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Sept/Oct 1999 issue (#41)
Safeco Corporation owes the Seattle Mariners $1.8 million per year over the course of twenty years. This figure is adjustable according to inflation and is estimated to total $40 million by 2019.
This type of advertising is not only misleading but relatively cheap. Safeco didn't build the stadium--for the most part, the public did--and a measly $2 million a year doesn't pay one fourth of Ken Griffey Jr.'s salary. How did Safeco earn the honor?
"They were not the highest bidder," says Mariner spokesman Bob Aleworth. "There were 25 companies competing for the privilege [of being granted naming rights], and we made a pact with them not to divulge their names."
"We looked at several companies. We wanted a corporation that was local, as opposed to a nationwide company," says the Mariners' Dave Venari.
In addition to their naming rights relationship, Safeco and the Mariners join forces for several causes designed to benefit the Puget Sound Community. These include the Safeco Field Hot Dog Gala, which raised $55,000 for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute, Safe at Home, which employs various Mariners to attend schools and advise you to keep the home a safe environment, and the Coaches Clinic, where various Mariner coaches work with Little League coaches. They also have the Mariners Caravan, where players such as Dan Wilson and Tom Lampkin give speeches at local schools on how to represent oneself as a good citizen.
All of these causes are worthwhile and admirable, but this is not volunteer work.
"The players are compensated for their time," says Venari.
Outside of being compensated for this charity work, Wilson earns $3,625,000 from the Mariners, while backup catcher Lampkin earns $600,000.
Illustration by Nina Frenkel