In a "last-ditch attempt" to convince Mariners
ownership to abandon plans to sell the team, King County,
WA's top political leaders united yesterday to promise a new
ballpark would open by '99, according to Heath Foster of the
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER. A group that included Seattle
Mayor Norm Rice, WA Gov.-elect Gary Locke and U.S. Sen.
Slade Gorton "said they were ready to give the Mariners'
owners everything they have asked for in order to get them
back to the negotiating table." Mariners ownership
announced Saturday the team would be put up for sale after
members of the King County Council petitioned the Public
Facilities Commission to alter the timetable in building a
new stadium. Fearful of any delay, the team said they would
play in Seattle in '97, but be up for sale. On Sunday,
Senator Gorton said it was time "to deal with the M's as a
friend, rather than to haggle over every single comma."
Locke "said he was prepared to arrange county-backed interim
financing that would allow the stadium district to continue
to acquire properties on the ballpark site while efforts
continue to bring the Mariners ownership back." Locke:
"All of us have come too far and worked too hard of the past
three years to lose our Seattle Mariners now." Mariners VP
Paul Isaki said no one from the team was willing to comment
on whether the concessions would be enough to keep the team
from being sold (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, 12/16).
WEEKEND ROUND-UP: Saturday's news that the Mariners
were being put up for sale "sent Seattle reeling," according
to Almond, Schaefer & Seven in the SEATTLE TIMES. Mariners
CEO John Ellis, on the County Council: "It's clear that they
intend for the ballpark project to fail. We've done all we
can do. We're now on a different course." Ellis also "said
the decision was final and that the Mariners would not talk
with council members." Locke, who said he was "stunned and
disappointed" in the news. AL President Gene Budig: "The
Seattle owners have more than gone the extra mile to assure
the club's future in the Northwest, and the American League
shares their disappointment." Some political leaders see
the announcement as a negotiating tactic by Ellis, "one of
Seattle's most astute business leaders to make sure the
stadium will in fact open in April 1999" (SEATTLE TIMES,
12/15). Columnist Blaine Newham, calls the move "political
hardball as nasty as it gets" (SEATTLE TIMES, 12/15).
