If Vancouver is so hot to get a stadium and a team, here's how they can do it.

Ahhhhhh, baseball.  Who doesn't love America's Game?

Recently and locally, we've underwent the rather traumatic process that would, under other circumstances, have led to something of a ballpark with a very junior-level team playing baseball in it.

The reasons the ballpark plan died an untimely and well deserved death were primarily the result of a complete lack of transparency combined with a horrific, taxpayer cash spent, ballpark owner-benefited plan that would have been something akin to highway robbery.  Forcing people buying a movie ticket to finance a ballpark, when those actually attending the games paid far less?

Seriously?

Absurd projections of humongous, utterly unrealistic financial benefits for the community, a lack of input in the form of a county-wide vote; the cozy relationship between Clark College, who would have had what amounted to a free facility that everyone else would have had to pay to use; major backing from the local paper... which a few short months before had been steadfastly opposed to using taxpayer dollars for such a facility, again, without a vote...

These issues and the secretive negotiations, going on for months before they were publicly announced... meant this deal was DOA.  Spending millions to support millionaires from Yakima?

I think not.

Now, the point in rehashing all of this is to introduce the effort ongoing in Seattle to return the NBA and to also get an NHL hockey team in what appears to be a joint activity/use facility.

Who does not recall the even greater blood-letting of the Sonics/Oklahoma City debacle?  (Yo, Paul.... Kevin Durrant (Taken second in the draft by Seattle, after Portland took Odem), who you COULD have picked instead of Odem, is looking pretty good about now, eh?)  The citizens of Seattle would rather dive into an acid pool then go out of pocket with taxpayer dollars to "watch millionaires play a game."

Seattleites went so far as to pass a citywide referendum requiring that any such effort using tax dollars must return a profit to the city.

Seems like an impossible situation to get a facility built, doesn't it?

And yet, here's a major push, without much opposition to date, to do that very thing, under the conditions required by the vote of the people:

The public's investment would be capped at $200 million, likely in bonds, and would be repaid through rent paid by the teams and existing tax streams, including sales, property, admissions and business-and-occupation taxes generated by the arena. The city and county would own the arena and land and lease it back to the investors.

The total cost is projected to be $490 million.  That means that the owners have to come up with almost 60% of the money.

And the rest?  THOSE USING THE FACILITY HAVE TO GENERATE THE REVENUE TO PAY FOR IT.

Note that the people of Seattle, or King County, are not being taxed when they buy a movie ticket, or play golf, or go to the fair or a concert to pay for this.

Bizarre concepts all.

If those so hot to get a stadium/ballpark built would have followed a plan like this, instead of being blinded by the emotion of the game and putting their own, personal, self interests ahead of the people, this thing might have been in the process of getting built.

No.... no law or ordinance is in place requiring that the Seattle rules be followed.

But if this plan had required the owners to pay the 58% or so of this facility... and then required those USING/ATTENDING the facility... instead of the taxpayers not setting foot in it.... to PAY for it...

Then is their any doubt that it would have been built?

An if following the Seattle Plan or a reasonable variation of that effort is unacceptable to prospective ownership?

Tough.  Take it or leave it.  If such a facility is such a great idea, then act like it.  If it's going to work... it should pay for itself.

Memo to Commissioner Stuart: to get this thing built, follow a formula where the owners/attendees pay for it.

Don't inflate the financial benefits with biased reports from rabid supporters.  Don't force the people to pay for it without asking us.

In fact, that's pretty much a formula you could/should use for any project.  You know... like the CRC and light rail?