New Stadium Trails In Early Innings Mariners Owner Says Stadium Measure Must Pass Or Baseball Team Will Be Sold, And Could Relocate
In what is likely the last chance to keep the Seattle Mariners in town, a measure aimed at building a $325 million stadium was being rejected by voters in early returns Tuesday night.
The measure was failing 79,687 to 65,433, a negative vote of 55 percent, in a tally of absentees and ballots from 51 of 2,650 precincts.
The negative returns, typical for money issues in the county’s initial vote tally, did not necessarily indicate a trend.
The measure would raise the sales tax in King County, which includes Seattle, by one-tenth of 1 percent, even though a final design, site or lease for the retractable-roof stadium are not yet in place.
The Mariners now play in the Kingdome, which the team was forced to vacate for the remainder of the season in July 1994 after falling ceiling tiles required millions of dollars of repairs.
The Mariners beat Texas at home on Tuesday night, and club officials said the vote count would be announced only if the measure were passing.
Team owners say a new stadium would boost attendance and revenue, and they have made it clear thay intend to sell the team if voters don’t back the new ballpark.
The owners expect to lose $30 million this season, bringing the losses sustained by majority owner Hiroshi Yamauchi, the president of Nintendo, to $67 million in the 3-1/2 years he has owned the club.
In addition, the measure would finance a Kingdome overhaul demanded by owners of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, who also said they might leave if the plan were defeated.
Mayor Norm Rice and County Excutive Gary Locke campaigned for the measure which faced organized opponents.
The stadium plan, drafted by a panel appointed by Locke shortly after he took office in January 1994, would boost the sales-tax rate to 8.3 percent from 8.2 percent, an average of $7.50 a person annually for 20 years.
The county’s payout would be limited to $240.8 million, plus donation of the site and possibly construction of a parking garage to be financed through parking fees.
The Mariners would pay $45 million, the club and private contributors would cover any cost overruns and the state would be asked to exempt the project from the sales tax, cutting costs by about $25 million. Also included was $100 million for construction of luxury boxes in the Kingdome and other improvements sought by the Seahawks and $70 million to cover repair of the Kingdome roof last year.
xxxx MARINERS WIN Griffey wins it: Ken Griffey Jr. singles in the 11th inning as the Seattle Mariners defeat the Texas Rangers, 5-4, to move within a game of the A.L. West-leading California Angels.