Tacoma City Council’s passage of a resolution this week approving a 30-year lease between the city and the Tacoma Rainiers will ensure America’s favorite pastime will continue to plays its role in the civic fabric of our community.
The team, under its new ownership SDL Baseball Partnership, LLC, has been operating under a short-term lease while the city explored options to finance renovations to 50-year-old Cheney Stadium. Thirty years shows a strong commitment on the part of the Texas-based owners to Tacoma.
The agreement has special meaning to several people who testified before the council, such as Stan Nacarrato, who was part of a former ownership group and served as Rainiers general manager for many years. Among other things, “Mr. Tacoma” is happy that the facility’s name will remain Cheney Stadium, in honor of the late businessman and community leader Ben Cheney.
About 70 percent of the overall cost of renovating the stadium will come from private sources. Some of this is a $5 million fundraising campaign by the Ben. B. Cheney Foundation. Much of the rest of the private-sector contribution will come from revenues generated by the team.
Closely related to the extension will be the council’s vote on Nov. 24 to issue bonds for financing the renovation of the stadium, along with several smaller projects. We urge the council to issue the bonds. The economic climate right now is perfect for borrowing money and putting projects out to bid, and the construction jobs are badly needed at this time.
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