The Somerset Patriots announced a partnership with the New York Yankees after more than two decades in the Atlantic League.

“This is extraordinarily exciting. The global brank that the Yankees are and coming here to Bridgewater is just incredible,” says Patriots president and general manager Patrick McVerry.

The Patriots will serve as the Yankees’ new AA affiliate – a process that started over the summer.

“We had gotten word that they were interested in visiting a few parks in this area. They came here and I could tell right away they had a certain fondness for the area, but more importantly, the ballpark, the field and the operation,” McVerry says.

The details are still being worked out. But the Patriots say that the partnership will be for at least 10 years. The team is already working on ballpark upgrades.

“We’ll be changing the lights to LEDs, padding the entire field, redoing the locker rooms, the health performance center,” says Patriots chairman emeritus Steve Kalafer.

The team says that they are committed to having at least 90% of those changes finished by opening day in Spring 2021.

“They know we’re going to do it right. We’re going to do it the Yankee way,” Kalafer says.

For former Yankee great and longtime Patriots manager Sparky Lyle, the announcement moment that comes full circle.

“I was absolutely elated,” he says. “I couldn’t get over it. I thought, ‘What a journey for me and the Patriots.”

Along with Lyle, other Yankee greats were at TD Bank Ballpark for the announcement, including Willie Randolph and Joe Torre. Torre, a hall of famer, says that he is confident that the Patriots and Yankees will be a winning combination.

“This ballpark, TD Bank Ballpark, has seen its share of winners,” Torre says.

The Patriots replace the Trenton Thunder as the Yankees AA affiliate. The Thunder has an offer to replace Somerset within the Atlantic League as an independent team.