August 23, 2018

King County Council Members
516 Third Avenue
Suite 1200
Seattle, WA 98104
Re: Safeco Field PFD Negotiations
Dear Honorable Council Members,
As one of two “No” votes regarding the ballpark lease with the Seattle Mariners during
the recent May 23, 2018 Public Facilities District meeting, I offer this dissent to the
majority PFD Board opinion. While in agreement with the vast majority of the details I
strongly disagree with our failure to take a position regarding additional County taxpayer
support for the Mariners.
At the time a new ballpark was being envisioned, there was a serious question whether
baseball could be successful in the Pacific Northwest. Attendance for Mariners games
was in the bottom third of the major leagues, the team was losing money, and the owner
was threatening to move the Mariners out of town. The PFD was established to
oversee the process of designing, building, leasing, and ensuring quality operations at
the new ballpark. A public/private partnership was formed between the new ownership
group and the PFD to build and operate an iconic ballpark.
A key element of this partnership was public debt and private investment. This
manifested itself in two key conditions. First, profit sharing under which the Mariners
agreed to share team profits on an annual basis after recovery of their investment and
any losses incurred between their purchase of the franchise and the opening of Safeco
Field. Second, the Mariners agreed to be responsible for maintaining the ballpark to an
“Applicable Standard” measured against peer ballparks built between 1990 and 1999.
The verdict is in. Baseball has proven to be a success in Seattle. The Mariners
franchise has grown in value from a $100M purchase price to a value of roughly $1.5B.
Further, after 19 years, we are at the precipice of breaking into the black and sharing in
the annual profits of the Mariner franchise. Annual attendance now ranges between 2
and 2 1/2 million fans in spite of a 16 year playoff drought and a cumulative record that
is 400 games below breakeven. How much of the success of baseball in the Pacific
Northwest is due to the publicly financed Safeco Field venue, we will never know.
During the commencement of lease negotiations last year the Mariners declared it
was non-negotiable that there would be no annual profit-sharing in the new lease.

 Over the last 19 years of operating Safeco Field, I believe the Mariners and the PFD
have consistently achieved and surpassed the Applicable Standard in the current lease.
The Mariners and the PFD have proven to be a good partnership to maintain Safeco
Field as one of baseball’s premier venues. This achievement has been consistently
confirmed by third party tours and inspections of the peer ballparks.
After considerable deliberation and feeling we had no other choice, the PFD agreed to
eliminate the annual profit-sharing provision. In exchange, the Mariners would
assume sole and unilateral responsibility to repair, maintain and upgrade the
ballpark to a more robust and new “Applicable Standard.”
The new Applicable Standard is to keep Safeco Field on a par with the top 1/3 of Major
League ballparks. Further, the new standard is more robust and includes provisions for
better forecasting of required upgrades and future repairs as well as forecasting
available resources to make the repairs and improvements. In other words, the PFD
gave up its rights to an uncertain, unpredictable share of future profits in exchange for
the Mariners obligation to keep Safeco Field as one of the top MLB venues. This sole
and unilateral obligation on the part of the Mariners, to keep Safeco as a premier
ballpark, seemed to me at least, to have a higher priority for the public than a share of
uncertain private profits. They can run their business as they wish, but they are
obligated to maintain and upgrade the ballpark to a new, more robust Applicable
Standard.
Late in the lease negotiation, the Mariners advised the PFD they intended to ask the
County for tax dollars to fund a significant portion of their capital obligation and in fact
the lease we had been negotiating in good faith was conditioned on their receiving
$180M. This condition was never in the term sheet and has become a kind of renegotiation on the part of the Mariners.
At the July 30 public hearing before the King County Council, Mariner executive, Fred
Rivera, explained the current state of major league baseball by stating that attendance
is down in major league baseball. Over the entire league this is true; however, Mariners
attendance has been stable, or growing, at 2 - 2 1/2 million fans for the recent past.
Further, what Mr. Rivera did not say, is that Major League Baseball ancillary revenues,
including MLB revenue-sharing, national TV revenues, and local TV revenues, have
increased roughly 40% over the last 7 years. As noted above, Mariner baseball in the
Pacific Northwest has proven to be a huge success. At the time the initial lease was
signed, success was uncertain. At that time, there was no implicit perpetual public
support for the private enterprise. On the contrary, if baseball was successful, the
Mariners would share some of the profits.
It is deeply disappointing to me that at this point, the Mariners would inject a
contingency for $180 million of public support for a franchise that clearly is not in need
of public support. The public has supported the Mariners to the tune of paying off $350
million in bonds and fan attendance to the tune of 2 - 2 1/2 million visitors per year. The
public has met its obligation in this public private partnership.

 In addition to the fundamental goal of designing, building and operating an iconic
ballpark, the PFD was originally established as a public agency to be a watchdog for the
public. It was explicitly established to avoid backroom political deals done between
politicians and private enterprise. I am deeply disappointed and embarrassed that a
majority of our Board has taken the position that we have no interest whether the
County provides additional financial support for the Mariners. We serve to protect the
public interest, and by not taking a stand, we have failed. The Mariners have proven to
be an exceptional operating partner with the PFD in maintaining Safeco Field for the last
19 years, but they do not need or deserve $180 million to continue to operate as that
partner.
Generally, governing is about making difficult choices. This is not a difficult choice.
Make the right one.
I would be pleased to meet personally, or by phone, to discuss more details or to
provide more context for your review prior to the public hearing August 29th. I can be
contacted at:
dsperling@onebuildinc.com
206-295-5772
Sincerely,

Dale R. Sperling, Vice Chair
Washington State Major League Baseball
Public Facilities District