JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) - The Johnstown Johnnies minor league baseball team has been sold to investors in Kentucky, ending the team's nearly 10-year run in Johnstown, The Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown reported in Sunday editions.

Terms of the sale of the independent Frontier League team were not available Saturday.

The team, facing more than $125,000 in federal and state tax liens, abruptly pulled the plug on radio broadcasts of its games over the summer.

For the sixth straight year the team had also fallen behind in payments owed to the city.

The team is moving about 320 miles southwest to Florence, Ky., a city on the Ohio border and a suburb of Cincinnati. A new name for the team has not been released.

A stadium for the team is currently under construction in Florence.

The team will remain in the Frontier league, league officials said.

The announcement came as no surprise to officials in Johnstown.

"We've been under the assumption the Johnnies would no longer be here," city Recreation Director Cliff Kitner said.

Former Johnnies owner Tom Sullivan told city officials in late August that he planned to sell the team.

A portion of the money from the sale will be placed into an escrow account to pay more than $16,000 in rent and other expenses owed to Johnstown, city officials said.

City officials said there are no immediate plans to pursue another team to play at Point Stadium, which has fallen into disrepair.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-02-08-03 2025EST