M’S Repeat Plea For New Ballpark

Seattle Mariners officials on Monday once again outlined their demands for a new baseball stadium, and insisted to legislative leaders and Gov. Mike Lowry that they will put the team up for sale if the demands aren’t agreed to by Oct. 30.

“Our demands are the same as they’ve been since the start,” Mariners president John Ellis said after he met for more than 2 hours behind closed doors with the governor and lawmakers.

The demands include an outdoor ballpark with a retractable roof, a grass playing field, luxury boxes and club seats, he said.

Asked whether the retractable roof was really necessary, Ellis responded with a loud “yes” as he pointed to a pelting rain outside.

“If we’re going to do this we need something that can be assured of success and that means we need a retractable roof,” Ellis said.

The weather also was damp in Seattle, 50 miles northwest, where the Mariners - playing in the concrete-roofed Kingdome - were locked in a do-or-die game against the California Angels for the American League West title.

Lowry said Ellis also renewed the Mariners’ pledge to contribute $45 million toward the $325 million stadium, and to sign a 20-year lease on the proposed ballpark.

Negotiations over a new stadium reached a feverish pitch after King County voters last month narrowly rejected a plan to boost the local sales tax by a tenth of a penny per dollar spent - from 8.2 percent to 8.3 percent.

Despite the most successful season in their history, the Mariners expect to lose $30 million, bringing losses to $67 million since new owners bought the club 3-1/2 year ago. Owners blame the red ink on the configuration and lack of amenities in the multipurpose Kingdome.

Legislative leaders met with Lowry last Friday and agreed it’s in the public interest as a quality-of-life issue to build a stadium and keep the Mariners in Washington.

They’ll meet again today to work on a plan to take to rank-and-file lawmakers, who rejected any state bailout during the regular session.