Lawmakers cool to race track but Sonics arena bill has fans

OLYMPIA – The Seattle Seahawks’ trip to the Super Bowl has this buttoned-up government town about as sports crazy as it gets, with lawmakers proudly sporting “12th Man” buttons and the governor toting a replica helmet through the Capitol corridors.

But two proposals to pay for major sports arenas – one for the NBA’s SuperSonics, the other for the wildly expanding NASCAR circuit – had problems getting started at the Capitol this year.

Were they overshadowed by the Seahawks’ spectacular season? Are lawmakers simply wary of another public financing deal for big-time sports?

Key officials say a frenzied football season actually could help both proposals. But neither got support early in the short 60-day legislative session, and one plan has been abandoned until next year.

“There is a little bit of trepidation about getting into those kind of operations,” said Marty Brown, legislative director for Gov. Chris Gregoire.

The NASCAR proposal would have brought a new sport to the region, and developers said major national races could bring a windfall of fan spending to state coffers.

International Speedway Corp., of Daytona, Fla., offered to pay nearly half the cost of the estimated $345 million raceway, which would be built in southern Kitsap County.

This is International Speedway’s second attempt at finding public financing. A proposal to build a track in Snohomish County died in 2004 when area officials balked at details and costs.

Critics question the Kitsap County site’s bridge-and-ferry traffic access, and wonder if there is a large enough fan base to make it worth tax-financed bonds.

International Speedway eventually put its plans on hold after failing to find a sponsor for its proposal. The company still holds a purchase option on the land, and hopes to renew its pitch to the 2007 Legislature.

Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, a supporter of the NASCAR raceway plan, said Washington will be missing out on an economic boom if it lets the proposal slip away.

“What an awful mistake we would make if we literally let it go to Portland,” he said. “That would be a huge mistake.”

The Sonics’ bid for an improved stadium appears to stand a better chance with lawmakers.

For one thing, they’re already here – a factor that helped persuade lawmakers to extend public financing to the Seahawks and baseball’s Seattle Mariners.

Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton and Rep. Jim McIntire, D-Seattle, recently offered bills that would extend Safeco Field’s taxes to give the Sonics a new or improved home.

The NBA team is hungry for a package of renovations for the arena, saying the current revenue-sharing agreement with the city has not produced the expected results.

Owners say they’ve lost nearly $60 million on the deal since 2001.

The team’s lease with the city is scheduled to expire in 2010, and time could run out if action isn’t taken soon, officials said. Sonics officials have even floated the possibility of moving the team to nearby Bellevue.

“We are in a very, very difficult economic situation that is the worst in the NBA,” said Terry McLaughlin, executive vice president of the Sonics and the WNBA’s Seattle Storm.

But Seattle city officials still have not given their blessing to the estimated $220 million renovation project, a step that Gregoire says is necessary before the state gives final consideration.

Prentice concedes that time may be too short to accomplish the task this session. But the former Sonics season-ticket holder said she lent her support to show other lawmakers how dire the team’s situation is.

“The issue had been ridiculed in the local papers and I thought, wait a minute – this is a serious issue,” Prentice said.

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