Mariners Can’t Win For Losing Despite Crowd Records, Huge Payroll Brings More Red Ink

Despite drawing a club-record 2.7 million fans into the Kingdome, the Seattle Mariners lost $13.2 million last season because of their soaring payroll.

The price of keeping such veterans as Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez is steep. Last season’s payroll reached $39.5 million - nearly one-third higher than in 1995.

On Tuesday, the Mariners released the results of an audit by the accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand for the fiscal year that ended Oct. 31.

The losses were far below the $20.2 million the team lost in fiscal 1995, thanks in great part to attendance jumping by two-thirds.

Operating revenues were $57.8 million, up 47 percent from 1995’s $39.3 million. Regular-season ticket sales provided the bulk of the gain, at $30.7 million compared with $16.1 million the year before.

The club said the continuing losses support its argument that a new outdoor baseball stadium is crucial to the future of baseball in Seattle.

A $414 million ballpark with a retractable roof is supposed to be ready for the Mariners for the 1999 season. It will be built in downtown Seattle near the Kingdome.

“Our commitment to field a competitive team is confirmed by details of this audit,” Mariners president Chuck Armstrong said in a news release.

“We must complete the new ballpark and continue to grow our regional fan base to become as competitive financially as we are now on the field,” Armstrong added.

Coming off their 1995 season when they won the A.L. West and made it to the league championship series, the Mariners couldn’t overcome a back injury to Johnson, their ace left-hander, and lost their division title to Texas.

Still, they drew 2.7 million fans in 1996, an average of 33,610 per game and 1.1 million more than in 1995.

A Mariners spokesman said the club expects to start making money when it moves into its new ballpark.