Mayor Mike Rawlings said Saturday that there is "no question" the city will offer incentives to entice Amazon to bring its second headquarters to Dallas.

Rawlings, in a conversation with Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith during The Texas Tribune Festival, declined to put a dollar figure on the proposal. Rawlings also expects the state will pitch in with a check of its own, but also lamented that he believes the state Legislature has become less business-friendly and incentive-averse in recent years.

"Fundamentally, you've got to decide, are you going to grow, or not?" he said. "If a company says, 'I'm going to bring 50,000 employees, what are you going to do for me,' that's a fair transaction."

Amazon's request for proposals states that state and local incentives to help offset capital costs are "significant factors" in their decision. It's unclear where that money will come from, but the city could use Chapter 380 grants and has millions in bond money for economic development on the November ballot. But he would need City Council support.

The mayor said Dallas is "a legitimate contender" for Amazon. He touted the region's tech workforce, its airports and its diverse and growing economy as ideal for the online retail giant.

Rawlings threw out as potential landing sites the midtown project on the former Valley View mall site and an area southwest of downtown along Riverfront Boulevard that is earmarked for development.

But first, he said, the city will join up with other North Texas areas. He said he spoke on Friday with more than a dozen other mayors in the area to team up on a pitch.

"Options are going to be very important to them, and if you look at DFW, I think we're going to have more options than anybody," he said.

After they draw Amazon to North Texas, the cities will then fight it out to win the corporate campus, he said.

It's a strategy that Rawlings has used frequently in recent years during international trips with Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price. But often, the businesses the tandem hooks land in other North Texas cities.

But Amazon, which is based in downtown Seattle, lists as important factors direct transit access and other factors that some suburbs, such as Frisco, currently lack. Rawlings said he will fight hard for Dallas when the time comes.

"We're going to be as aggressive as the next guy in the city of Dallas," Rawlings said. "This is a game-changer."