Durham, N.C. — The Durham Bulls will stay with the Tampa Bay Rays through 2010, the team announced at a news conference on Tuesday.

"This is the best Triple-A franchise in all of baseball," said Mitch Lukevics, Director of Minor League Operations for the Tampa Bay Rays. "It's been well known for a long time that Durham is the most famous franchise in minor league baseball, and we're proud to be a part of it."

The general manager of the Durham Bulls, Mike Birling, was equally as excited to see the partnership between the two sides continue for another two years.

"This year alone, we've only played four games and the merchandise sales we have for the Rays in our store has...we've probably sold more in five days than we have in the past few years. You can tell that in this area it's no longer just the Durham Bulls, it's becoming 'the Durham Bulls, Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays,' which we think is a big reason why we wanted to extend our player development contract with them for another two years."

Durham was a Class-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves before moving to Triple-A in 1998. The Bulls have been a Tampa affiliate ever since.

While the Rays have struggled for success at the major league level, the Bulls have been extremely successful. Durham has won two International League titles and six division crowns.

Tampa's poor showing in the majors has led to high draft picks spent on talented players who have often spent time in Durham.

Evan Longoria, one of the Rays' best prospects, was called up just minutes before last Friday's Bulls home opener. He has a hit in each of his first three major league games, including his first big league home run against the New York Yankees Monday night.