Time For A New Dome-Icile

It’s an age-old battle, the tug on the heart against the strain on the pocketbook.

That’s what the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association is facing now that the city of Tacoma has decided it wants to be a big-time player in the battle for high school state championships.

And it has become a battle.

Tacoma has offered the WIAA free rent for three years and three more years at $15,000 per to hold the state championship football games in the Tacoma Dome.

The Seattle Kingdome has housed the five state championship football games for XVIII years and it has become a tradition.

Kingbowl becomes Taco Bowl?

What young football player wouldn’t want to reach the championship game played on the same carpet they see on TV when the Seahawks are worth watching?

“The most important thing is it’s probably the dream of every high school football player to set foot on the same field as their Seahawks idols,” Gonzaga Prep football coach Don Anderson said. “Personally, I would hate to see it move. You see the Seahawks and say, ‘Hey, we have a chance to play on that field.’ It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Under Anderson, the Bullpups have gone to the Kingbowl X times and won II.

“That’s a big part of it … playing in the same place the Seahawks play, dressing in the same locker room the Seahawks dress in,” said Liberty coach Rod Fletcher, who has won two II of III Kingbowl appearances with the Lancers. “That stays with a kid for a long time. That stays with a coach for a long time, for that matter.”

The only problem is it costs about $49,000 a year to rent the Kingdome, even though the WIAA is given a discount. Over six years, the difference in cost between the two facilities is about $245,000. That’s more than enough to get the attention of antsy taxpayers.

“If you just evaluate it on dollars and cents, it’s a no-brainer,” said Mead principal Steve Hogue, a member of the WIAA executive board. “It’s almost too easy to jump to that conclusion.”

But WIAA executive director Mike Colbrese cautioned: “But it’s not that easy. It’s akin to pulling the B’s (the State B basketball tournaments) out of Spokane. It’s an emotional issue. What it comes down to is, can the board balance the aura, if that is the right word, of playing the state championship football game in the Kingdome against $50,000 a year for five years?”

Tradition vs. enough green to make a lot of taco salads.

Obviously the WIAA is having a hard time wrestling with the dilemma. The decision was to be made last weekend but was tabled after 5-4 votes against both locations.

“I guess the one thing the board is trying to find out is, what do the kids walking onto the field feel?” Colbrese said. “I don’t know if you can put a price on that. I don’t know if you should.”

He said he wants the decision to be made before Memorial Day weekend.

Another plus is atmosphere. The Tacoma Dome holds a good-these-days crowd of about 17,000 in its football configuration. The Kingdome’s 60,000 seats give a BB-in-a-barrel feeling. Kingbowls draw up to 25,000 fans, but that is for all five games and a good crowd for the Class AAA finale is 12,000.

Tacoma backers believe a charged-up crowd would overcome a the-Boz-was-here feeling.

Tacoma’s presentation had the support of the state athletic directors and coaches associations. Included was a letter from Ferris activities coordinator Ray Hare, president of the athletic directors, who toured the Tacoma Dome setup.

“They presented a proposal that was very attractive from a financial end and the feeling of playing in a full house is a plus,” Hare said. “The crowds have gone down over 18 years and there was a feeling the Kingdome people were taking (Kingbowl) for granted. (Tacoma) addressed all the issues for the coaches association. It’s a firstclass facility.”

Oh, that taken-for-granted feeling. Interpret this.

In March, the State AAA boys and girls basketball tournaments were held in the Kingdome, the first time the boys and girls shared the same facility. Though the Kingdome is booked during that time frame for the next year or two, Colbrese wants to get the two tourneys back together ASAP to eliminate the inequity of the boys playing in the Seattle Coliseum and the girls in the dump of a Seattle Center Arena. But … Kingdome representatives have said Kingbowl and the basketball tournaments are a package deal, and if Taco replaces King in the bowl lineup, the cost of a jump shot would probably go up.

However, Colbrese emphasized the decision would be made for football only. If the Kingdome would charge the WIAA its traditional rent for the AAA basketball tournaments (15 percent of ticket sales compared to the current 7 percent), the quarter-million dollar profit realized by moving football would be cut to a still impressive $130,000 over the six years.

“The Kingdome just said it would not be as inexpensive as it could be,” Colbrese said. “The Kingdome is still a long-term solution to basketball. Rental is still a very small piece of the puzzle on agreements.”

So the issue remains tradition vs. either lots of money or lots and lots of money.

“Personally, (Kingbowl) is such a great adventure for the kids,” Fletcher said. “When you sit down on Sunday and watch the Seahawks play, it brings back such great memories. It’s not going to happen with a Tacoma Dome situation.”

There are details to be worked out with a change. For example, West Side teams in the playoffs have their semifinal games in the Tacoma Dome. But such things cannot be as difficult as the decision the board is facing now.

“I say, ‘No, don’t go,”’ Anderson said. “But without knowing all the financial ins and outs, obviously my vote doesn’t mean a thing.”

But it does; they all do. That’s why the decision is so difficult. However, in this day and age, as hard it is to say, it’s a no-brainer. Order up VI tacos.

You can contact Dave Trimmer by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5501.