Although the team’s owner has not confirmed reports that Wilmington will be losing its professional soccer team after this season, supporters of the Hammerheads and city officials are voicing their concerns about the possibility this week.

News that the team would sit out 2017 came from recent United Soccer Leagues midseason meetings, according to soccer website Scratching the Pitch, and local TV station WECT cited anonymous sources in a report Monday that said the pro team won’t be back after this year but could be replaced by a development league team.  

Hammerheads officials have not confirmed either report. Efforts to reach Hammerheads general manager Jason Arnold, team owner George Altirs and coach Mark Briggs were not immediately successful.

Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo said Tuesday that officials were disappointed to hear the reports.

“Obviously, the Hammerheads have been part of this community for a long time, were really begun by a local group of people here in this community ... I hope that the Hammerheads organization will bring in some sort of developmental league into the city, kind of like what we have with the Sharks, with the Coastal Plain League ... I believe that there will be some team that will be brought into Wilmington, maybe not on the level that the Hammerheads are at but something that will remain here in Wilmington that we can rally around and support as we have the Hammerheads for many years,” Saffo said.

The Wilmington Hammerheads FC professional team began playing in the Port City in 1996, enjoying a successful stint here up to 2009, including a league title in 2003, before economic troubles led the team to shut down, according to a 2011 Greater Wilmington Business Journal story.

Bill Rudisill owned the team for a decade before selling to an ownership group that eventually folded the team. The Hammerheads came back in 2011 after an 18-month hiatus, according to the story and a timeline on the team's website, with Rudisill again part of the new ownership group.

Rudisill then sold the majority share of the Hammerheads to Altirs in 2013. Previously, Altirs co-founded GMA Accessories Inc., a manufacturer and importer of apparel and footwear for women and children, and is the co-founder and CEO of team apparel supplier Capelli Sport.

Rudisill said Tuesday that he, too, is upset about the recent Hammerheads reports.

“Many of us put so much time into the team. We tried to make it a community team, and it was kind of a team that the whole community rallied around,” he said.

He said Wilmington, though, has not had the corporate base needed to support a professional team like the Hammerheads.

“You might have a lot of people at the games, but selling corporate sponsorships was how you make the team survive and put it in the black, but we never made any money any year,” Rudisill said about the times he and other partners owned the Hammerheads. “I was involved with it for 12 years, and it was OK [that the team wasn’t making money]; this is my town, we’ve all done pretty well and that’s how we [the ownership group] viewed it,” Rudisill said.

Wilmington Hammerheads Youth FC executive director Carson Porter sent an email to parents, coaches, players and friends Monday evening addressing the reports that the Hammerheads are leaving. Cape Fear Youth Soccer and the Hammerheads partnered in 2014 to become Wilmington Hammerheads Youth FC, an organization that includes more than 3,000 annual participants.  

“Our partnership with the professional team has always been based on soccer, and though we hope they do not leave, should they leave our club is not affected in any way as it relates to business organization, operation, budgets, facilities, or staff,” Porter wrote in the email. “Like you, we are sad to hear these reports and hope this team that our youth players have looked up to and admired for 20+ years does not leave. But if they do, be assured that this club is in a good place and will continue to provide our children with the very best soccer experience that we can.”  

Amy Beatty, Wilmington’s superintendent of parks and recreation, said Tuesday that Hammerheads officials had not confirmed any plans to discontinue using Legion Stadium next year. Typically, the team works out a schedule with the stadium in the December or January before the next season, Beatty said.

A five-year agreement the Wilmington City Council approved in 2014 said the team would be charged $900 per game for 2016 for up to 16 games at Legion Stadium, with collection of a ticket surcharge of no more than $375 per game for the 2016-17 season in April and May, $1,250 in June and July, and $625 in August. The agreement also provides 50 percent of the net profit from city-operated concession sales to the Hammerheads. 

The Hammerheads have played 10 games at Legion Stadium since April, with their last game of the season this year scheduled for Sept. 24 against the Richmond Kickers.

During the team's season in 2015, the city received $6,800 from the ticket surcharge, $10,800 from the per-game fee and $14,912.65 in concession revenue for a total of $32,512.65, said Malissa Talbert, city of Wilmington spokeswoman.

City Councilman Neil Anderson said Legion Stadium isn’t a big moneymaker for the city but provides a benefit for the local teams that need it. He said city and county officials have worked with the team over the years to accommodate changes the Hammerheads have needed, such as more lines on the field. He said their games have been a good attraction for the estimated 3,000 or so fans who attend each one.

In February, the Wilmington City Council approved replacing the sound system and score board at Legion Stadium at a cost of $115,000, with an individual contribution of $5,000 coming from David Ward, $10,000 from the Hammerheads and $33,333 each from the city, New Hanover County and New Hanover County Schools. The city had $15,888 from ticket surcharges at Legion Stadium that would go toward the city’s portion, according to city documents from the council’s Feb. 16 meeting.

Anderson, who is the chairman of the Legion Stadium Commission, said the upgrades would have been necessary regardless of the owner's plans for the Hammerheads.

In March, Cape Fear Community College entered into an agreement with the city for the school’s soccer teams to start playing home games at the stadium for a fee of $600 per game plus a $35-an-hour attendant fee and 50 cents per ticket collected as revenue for future stadium improvements.