Norwich — Attendance, sponsorships, group outings and promotions all have increased in this second season of Norwich Sea Unicorns summer collegiate baseball at Dodd Stadium, and the team is ready to request a three-year extension on its lease of the city-owned stadium.

Sea Unicorns team consultant Jay Miller conveyed the request for a lease extension to Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom during a meeting Monday. Miller said team owner Miles Prentice is pleased with the second-year progress of the team, after the inaugural 2021 team was thrust together just weeks before opening day.

Norwich was among 60 minor league baseball cities across the country to lose their Major League Baseball-affiliated teams. The final decisions were not known until April 2021, and the team had very little time to decide its next step, join a league, collect players, sign an agreement with the city and prepare the field for play. The team joined the Futures Collegiate Baseball League April 17, one month before the season started.

The City Council and city officials were uncertain a year ago whether a summer collegiate team could be successful in Norwich. The short-term, two-year lease with a third-year option “by mutual agreement,” was approved May 17, 2021, with opening day on Memorial Day.

“We are ready to do a three-year extension,” Miller said Monday. “We are so pleased with how the season has started and where we’re going.”

In 2021, the Sea Unicorns finished sixth in attendance in the eight-team Futures League, averaging 838 fans per game. Through the first 13 games this season, the team is averaging 1,244 fans per game, fourth in the league, according to the Futures League website, www.thefuturesleague.com.

Miller came aboard last year, bringing his more than 40 years of experience as a baseball executive at the Major League Baseball and minor league level to help his friend, Prentice, get the Sea Unicorns better established. Miller paid off overdue lease payments to the city, spruced up the stadium by removing overgrown bushes, refinished picnic decking and removed old carpeting in favor of a polished, stained floor in the skybox team bar.

On July 15, two large groups will have back-to-back picnics at the Sea Unicorns game, including 300 guests expected from Electric Boat, Miller said. This week, about 40 youths are enrolled in the Sea Unicorns baseball skills camp.

As master tenant for the stadium during baseball season, the Sea Unicorns reached a rent agreement this spring with the Mystic Schooners, a summer collegiate team in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, to play their home games at Dodd Stadium. The agreement allows the Schooners to keep the ticket sales revenue, $10 general admission, and the Sea Unicorns running and keeping concessions sales revenue.

“All of that is very encouraging stuff, because you know the interest is there,” Miller said.

Nystrom said Monday he will bring the request for a lease extension to the City Council at Tuesday’s meeting, likely scheduling an executive session to discuss possible negotiations and provide background for the three new aldermen elected last November.

The lease approved last year cover the 2021 and 2022 baseball seasons and is set to expire Dec. 31, 2022, with a third-year option for the 2023 baseball season. Miller said the team now hopes for a longer extension and hopes to enlist the city to help with stadium improvements.

Prior to losing its affiliation with the Detroit Tigers, the Norwich City Council had approved an $800,000 bond for stadium improvements. After refitting the 1995 stadium with new LED lights for $500,000, the city halted spending with the team’s future in doubt. Remaining money was to be for HVAC improvements to the clubhouses and skyboxes and to extend safety netting to the ends of each dugout – a requirement for a minor league team but not for the collegiate level.

Miller said he still hopes to extend the safety netting and would like to ask the city to upgrade the air conditioning in the skyboxes and clubhouses.

c.bessette@theday.com