The Triple-A baseball team destined to call Reno home in 2009 will be named the Reno Aces, team owners announced on Tuesday.

The name was chosen out of 3,500 entries submitted in a contest. President of SK Baseball Stuart Katzoff said there were 1,100 unique suggestions and that the name Reno Aces was suggested more than 100 times.

“We spent a long time working on this name,” Katzoff told a crowd of several hundred at the Siena Hotel late Tuesday afternoon. “We wanted something that was very professional and would fit the region. I think we nailed it perfectly.”

The Reno Aces will be the Triple-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Aces, which played as the Tucson Sidewinders last year, will again play in the Pacific Coast League, which includes teams in Las Vegas and Sacramento. Team officials expect the Sacramento Rivercats — an affiliate of the Oakland A’s — to become a natural rival.

“(Triple-A baseball) is the best baseball you can play on this planet next to Major League Baseball,” team general manager Rick Parr told the crowd, which included local officials and residents. “All our players go to the major leagues and you get to know them before they become superstars.”

The team has about 2,500 deposits on season tickets, Parr said. The prices for 72-game season ticket packages have not yet been determined, Parr said, though priority deposits cost $105.

SK Baseball broke ground for a $50 million stadium in Reno in February. They say construction is on schedule for the ballpark between the Truckee River and the downtown casino district. It will seat 6,500 people and provide lawn seating for 3,500 more.

Katzoff is an equal partner in SK Baseball along with his father, Jerry, who owns a chain of East Coast Italian restaurants, and Herb Simon, a leading mall developer and owner of the NBA's Indianapolis Pacers. They bought the team in 2006 and announced last year they were moving it to Reno.

Donning a Reno Aces jersey, Mayor Bob Cashell said Tuesday that crews are working six days a week to make sure the stadium is ready for the team’s opening day, slated for April 17, 2009.

The company also plans to build a neighboring outdoor plaza with a series of retail shops and restaurants.

"We're building a first-class ballpark. It's a place you'll be proud to bring your whole family," Parr said. "This will change the face of downtown forever."

Parr admitted he's run into some local residents who were skeptical the stadium would be built and the team would begin play in Reno next season.

"The feedback I get from this community is interesting but strange as well," Parr said. "'I'll believe it when I see it.' I get a lot of that."

Scott Sonner of the Associated Press contributed to this report.