King County Executive Gary Locke and the Mariners have come
to a "tentative agreement" to keep the team in Seattle for 20
years if a new stadium is built. The proposal includes a to-be-
defined cap on county spending for the new park, a lease keeping
the team in Seattle for 20 year after stadium bonds are sold, an
elimination of the team's current escape clause that allows them
to leave if attendance is low, and an agreement to share
operating profits. The King County Council is expected to vote
on the agreement Friday and could possibly put the .1 cent sales
tax hike initiative to a vote in September (Tacoma NEWS TRIBUNE,
7/19). "A boisterous crowd of more than 200" gathered last night
at South Seattle Community College in the first public forum on
the proposal. Ellis Conklin and Rebecca Boren report in this
morning's SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER that the crowd, made up
mostly of "construction trades workers recruited for the hearing
by pro-stadium forces," was "mostly in support" of a new stadium
(SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, 7/19).
HAWK SQUAWKS: Locke's proposal "does not specifically
commit either the team [Mariners] or the county to setting aside
any money" for the Seahawks, who last week "demanded" $150M in
Kingdome improvements, according to Heath Foster in the NEWS-
TRIBUNE. Locke said King County will "not get into a bidding
war" to keep the Seahawks from moving: "They have an existing
lease for 11 more seasons" (NEWS-TRIBUNE, 7/19).
