The city of Kinston has its work cut out if it wants to land another minor league baseball team now that the city of Wilmington hopes to build a 35 to 40-million dollar stadium to land a team.

The Wilmington city council next week will discuss negotiating with the Atlanta Braves and Mandalay Baseball Properties to build that stadium.

Wilmington mayor Bill Saffo says a tax increase may be required to afford the facility.

So how would a minor league team in Wilmington impact efforts to land another team in Kinston after the Indians left for Zebulon?

Kinston Parks & Rec Director Bill Ellis says, “Cam McRae and the ownership group have worked very hard the last 2 or 3 months trying to get a team, the city council has looked to get a lease agreement signed with the stadium to keep a professional baseball image here-and we've done some college tournaments to use the stadium until we get a team.”

Ellis says some upgrading will be in order at the stadium to attract another team but feels a team in Wilmington would only help make Eastern Carolina a “mecca” for baseball.”