Gwinnett County's deal to build a new stadium for the Atlanta Braves' top minor-league affiliate is conceptually similar to the Braves' deals at Turner Field and two other minor-league stadiums.

As with Turner Field and minor-league stadiums in Rome and Pearl, Miss., the Braves won't own — or pay to build — the Gwinnett stadium. But as with the other stadiums, the Braves will operate the Gwinnett stadium and, in return for rent payments, retain most of the revenue it generates.

The Braves and Gwinnett officials formally announced Tuesday that the Braves in 2009 will move their Class AAA farm team from Richmond, Va., into a new stadium to be built near the Mall of Georgia.

The county will own the stadium, and the Braves have agreed to a 30-year lease.

Gwinnett County administrator Jock Connell estimated the cost of stadium land and construction at about $45 million. He said Gwinnett would contribute $12 million from tax funds earmarked for recreation and would finance the other $33 million with bonds to be paid off from revenue generated by the stadium.

"We anticipate it paying for itself from day one," Connell said. "The decision we made before going into this was it had to be financially feasible."

Under terms of the Braves' agreement with the county, the team will pay rent of $250,000 per year in the first five years, escalating thereafter, plus $1 for each ticket sold. The Braves guaranteed at least $400,000 in annual ticket fees.

The rent and ticket fees will be used to fund debt service, according to the agreement.

The deal also gives the county the right to sell naming rights to the stadium. From those proceeds, the Braves are to receive $350,000 per year from Gwinnett, with the county retaining the rest.

The deal allows Gwinnett to hold — and retain revenue from — up to 10 non-Braves events in the stadium each year.

For Gwinnett Braves games, the team and county will split parking revenue 50-50, but all other game revenue will go to the Braves, including that from suite and seat sales, concessions and advertising.

The Braves' only expense toward construction of the stadium, according to a term sheet with the county, will be for "furniture, fixtures and equipment." The county, though, will be responsible for permanent fixtures such as scoreboard(s), the deal states.

Once the stadium is built, the Braves will be responsible for the routine costs of maintaining it. The county will be responsible for capital improvements.

Braves executive vice president Mike Plant said the deal is similar to the organization's deals on minor-league stadiums in Rome and Pearl, as well on Turner Field, in the sense that the team doesn't own the stadiums but controls their operation "lock, stock and barrel."

The Braves maintain that they have not made money on their Class AAA operation in Richmond but believe they can do so in Gwinnett.

"If you do it right, you can [make money]" Plant said. "But for us, this is not about making money. It is about taking care of our fans, taking care of our players and not going in the hole doing it."

Braves and Gwinnett officials said the team and county will work together in designing the stadium but that the county is ultimately responsible for its construction. The term sheet calls for construction to begin by April 1.

This marks the third Braves minor-league team to relocate in the past five years, all moving to new stadiums. The Braves moved their Class AA farm team from Greenville, S.C., to Pearl, Miss., a suburb of Jackson, in 2005 and a Class A farm team from Macon to Rome in 2003.

The Braves' Plant said years of negotiations to keep the Class AAA team in Richmond never yielded "even the first page of an agreement."

"We didn't have any clarity, didn't see any end in sight" in the Richmond negotiations, Plant said.

"It's a lucky coincidence this happened. If [Gwinnett] were going to build a facility in our backyard, it's better to have us here than another team."

The Braves could have blocked another major-league team from putting a minor-league affiliate in Gwinnett, but they could not have stopped an independent-league team from setting up shop there.