A Grip on Sports: Maybe it’s time for the Spokane Indians to build a modern baseball home of their own

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Maybe it’s time for change. Major change. After all, if you’re not ready to pay for what you want these days, you’ll just have to tighten your belt and say no.

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• Just down the hill from where we live is one of the more venerable baseball stadiums in the Northwest.

Once known as Indians Stadium, now called Avista (as is more fitting in our corporate world today), the Spokane County-owned facility sits on the west side of the Fairgrounds. Dating back to long before even we were born, the stadium was once the crown jewel of minor league baseball in the West, home of the best franchise maybe ever – the early Indians of the late 1960s and early 1970s deserve to be in that conversation – and host to large crowds of baseball fans from throughout the region.

But times change. The Indians are no longer a AAA franchise. No longer featuring players a step away from the Bigs. No longer the draw they once were. They are, however, still one of the best-run, most-admired lower-division franchises in minor league baseball.

That, though, is not enough. Major League Baseball has decided its future players deserve more – and better. More training facilities. Better accommodations. More room. Better playing surfaces. After years of neglect, it’s about time.

There is one glaring problem. The billion-dollar industry doesn’t want to pay for the upgrades. Nope. The billionaires that own the parent clubs think others should pay this bill. And they expect to get their way. They will, even though they are the ones who should be paying for the mandated improvements.

Which brings us back to Avista. As good as it is, and as ballparks in cities the size of Spokane go it is pretty special, it needs major upgrades. The facilities’ owners, Spokane County, understand the mandate handed down. They understand the need, especially the mandate to improve conditions on a gender-equal basis. They understand if the upgrades don’t happen, there will no longer be minor league baseball in Spokane.

They just don’t believe they should pay for the improvements. Not all of them, anyway. Not even a majority of them. That’s up to, as the commissioners see it, the tenants, the Spokane Indians franchise. Interesting.

In a nutshell, here is what commissioners Josh Kerns and Al French decided yesterday, when the two – the board will expand to five in the new year but only two of the three current commissioners were at the meeting yesterday when a decision was made, even though, according to Colin Tiernan’s S-R story, the item wasn’t listed on the agenda – decided to give the Indians a fait accompli in the form of a resolution stipulating what the county will do:

– The county will put $8 million into renovations as long as that money is matched elsewhere. The other $14 million or more will be up to the club to find.

– Spokane County, which will still own the place, will turn over facility maintenance costs to the Indians.

– The annual rent will basically quadruple, from around $25,000 to $100,000. And the Indians will share other their revenue at a rate to be determined.

Way to go guys. You are good stewards of taxpayers’ money. Except, you aren’t. You may have just created the area’s hardest-to-rent building.

Put yourself in the Indians’ position. You rent an apartment. You tell the landlord it needs major improvements or you will have to move. The landlord tells you fine, it will be remodeled. But you, the tentant, have to pay the majority of the costs. Take care of any repairs. And your rent will quadruple – or more.

You ain’t staying, are you? But what if you can’t find another place?

Then, maybe, it’s time to leave town.

The difference is, after the remodel of the imaginary apartment is finished, the landlord should be able to find a new tenant. If the Indians say goodbye, Avista Stadium will be home to … what exactly? A few high school and youth games a year? A concert or two? Cattle waiting for their turn in front of Fair judges?

And what if Indians and the Kalispel Tribe, for example, team up and build a new facility on the West Plains? One that meets MLB’s requirements but is owned by the team and a partner? An expensive alternative, sure, but in the long term a better one for the viability of the franchise.

Tuesday’s decision may be a negotiating strategy. If so, it seems late in the game. The Indians and Spokane County have been discussing the improvements for more than a year. Other plans have been floated and sunk.

This one seems to have the buoyancy of a brick.

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WSU: Saturday’s L.A. Bowl will be odd. The Cougars won’t have a defensive coordinator, per se. Or a single offensive coordinator. Or a handful of key players. Great. Colton Clark has all the details in this story. … We can pass along a couple more Mike Leach stories today. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college football, UCLA is headed to the Big Ten. Officially. As Jon Wilner tells us in the Mercury News, the Bruins will be paying a tax of sorts but the UC Regents are letting them change their athletic address. … Wilner also has his bowl picks. We’re sort of surprised Fresno State isn’t his five-star special. … If you’re wondering why the Rose Bowl is on Jan. 2, this story explains it. … Utah is digging into the roster for the game. … Washington lost its quarterback recruit recently. Where do the Huskies turn? … Oregon State has been blessed with coaching continuity. And with the ability to cover the spread. How long will either last? … Tickets are selling well at Colorado. … In basketball news, better execution is the goal at Oregon State. … Oregon got past UC Riverside at home. … Colorado gears up for North Alabama. … UCLA went across the country and pounded Maryland. … USC stayed in L.A. and held off Long Beach State. … Arizona finally had resolution of its basketball violations. The Wildcats got off much too easily. … We can pass along a power ranking of the Pac-12 women.

Gonzaga: Saturday’s game with Alabama in Birmingham will be tough for the Zags. How tough? Jim Meehan discusses that question and others with an Alabama beat writer. … Yvonne Ejim has become the Zags’ go-to option, as Jim Allen explains. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Saint Mary’s had little trouble with visiting New Mexico State.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky Conference, the trenches will decide visiting Montana State’s FCS semifinal with No. 1 South Dakota State. … Northern Colorado’s football staff is nearly filled. … Montana had the nation’s best punter.

Preps: There has been a changing of the guard at North Central as it relates to boys basketball. Dave Nichols has this story on coach Andre Ervin and has family’s influence on the program. … Dave also has a roundup of Wednesday’s prep action.

Seahawks: The run defense will be tested – broken? – by the visiting 49ers tonight. … Kenneth Walker III is expected back tonight but Al Woods is not. … Not everyone is enamored with Richard Sherman. … Will Brock Purdy be San Francisco’s quarterback?

Kraken: Though there was not a game last night, we do have a notebook to pass along.

Sounders: Fredy Montero will be back for one more go-round with Seattle.

World Cup: France, which defeated Morocco 2-0 on Wednesday, will try to make it two consecutive titles when it faces Argentina in the final.

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• We don’t get it. If we owned the Indians, we would just build our own stadium no matter the cost. Tell the county to find another use for the stadium. It’s not the stadium that draws people. It’s the games. Until later …