bring baseball to Ottawa, we would still be spending nearly $3 million in the next 10 years just to keep (the stadium) in the shape it is in now, so this lets us get some positive value for taxpayers," said Chiarelli.

"Three years ago, people thought baseball was probably dead in Ottawa and we managed to turn things around," he said.

Ottawa hasn't had a minor league team since the Triple-A Ottawa Lynx who moved to Pennsylvania in 2008 after 15 years.