Great Team Needs A Great Stadium Pro-Stadium Build It And They Will Stay

My, oh my!

The Seattle Mariners are a weekend away from their first American League West division title, and the region finally knows what it’s like to back a winner. To yell yourself hoarse with Dave Niehaus as another Mariner homer “flies away.” To wonder aloud if Chris Bosio’s gonna “have it” tonight or not.

Finally, the Pacific Northwest is known for something other than espresso bars, Randy Weaver and Aryans.

After two decades of mediocrity, the Northwest finally has a real baseball team. Now, it needs a real baseball stadium. The Kingdome, with all the charm of a ‘74 Mack truck, remains a sorry place to see a baseball game.

Gov. Mike Lowry and the Washington Legislature must do whatever it takes to keep the M’s here. If necessary, they should tap the state’s $700 million surplus and provide a funding package that also should include King County taxes and millions from Mariner ownership.

Of course, the naysayers will whine that the money should be spent elsewhere - for education, roads, or some insatiable social program. Why, these natterers ask, should we help a billionaire construct a $325 million stadium for spoiled millionaires who do nothing but hit, throw and catch a little white ball?

The answer’s easy: The market.

The competition for a Major League Baseball franchise is so hot that one city, St. Petersburg, Fla., built a stadium, hoping to attract a team. There are only 28 Major League Baseball clubs. Even before their surge to the top, the M’s were coveted from Sacramento to Virginia.

New stadiums have revitalized downtown Baltimore and Cleveland. They’ve created excitement, civic pride and economic development.

But the Mariners aren’t just Seattle’s team. The M’s provide a constant source of entertainment for the region. Long-suffering Northwesterners are bound together by devotion to them.

Pride. Economic development. Being a major-league state. Even if you think the Mariners are pretentious and a waste of time, the ripple-effect of having a new stadium is reason enough to chip in for its construction.

Do it for Washington’s reputation. Do it for Junior. Do it for our kids.

, DataTimes MEMO: For opposing view see headline: Billionaires don’t need handouts

The following fields overflowed: SUPCAT = COLUMN, EDITORIAL - From Both Sides CREDIT = D.F. Oliveria and Eric Torbenson/For the editorial board