(AP) -- As one of her last acts as owner, Marge Schott guaranteed the Cincinnati Reds a new 45,000-seat ballpark by 2003. Reds officials celebrated their lease agreement for a new ballpark today, saying it will provide income that allows them to compete for the playoffs once again. For Schott, it was a bittersweet moment. She has agreed to sell her controlling share in the team to three of its limited partners, led by financier Carl Lindner. Schott leaned on a table in front of the pitcher's mound at Cinergy Field while Lindner, team and government officials stood in the background as the 30-year lease agreement was announced. Although Schott didn't say anything during the 20-minute news conference, she showed mixed emotions afterwards about her last major act as owner. ``I wish I was still part of it when it was built, but I'll be part of it, yeah,'' she said. Schott had not made any public appearances and only visited her office at Cinergy Field a few times since agreeing to sell most of her shares to Lindner and two other limited partners on April 20. The $67 million deal that will end her 15-year reign as controlling partner awaits approval by major league baseball, the last step before Lindner takes over. Their appearances on the artificial turf at Cinergy amounted to a public passing of the torch. Although Lindner declined to talk about the team's future because the sale hasn't been approved, he stepped up to the microphone to praise Schott for the ``nice things she has done for this city.'' ``I'll bet she's signed over the last 15 years over a million autographs and I'd like to get a little hand for Marge this morning,'' Lindner said. Schott reached over to touch Lindner's hand as he led the applause. Later, asked if the lease signing was a bittersweet moment, she said, ``Kind of, yeah. But you've got to do things that baseball wants you to do. It's a boys' club.'' Baseball had offered Schott a choice of either selling her controlling shares or accepting yet another suspension for allegedly using the names of Reds employees on falsified sales documents at one of her auto dealerships. Lindner and the other limited partners also had her boxed in -- the current ownership agreement ends after 2000 and they were prepared oust her at that time. The lease agreement means the new owners can count on much more revenue to make the Reds more competitive. The Reds have not had a winning record since 1995, the last year before they slashed the payroll to balance the budget. ``If you don't have a new stadium, you won't be able to compete at all,'' general manager Jim Bowden said. ``This gives us a chance to compete. ``We've never asked to be able to put the same payroll on the field that Atlanta does or the Yankees do, but just put us in the ballpark. Give us a chance to be two or three players short of what they can do financially and not 15 players short.'' The new ballpark will overlap left field at Cinergy, so some of the seats will be removed while the Reds are still playing there. The ballpark will include 3,000 club seats and 51 luxury boxes. Managing executive John Allen said the team will consider selling naming rights. Seat licenses could be attached to some ``ultra-premium seating,'' but regular season ticket holders won't have to buy them, Allen said. An architect is designing the stadium and should have a first draft done in July. -=-=- 