Rays, Bulls extend contract

01/31/2006
ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays and the Durham Bulls have agreed to a two-year extension to their current player development contract.
By extending the deal, the Rays guaranteed that the storied Minor League franchise will continue to be the Rays Triple-A affiliate through the 2008 season.
"The Durham Bulls franchise has been an important member of the Devil Rays family from our very beginning and has become an American baseball icon," said Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. "We are pleased that this association will continue."
The Bulls and Rays have been affiliated since 1998. In the eight seasons since then, Durham has won five International League Southern Division titles and two International League championships.
Durham gained a high profile in 1988 when the movie "Bull Durham" was released. Kevin Costner, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon starred in the Ron Shelton film in which Costner and Robbins played for the Bulls. Much of the movie was shot at the Bulls' old park, which has since given way to Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the $16 million brick ballpark that opened in 1995. DBAP was expanded to a 10,000 seat capacity in 1998, the year the Bulls entered the International League.

Source: http://tampabay.devilrays.mlb.com/