Kingdome Could Make It Without Teams, Study Says
A Kingdome staff report, completed near the height of the Legislature’s debate on a new Seahawks stadium but kept under wraps until now, says the 21-year-old Kingdome could be profitable even without the Mariners and Seahawks.
King County Executive Ron Sims released the report Wednesday under the state open-records law at the request of newspapers. He had had the document since its completion April 9.
Sims and his top financial adviser quickly distanced the executive from the report, arguing that it made overly aggressive assumptions about how the Kingdome could attract new events without its two main tenants.
The report, by Kingdome events manager Susan Clawson, says the Kingdome could turn an operating profit of $687,000 a year without the Mariners and Seahawks.
A new $414 million ballpark is being built for the Mariners adjacent to the Kingdome and could be open in 1999. The project is to use $336 million in public funds.
Prospective Seahawks buyer Paul Allen wants the Kingdome torn down and replaced with new $425 million open-air stadium for football and soccer and an adjacent exhibition hall. Voters are to decide June 17 whether to go along with his request or about $300 million in public funds.
Allen’s campaign has said the dome would lose $10 million a year after the Mariners move out, so it makes sense to demolish it.
Clawson’s report was given to Sims on April 9 - 20 days before state lawmakers agreed on the proposed financing plan being sent to voters.
Sims said the report wouldn’t have influenced the Legislature had it been released in April.
And he said it is incomplete because it doesn’t account for the $5.2 million annual debt payments on the Kingdome’s roof repairs. He said he’s paying a consultant $45,000 for a complete report due May 30.
“If I had my druthers … I wouldn’t give the document out,” he said.
“It’s a preliminary document. The numbers here have not been scrubbed; you can’t draw the conclusions that you like.”
Allen political adviser Bob Gogerty noted that Clawson’s report excludes the roof-debt payments and the cost of possible improvements to the building.
He said the $10 million-a-year Kingdome loss figure used in Allen’s lobbying came from other county reports, including a March 1996 report by Kansas City, Mo., sports architects HOK Sport.
“The numbers that we have used are not our numbers,” Gogerty said. “They are county numbers.
“The county’s arguing with the county. We’re not arguing with them. We didn’t generate any numbers on our own.”
Also questioning the report was Sims’ budget chief, Pat Steel. In addition to the Kingdome debt, she said Clawson’s projections don’t consider that some Kingdome events could be restricted by activity at the adjacent Mariners ballpark.