The marriage made in baseball heaven between the Lincoln Saltdogs and the Northern League is over. No settlement. No alimony. Still 96 games and 48 at Haymarket Park. Still roster rules and a salary cap, but new competition and a new league name are guaranteed.

The Saltdogs, along with the St. Paul (Minn.) Saints and the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Canaries announced Thursday they are leaving the Northern League to start a new independent pro baseball league.

“We’re off on a merry journey,” said St. Paul owner Mike Veeck. “Why shake things up? Because we need to try some new things that the Northern League doesn’t want to try. That’s nothing against them, but we need to try things to keep them fresh and growing.”

Saltdogs president Charlie Meyer added, “A new independent league could bring high-level baseball with a fresh approach that should be fun for the fans. And the fans are why we have baseball in Lincoln.

“We’re going to try and build the best team and offer great entertainment, like always,” he said. 

More information on the new league will be made available in the next two weeks, Meyer said.

The Northern League drew almost 2.2 million fans last year. St. Paul was second in the league with a 6,171 per game average attendance and Lincoln was fourth with an average of 4,325 paid attendance.  Independent league baseball teams across the country drew almost 7.4 million fans last year.

The Saltdogs began play in the Northern League in 2001, bringing professional baseball back to Lincoln for the first time in 40 years. St. Paul and Sioux Falls were original members of the latest version of the Northern League that was formed in 1993.

“The Northern League is the best independent league in the country, and I understand why some teams want to stay with them,” said Veeck. “We feel there’s a need to look five years and more down the road.

“Many of the advances in major league baseball have come from the minor leagues and while independent baseball is growing we see the majors quietly dropping the Gulf Coast League and the Arizona Fall League,” said Veeck, who is considered one of the most innovative owners in the minor leagues. “We have a chance to fill some of those gaps and build a relationship with the major leagues down the road.”

Meyer said one of the reasons for leaving the Northern League included the league’s recent expansion to 12 teams last year and talk of expansion to 16 teams in the near future.

“We have to think of costs and wear and tear on the players and the travel involved right now is extensive,” Meyer said.

The new yet-to-be-named-until-attorneys-clear-it league hopes to establish interleague play with existing Northern League teams as well as interleague play with teams in the Golden League in California, the Frontier League with teams in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky, and the Atlantic League with teams on the East Coast.

There is some preliminary talk that more Northern League teams might join the new effort. The new league could include the stronger franchises from the Central League, which has teams in Texas and Louisiana.

“This is exciting and we don’t know hardly any details,” said Saltdogs captain Bryan Warner, who has played five seasons in Lincoln. “The chance for interleague play is exciting because we could find out which is the best independent team in the country. The fans will benefit because the competition level will even be higher than it was with the Northern League.”

Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or at khambleton@journalstar.com