Seattle Mariners looking for public financing for Safeco Field

While the Seattle Mariners playoff hopes have dropped in the past few weeks, the team is looking for public financing at Safeco Field.

Two months ago, the Seattle Mariners and the Washington State MLB Public Facilities District approved terms for a new 25-year lease at Safeco Field. With the addition of two three-year options, it looked like the Mariners could be at Safeco Field for another 30-plus seasons.

The timing was excellent for the team. The Seattle Mariners were 29-19, had a five-game winning streak, and were just two games behind the Astros in the AL West. This was a team that was projected to be just a few games over .500. Instead, they were off to a great start that would continue through May and to the end of June.

When the announcement was made, Mariners chairman and managing partner John Stanton spoke charmingly about the vision he had for the Mariners’ future. He said, “We want this ballpark to be our home for the next 100 years. Safeco Field should be to Seattle and to the Mariners what Wrigley Field is to Chicago and the Cubs and Fenway Park is to Boston and the Red Sox.”

Virginia Anderson, the chair of the Public Facilities District, added, “As stewards of this publicly-owned facility, we have been guided by our responsibility to ensure that this ballpark remains among the finest venues in all of baseball.” It sounded wonderful for Mariner fans. Their team was winning and they would continue to play for years to come at the ballpark Seattle fans have grown to love, toasted grasshoppers and all.

Safeco Field opened in the middle of the 1999 season. The team’s previous home was the multi-purpose Kingdome, which looked like a concrete hamburger and was known more for its utility than its beauty. Fans of a certain generation still have nostalgic feelings for the Kingdome, but it’s hard to argue that it was a better place to watch baseball than Safeco Field.

The 2018 season has been an exhilarating one for Mariner fans long accustomed to watching the playoffs on TV at season’s end. By early July, the Seattle Mariners had completed a stretch of 31 wins in 43 games and were just a half-game behind the Astros in their division. They were also just 1.5 games behind the Yankees for the first wild card spot and eight games up in the race for the second wild card spot. According to Fangraphs, their chance of making the playoffs was an incredible 88 percent. It was all smiles at Safeco.

Three weeks later, the smiles have faded a bit. The Seattle Mariners are 6-10 over their last 16 games. They’ve struggled to get production at first base. More importantly, the fast-charging Oakland A’s are coming up quickly in their rear-view mirror after a record-setting weekend against the San Francisco Giants. Despite the recent stumbles and the fact that the team’s actual record is much better than their expected record, the Mariners extended GM Jerry Dipoto.

As of Thursday morning, the Mariners playoff chances have dropped to 56.4 percent. Oakland is their main competition, at 42.2 percent and they’ve been winning in remarkable ways recently. On Tuesday, they came back to win in extra innings after being down 10-2 going into the seventh inning. The next day, they were down 5-1 and came back to win it. Mariner fans aren’t panicking yet, but they’re getting close.

Not long ago, the Mariners looked like a sure thing to end their long drought of playoff appearances, a drought that extends back to 2001. For reference, the NFL’s Cleveland Browns have made the playoffs more recently than the Mariners. Even making the one-game wild card playoff would be enough to get the monkey off their backs, but the Mariners are no longer a lock to get there.

With the rough stretch the Seattle Mariners have had lately, it would be nice to have some good news off the field. Unfortunately, the Seattle Times reported recently that the long-term lease extension mentioned back in May is contingent upon $180 million in public funding. The deal agreed upon in May has not been signed. On Monday, the King County Council will look at a plan to spend $180 million from motel-hotel taxes on ballpark upgrades for Safeco Field.

According to the Mariners executive vice president and legal counsel, Fred Rivera, the team will only sign the deal if public funding is approved by the county. If it’s not approved, the team will likely sign a short-term lease, while working towards an agreement on a long-term deal.

There are no plans to move, which makes sense because the team has no place to move to. As most baseball fans know, when it comes to new stadiums, the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland A’s are at the front of the line. Seattle isn’t going to build a new stadium and it would be foolish to leave this market.

The motel-hotel-tax is currently being used to pay off debt at CenturyLink Field, home of the NFL’s Seahawks and MLS’s Sounders. The debt for CenturyLink is expected to be paid off in 2020. Beginning in 2021, state law has specific requirements for the motel-hotel tax. This includes a distribution of 75 percent of the funds to be divided evenly between housing and the arts. Tourism promotion makes up the other 25 percent.

King County Executive Dow Constantine believes the 25 percent allocated to tourism promotion could help fund projects at Safeco Field because it’s a major draw for tourists. As of right now, it looks like three councilmembers are supportive. One who is not supportive is Dave Upthegrove. He believes the money could be used for housing, rather than for tourism.

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The value of the Mariners has increased by nearly one billion dollars in the last seven years, according to Forbes, from $449 million in 2011 to $1.45 billion now. Councilman Upthegrove said of the Mariners, “There is no reason they would walk away from a business enterprise that is generating so much wealth for them. The threat is nonsense.” He believes the money should be used for public needs, not to help business owners make more money.

The general tone in the comments on the above Twitter post was decidedly negative. Despite the team’s long stretch of play without making the postseason, ticket prices continue to increase, as does the cost of food at the ballpark. One commenter pointed out that studies have shown that public funding of sports stadiums don’t provide the benefit team owners claim they do.

The team asserted they have paid $350 million in ballpark maintenance over the last 19 years and will continue to pay part of the costs going forward. Through Rivera, the team pointed out that the ballpark is a public facility. He’s right and it’s become common for public funding to continue to pay for upgrades to ballparks that were paid for through public money in the first place.

Whether that is the right thing to do is questionable. Many team owners are billionaires who are making money hand-over-first. Even if they don’t make money every season, their long-term investment pays off handsomely. When a city has dire public needs like affordable housing, homelessness, education, etc., why should public funding go to wealthy business owners?

While that all plays out off the field, Seattle Mariners fans really care most about what’s happening on the field. Can the Mariners right the ship after their recent struggles? Will GM Jerry Dipoto dip into his box of tricks and pull out a first base or center field upgrade or a starting pitcher who can reinforce the rotation? Can Robinson Cano be the jolt the Mariners need to get the lineup going? And, the big question of course is, will the Oakland A’s ever cool down?