Mariners Get Lease They Want In Close Vote Facilities District Beats Deadline, Adopts 20-Year Deal For New Stadium

The Seattle Mariners got the lease they wanted for a new $405 million stadium project Monday on a 4-3 vote by the board of the Washington State Major League Baseball Public Facilities District.

After voting by a similar count to reject a move that action be postponed to allow time for a public hearing, the board adopted the 20-year lease a day before the Christmas Eve deadline set by Mariners’ owners.

“Tough decision. Tough deal. We don’t like it. The landlord business is a crummy business. It causes people to get into conflicting positions,” board member Robert Wallace said. “I think it’s the only practical way to manage this kind of facility.”

Fast action is needed because Congress is likely to bar the use of tax-exempt bonds to finance sports stadiums next year, a restriction that would boost costs by about $25 million “and possibly endanger the viability of the entire ballpark project,” board member William P. Gerberding added.

Critics said the lease gave the Mariners all the potential benefits but few risks, lacked sufficient means to assure maintenance and repairs, didn’t charge enough rent, failed to impose public policies such as affirmative action and would neither keep the franchise from being lost if the owners declared bankruptcy nor assure a chance to find a local buyer.

“Failure to establish an adequate rainy day fund for the district may result in a future need for additional taxes,” board member Ron Judd said.

Opponents also complained that the lease became available to the public only after the hearing began and contained too many concessions, some on issues they thought already had been settled.

Thirty changes were made in the lease after the owners, upset with potential delays and a financial analysis indicating the club might never show a profit, said Dec. 14 they were putting the Mariners up for sale.

Six days later they recanted, promising to stay if the County Council, district board and City Council accepted certain conditions and acted within set deadlines.

“These recent events represent … a betrayal of good faith, rhetoric over substance, secrecy over openness and private interest served at the expense of public interest,” board member Shelly Yapp said.

Under the lease, the club would operate the 45,000-seat ballpark, even having the power to charge rent for district offices in the stadium although it is owned by the public agency. Rent is set at $700,000, adjusted according to the Consumer Price Index.