Wilmington mayor Bill Saffo said Thursday he gets contacted at least twice a year by someone who's interested in bringing a minor league baseball team to town.

“It’s not unusual for me to get a call about baseball in Wilmington,” the mayor said Thursday.

Referring to the possible leadership of a new effort by Chip Mahan, Live Oak Bank CEO and chairman, Saffo said that Mahan was “very supportive” of the community’s efforts in 2012 to put together a deal with the Atlanta Braves organization and Mandalay Baseball. “Chip remains very interested” in bringing minor league baseball to Wilmington, Saffo added.

“I have not met with Chip,” Saffo said, acknowledging that he was aware that Mahan had sent around some emails about a potential discussion. He has had “no formal sit-down” with Mahan or anyone else about renewed efforts to woo a team, the mayor said Thursday.

Mahan was traveling and was not available for comment Thursday, according to company spokesman Micah Davis.

New Hanover County commissioner Woody White said Thursday in an email that he had traded a few emails on the topic with business people, University of North Carolina Wilmington officials and Saffo, but they were related to scheduling a meeting in October and contained no substantive details. "Due to something that happened with the Lynchburg [Virginia] team, the meeting was cancelled," White said. "Nothing else is planned."

Still, the possibility remains, the mayor said. 

“The baseball world thinks the market here – based on the research done three years ago – is excellent,” Saffo said. “We’re not talking just about Wilmington, but the surrounding areas. This community has grown tremendously since the '90s, and the baseball idea won’t go away.”

In 2012, taxpayers sent a clear signal about what they were willing to support on the issue, Saffo said, citing a public referendum in which 70 percent of voters sided against building a new stadium downtown. That result killed the Braves-Mandalay-city of Wilmington proposal. Saffo added that there would need to be a “significant amount of private investment,” coupled with some public investment, to make a baseball deal happen in the future.

“I would love to see minor league baseball here in Wilmington” he said. “It’s very clear that baseball would work here, but it will take the right venue and the right team, and structuring the proper deal. If Chip Mahan is involved, that’s a good thing – a private-sector guy like that."

The city staff has not been approached about the possibility of a baseball team and ballpark coming to Wilmington, a city spokesman said.

"We haven't been contacted at all" about baseball, said Dylan Lee of the city's communication office.

Possible renewed interest in bringing minor league baseball to town comes more than three years after the Atlanta National League Baseball Club Inc. (the Atlanta Braves) and Mandalay Baseball Properties approached area officials with the idea of collaborating to move a Braves franchise to the city.

In February 2012, With New Hanover County bowing out of involvement, the Wilmington City Council adopted a memorandum of understanding giving the city, Mandalay and the Braves organization six months to come up with a deal. The proposed stadium was likely to be sited in the north riverfront area downtown.

The Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, Mandalay and Atlanta Braves’ organization hired Raleigh-based public relations and marketing firm Capstrat to promote the deal. Wilmington City Council agreed to fund up to $132,500 for a feasibility study and a preliminary plan for the city to build a 6,000-seat stadium at a cost of $35 million to $40 million. Mandalay would have overseen the stadium operations, under the plan.

City residents would have seen a 2.5-cent tax increase to pay for the stadium construction.

Opponents, however, used a little-known provision to get a stadium bond referendum on the ballot in November 2012. The bond proposal was voted down, and the Braves' franchise team eventually moved from Lynchburg, Virginia, to Zebulon, North Carolina.