The next iteration of professional baseball in Colorado Springs might be making its way to the on-deck circle.

The Colorado Springs Sports Corp. revealed Wednesday that it is in discussions with an ownership group tied to the American Association of Professional Baseball to bring a team to the Pikes Peak region “that would fill the void of the (Rocky Mountain) Vibes,” Sports Corp president and CEO Megan Leatham said.

“They approached us wanting to look at Colorado Springs as the market,” Leatham said. “From our initial first meetings, they have kind of locked in us, and we’re really excited about showing them potential sites for, honestly, a new stadium.”

The ownership will return to the city before the end of the year to tour as many as eight potential stadium locations, including sites downtown and off North Nevada.

While no options are off the table at this early stage, the stadium off Barnes Road and Tutt Blvd. formerly used by the Colorado Springs Sky Sox and Rocky Mountain Vibes doesn’t likely fit the parameters sought by the new group that would seek a venue with approximately 5,000 capacity and the potential to incorporate a surrounding commercial district.

“My guess is it would be a standalone rebuild in the heart of our city,” Leatham said.

The details of the private vs. public funding aspect of a stadium will be part of negotiations, said Davis Tutt, the senior director of sports tourism and Olympic engagement for the Sports Corp.

The American Association of Professional Baseball is a partner league of Major League Baseball but its teams are not part of affiliated minor league baseball.

No affiliated leagues are currently viable options for Colorado Springs, as teams in Double-A and lower levels are clustered geographically and travel by bus. The closest option would be the Texas League, with Colorado Springs around a 5 ½-hour drive to the nearest team in Amarillo, Texas. While Triple-A – the Sky Sox level for three decades – does travel by air, it became a poor fit because of altitude and weather once the Colorado Rockies cut ties and moved their Triple-A affiliate to Albuquerque, N.M.

The American Association of Professional Baseball travels by air and has franchises stretching from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Cleburne, Texas. Some of the larger-market teams in the league are the Chicago Dogs, Kansas City (Kan.) Monarchs, Lincoln (Neb.) Saltdogs, Gary (Ind.) Southshore Railcats and the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Canaries.

Colorado Springs has been home to various levels of professional baseball since the Elmore Sports Group relocated its Triple-A team to the city from Hawaii in 1988. The team, coined the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, was the Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians from 1988-92 and was then attached to the Rockies from the time of their inception in 1993 until the team cut ties in 2014.

The Milwaukee Brewers became the parent club for four seasons, then the Elmores shuffled their properties in 2019 and San Antonio became their Triple-A team, a new team in Amarillo was assigned to Double-A and Colorado Springs – then rebranded as the Vibes – took over as a Rookie League affiliate that was once located in Helena, Mont.

The Rookie League was then contracted as part of MLB’s downsizing of the minor leagues, leaving Colorado Springs and other Pioneer League clubs to move forward as independent teams.

When teams in Northern Colorado and Grand Junction folded, the Vibes followed suit after this past season.