Syracuse, N.Y. -- The era of community owned Triple-A baseball in Syracuse is over.

The Syracuse Chiefs' shareholders voted overwhelmingly Friday to approve an agreement between the Community Baseball Club of Central New York and the New York Mets that allows the Mets to purchase the franchise for $18 million.

A two-thirds vote of the shares was required to approve the transaction. Of the votes cast, 9,485 shares (88 percent) voted yes and only 45 shares voted against it. There were 10 abstentions.

"We thank our shareholders for their very strong support today," Bob Julian, chairman of the Chiefs board of directors, said in a statement. "We also thank Jeff Wilpon and the Mets organization for their interest in the Chiefs and their commitment to baseball in Syracuse. This will enable Triple-A baseball to continue in Syracuse. It will benefit our shareholders, and, most importantly, our community."

More than 100 shareholders packed the Hank Sauer Room at NBT Bank Stadium. There were a handful of comments, with a couple attendees speaking out against the deal and a few more with nuts-and-bolts questions.

The Mets will assume ownership in 2018. Julian said there's a "reasonable expectation'' that Washington, which has been Syracuse's major league league affiliate since 2009, will remain the Chiefs parent club through next year. New York would then take over as the parent team in 2019.

The Mets are currently affiliated with Las Vegas of the Pacific Coast League. New York has committed to keeping the Chiefs in Syracuse at least through the end of 2025, the duration of their current lease with Onondaga County to play in NBT Bank Stadium.

While New York may be sincere about keeping the franchise here long-term, however, the arrangement puts Syracuse on the clock to prove it is committed to supporting the team or risk the Mets moving it after 2025.

Each of the Chiefs' nearly 12,000 individual shares, many of which were sold for $10 apiece when originally offered in the 1960s, should wind up being worth about $1,300 each now.

But the exact value of each share won't be figured until after Nov. 27. That's the deadline shareholders whose stock was deemed abandoned and returned to New York State have to reclaim it.

The closing is anticipated to occur in early December. Shareholders will then receive a letter of transmittal, which they will have to complete and return with their tax identification information and their stock certificate or with an affidavit of lost stock certificate. Payment of the price per share payable at the merger closing will then be made to the submitting shareholder promptly by the exchange agent.

The Chiefs have been a community owned team since 1961. But the franchise has

and is staring at a total of $1 million owed to cover a bank loan plus another loan that Chiefs First, a group of investors,

The team's board of directors determined that the best way to pay off that debt and infuse the team with the money needed to keep operating was to sell it to the Mets.

The sale price was set with help from Empire Valuation Consultants. It was revealed at Friday's meeting that that group will be paid $75,000 for its work.

Randy Mobley, president of the International League, recently said the Chiefs financial situation has improved since the dire days of 2013, but "not by leaps and bounds."

"They are living on the edge," he said. "And you have to make a decision on how long you're going to live on the edge. How long can you be satisfied in just taking baby steps?''

This is the second time the Mets have been affiliated with Syracuse. New York shared an affiliation in Syracuse with the Washington Senators in 1962.

Since 1936, Syracuse's other affiliates have been Toronto (1978-2008), the Yankees (1967-77), Detroit (1963-66, 1956), Minnesota (1961), Philadelphia (1954-55), Cincinnati (1942-50, 1937-38), Pittsburgh (1940) and Boston (1936).

Editor's note: The company that operates Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard owns shares in the Syracuse Chiefs, purchased in the 1960s. The media company's chairman, Stephen A. Rogers, sits on the Chiefs' board of directors.