Gov. Andrew Cuomo took some time between announcing initiatives in his "State of the State" address on Wednesday to break a little baseball news: The Syracuse Chiefs will become the Syracuse Mets starting in 2019.

Cuomo revealed the name change before asking New York Mets Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon to stand up in the audience.

Wilpon attended the "State of the State'" event with Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson, new manager Mickey Callaway and two players, infielder T.J. Rivera and outfielder Brandon Nimmo.

Chiefs General Manager Jason Smorol, asked about Cuomo's speech, would confirm only that the team will change its name in 2019 when the Mets move their Triple-A affiliate from Las Vegas to Syracuse. He would not disclose the new name.

"We'll have more to say about it later," Smorol said. "I don't think right now is the time to delve into that. When we're ready to make the official announcement, we'll make the official announcement.''

International League president Randy Mobley said he was unaware of name change plans.

Mobley said general deadlines for teams to apply to the IL for a logo change are the spring or early summer of the previous year. That means the Chiefs would have to make their intentions known by this spring or early summer.

The Chiefs have used that nickname almost continuously since the 1960s, with the exception of a period from 1997 to 2006 when the team was the Syracuse SkyChiefs and affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays.

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Staff Writer Lindsay Kramer contributed to this report.