Oregon Public Broadcasting

It’s Apple Cup weekend. That means tensions are running high between the University of Washington and Washington State University.

But there’s another battle between the Huskies and Cougars brewing off the field. This fight has to do with stadium financing. Olympia correspondent Austin Jenkins explains.

This weekend the Cougars and Huskies will meet in Pullman for their annual east-meets-west rumble.

But while the players fight over the pigskin, another cross-Cascade battle is heating up over the stadiums the teams play in.

The UW wants taxpayers to help fund half of a $300 million renovation of Husky stadium in Seattle. The money would come from King County taxes that currently are paying off Qwest and Safeco fields.

That has Cougar fans crying foul because their stadium is being upgraded without taxpayer dollars.

WSU alum Mike Bernard – a tax consultant – calls it a tax grab by the UW.

Mike Bernard: “They want it to be one of the nicest football stadiums in the country, which is great. I applaud them for that. But that’s not something we need to spend state money on. Go out and raise it from your donors. They can afford it.”
 
Bernard is urging fellow Cougs to call their state lawmakers and the Governor’s office to voice their opposition to taxpayer financing for Husky stadium.

Norm Arkans a spokesman for the University of Washington is pushing back.

Norm Arkans: “I think the own Cougars ought to worry about their own campus and their own situation and their own athletic program – they don’t have to be worrying about ours.”

Arkans says Husky Stadium is a public facility at a public university and warns that it’s old and a safety risk.

He says the University has determined it can raise half the money privately, but needs the locally-generated tax dollars to cover the rest.

The Washington legislature will referee the issue this coming January