The Pawtucket Red Sox are in the market for a new home, and Springfield intends to be in the mix.

But the City of Homes' baseball fans should not break out the Cracker Jacks yet, Mayor Domenic Sarno said in an interview Thursday. The city has engaged in back channel talks with the team's ownership but would have to carefully evaluate the costs and benefits before making any formal proposal, Sarno said.

"Would I love to have the AAA Red Sox here? I certainly would, I think it would work very nicely as we continue our renaissance of Springfield," Sarno said.

More than two years after the PawSox' new ownership group first floated the idea of moving the team out of Rhode Island, the organization's future home is again in question, as lawmakers consider a bill authorizing the construction of a new publicly financed stadium in downtown Pawtucket.

On Wednesday, less than two weeks after that bill was introduced, the team released a statement saying that it would consider proposals from other cities, citing the upcoming expiration of their lease of McCoy Stadium in 2021.

"While the dialogue with Pawtucket and Rhode Island officials will continue through a fall session, if called, the club will now also respond to other cities who seek to present proposals for potential ballpark sites," the team said. "Given the uncertainty we face upon the expiration of our lease, and the timetables involved with these sorts of projects, we believe it is prudent and fair to follow this course of action."

The team had promised to exclusively negotiate with Pawtucket through the end of June, though had attracted unofficial inquiries before that deadline. Worcester officials have expressed interest and engaged in their own "back channel" communications with the team, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported.

In an interview, Sarno said he was enthusiastic about the prospects of bringing the team to Springfield, citing momentum from several cultural and economic development projects in the city, including the MGM Springfield casino scheduled to open in 2018, the redevelopment of Union Station and the new Dr. Seuss Museum.

"We continue to have some back channel contact and conversations, [Chief Economic Development Officer Kevin Kennedy] and I," Sarno said. "MGM relationships can play a pivotal role in this and have played a pivotal role."

But he also expressed skepticism about the team's interest in moving, describing PawSox chairman Larry Lucchino as a savvy businessman and "master of leverage" who may be using the prospect of relocation to put pressure on Rhode Island lawmakers.

"He'll play cities against each other," Sarno said. "If Mr. Lucchino is serious about this, he couldn't find a better place than Springfield."

PawSox Vice President of Communications & Community Relations Bill Wanless declined to comment further on the team's intentions.

Sarno - who played catcher for the Commerce High School baseball team before his graduation in 1981 - has flirted for years with the aspiration of bringing professional baseball back to Springfield.

"I've been through this merry-go-round once already," he said.

In April 2015, the PawSox unveiled a proposal to build an $85 million ballpark in Providence, with Rhode Island taxpayers chipping in $4 million per year to cover the team's costs, WPRI reported. The team put public pressure on Rhode Island to approve the deal, warning that its future in the state was likely contingent on coming to a stadium agreement in Providence.

"If we're not in Providence, we're probably not going to be in Rhode Island," PawSox president Jim Skeffington said at the time, according to WPRI.

That same month, heavy hitters in the Springfield business and political communities began discussing the possibility of building a professional grade stadium in Springfield, according to internal emails obtained by MassLive in a public records request.

Michael Mathis, the president of the MGM Springfield casino company currently building a $950 million gaming development in the heart of the city, invited a number of players to "discuss the feasibility of building a baseball park in Springfield," according to one email. Springfield's Chief Economic Development Officer Kevin Kennedy, Peter Pan bus line owner Peter Picknelly, developer and MGM partner Paul Picknelly, then-MassMutual executive Nick Fyntrilakis, Western Mass Economic Development Council chair Rick Sullivan and Republican publisher George Arwady were all copied on that initial exchange.

The informal group evolved to include pursuit of the PawSox, and emails show Mathis organizing communication with team officials. In October of that year, Springfield received an award for "Best Comeback City" at The Globies - a Boston Globe-affiliated sports award event whose lead sponsor was MGM Springfield. At that ceremony, Sarno met with Lucchino and told him from the stage that Springfield could "show a lot of love" to the team, a mayoral spokesman said at the time.

"MGM Resorts was pleased to introduce Mayor Sarno to Larry Lucchino, owner of the Pawtucket Red Sox, at the recent MGM Springfield-sponsored Globies Awards show," MGM Resorts International President Bill Hornbuckle told The Republican in October 2015. "Nothing would make us prouder than to be part of the catalyst for bringing this storied franchise to Springfield, and AAA baseball to the region."

But by February of 2016, with no Providence deal in place, the team's leadership had walked back threats to move, releasing a joint letter by Lucchino and Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien to assure fans that relocation plans were "on the back burner."

Any plans to move the PawSox to Springfield would have to address financial and contractual challenges. Such a move would require the construction of a 10,000-seat stadium, per league rules, and the team's ownership has made clear in its negotiations with Rhode Island that it expects taxpayers to chip in substantial public funding.

"We do have some irons in the fire and I would be more than open to continuing to expand those discussions," Sarno said. "They must be realistic and they must be financially solid."

And a Springfield minor league team would need approval from the nearby Hartford Yard Goats, a Minor League Baseball spokesman told The Republican in 2015.

Professional baseball was last played in Springfield in 1965, when the minor league Springfield Giants packed up and moved to Waterbury, Conn. Former Mayor Michael Albano led a years-long effort to build a baseball stadium in Springfield in the 1990s and early 2000s, but the plan fell apart when a judge rejected the city's use of eminent domain to seize land for the project.