ONLY ON 3 & THE BIG TALKER FM: Mayor Saffo won’t support baseball proposal

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY & THE BIG TALKER FM) — In an exclusive interview this morning on The Big Talker FM with Chad Adams, Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo says he and other city council members cannot support the baseball stadium proposal pitched to them two weeks ago.

“Based on the proposal that I have seen to date, I’m not satisfied with it, as I believe all of the other council members are also,” Saffo said. “I don’t think that we’re satisfied with the proposal that’s been brought forward, so we’ll take a look at it and evaluate it and make some decision on it.”

Private developers, Mandalay Entertainment and the Atlanta Braves pitched the proposal to privately finance a nearly $40 million baseball stadium. The group would initially build the stadium and then eventually lease it back to the city.

“Pardon the pun here,” Saffo said, “but we’re putting all of our skin in the game, and they have very little skin in the game.”

Coming up on WWAY NewsChannel 3 at 5:30, we’ll talk with the StarNews’s Shannan Bowen about a recent survey the paper did on public support of a new baseball stadium.