FLORENCE – When Clint Brown took over the Florence Freedom in 2004-05, he wanted to change the team name but couldn’t because there wasn’t enough time before the new season began and there were more urgent priorities.

According to Josh Anderson, the current Freedom general manager, Brown wanted a fresh start back then to separate the franchise from the image of its previous owner, Chuck Hildebrant, who founded the team but caused legal and financial troubles along the way.

Brown died in January 2018, and now that there’s a new ownership group in charge, Northern Kentucky’s professional baseball team is getting a new chance at a fresh start.

MORE: Freedom to stay in Florence after ownership change.

The team organization announced Oct. 2 the Freedom name would go away, effective immediately. Fans will get to choose the new team name as part of a contest online at https://www.florencefreedom.com/nametheteam. Submissions will be taken until Oct. 16, and the grand prize winner will receive a pair of lifetime season tickets to the team.

“We want everyone to know it’s a whole new ball game in Florence,” said David DelBello, part of the new ownership group and chief executive officer of the franchise. “We want to create an atmosphere of entertainment and excitement. We want to recreate the buzz of having a family night out at the ballpark. We want to bring back fans who haven’t been here in a few years, or maybe have never been here. We want our fans to be engaged. We want this new brand to be recognized throughout the Tristate and the kids to smile when they see our logo and our name.”

The team is part of the Frontier League, an independent minor league not affiliated with Major League baseball. Players are mostly just out of college or spent some time in the lower levels of minor-league baseball. The Freedom had several players signed by MLB organizations during the 2019 season because of their performance with the team.

MORE: Freedom finish as league runner-up in 2019.

Freedom Baseball Club LLC became the new owners of the team during the summer. Kim Brown, the widow of Clint Brown, had been the owner for two years.

Freedom Baseball Club LLC is comprised of four general partners –DelBello, formerly of Procter & Gamble and president of DelBello Holdings; Brian Bortz, president of Towne Building Group; Danny Heilbrunn, owner of DJH Management; and Matt Kappers, managing director at Concordia Financial Group. DelBello will assume the role of chief executive officer of Florence Freedom. Heilbrunn will become vice president of business development. Kappers will serve as CFO and Bortz will serve as vice president of facilities.

“Kim had a vision for the future,” Florence mayor Diane Whalen said. “She didn’t want to sell the team just to sell the team, but to guarantee that the ownership was local and was committed to Florence and moving forward. I thank her for having that dedication to the community. This ownership group has a vision and a staff that is as good as any in the Frontier League and they’re destined to carry out the dream that Clint Brown had, which was to give this team a true honeymoon phase.”

MORE: Clint Brown passes away.

DelBello said there would be upgrades to UC Health Stadium, completed in time for the 2020 season, and the owners would look to use the stadium in even more ways than it has been currently. UC Health Stadium hosts a variety of youth and high school baseball events when the team isn’t playing there. The team is hosting a fall festival with a pumpkin patch on the field every Saturday in October.

On the field, the team has reached the Frontier League playoffs three of the past five seasons, reaching the league championship series two of the past three years. Florence was 57-39 this past season and won a division title in 2017 with 61 wins.

“The organization has done a great job the past 15 years,” DelBello said. “Nothing is broken, but we feel we can do more.”