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ST. LOUIS - The St. Louis Cardinals announced on Tuesday that they have the necessary funding in place to build a new ballpark in the downtown area.

The new ballpark is scheduled to open in 2006.

"Today represents the successful completion of the first phase of a project which we believe will result in a major revitalization of downtown St. Louis," said Cardinals chairman and general partner William O. DeWitt Jr. "We sincerely appreciate the assistance of the city of St. Louis, St. Louis county and the state of Missouri who helped make this project possible."

Unlike most other publicly-financed and publicly-owned professional sports facilities, the new home of the Cardinals will be owned by the team and privately financed using a combination of private bonds.

"For the Cardinals to be able to privately finance the new ballpark is a real tribute to Cardinal fans and testament to the strength of St. Louis as a major league baseball market," said Cardinals president Mark Lamping. "This private financing structure would not have been possible without the support of the St. Louis business community via the 10-year purchase commitments of most of the ballpark's 63 suites."

The Cardinals have scheduled the ceremonial groundbreaking for Saturday, January 17 during the team's winter celebration.

"We wanted to include as many fans and current and former Cardinal players as possible in this historic event," Lamping said.

The Cardinals have played at Busch Stadium since 1966.

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index