ry : b y Jim Kearney Baseball needs the dome "Of evér major league’ baseball is to move into this area,: it must have a domed and=air- conditioned stadium. It can exist with nothing less. “For that reason, much of last Wednesday's stuff in this prose corner about people in the game—and at least one~ man outside it, but close to. it—tcuting Vancouver as future major league territory © is academic. . The” PNE's Multiplex project makes no provision for baseball, which is the reason for much of their clamor and pleading to-raise the roof several storeys so it can handle high fly balls and pop fouls. Their pleading is a waste of breath on an account more important than PNE president Erwin Swangard’s insistence that major league ball in Vancouver is about as likely as major hockey in Rio de Janeiro. NO MULTIPLEX More importantly, that $160 million project is merely a pipedream. It’s not going to happen. If it does, I'll not only stand in awe of Swangard as the successor to Jean Drapeau as the world’s greatest. salesman; Ill push ‘him for a measured kilometre through — the business area along Lonsdale in the wheelbarrow of his choice. And I'll wear a Buster Brown suit for the -occasion. Key to the Swangard fund- raising campaign is the league | a Olympics ever staged. During this time (and for the remainder of 1979) the remaining 17% per cent has _been divided among Sport. ‘winkling of $100 million out of Loto Canada—a _ million grant $60 and a $40 million interest-free loan— to get the show on the road by next October. If he can raise this for- tune, the strategy is to have Victoria come up with- half as much, then use the borrowing power of the PNE to cover the remainder. Give him marks for aiming high. But ~when - Iona Campagnolo, the federal minister of fitness and amateur sport and the lady in charge of Loto Canada, gets to her feet ‘in the Commons later this month, I think it will become obvious that Erwin's reach exceeds his grasp. - Iona is scheduled, before __the month ends, to announce the new formula for distributing Loto Canada’s $100 million annual profit, starting Jan. 1, 1980. The lottery that initially was launched in the early ‘70s to help Montreal finance the - 1976 Olympics. will stop pouring the bulk of its profits (82 1-2 per cent) into Quebec on Dec. 31. HALF WAY THERE By that date La Belle Province will have collected about $570 million, which should pay at least half the cost of the most expensive - Canada and the other nine provinces and two territories. Only the minister herself knows the details of the new formula, but you can be reasonably certain it doesn't include $100 million to get Multiplex. off the ground. This much is known: Sport Canada, the federal agency in charge of aiding amateur sport and recreation across the country, no longer is to be funded by tax dollars. It will have to live on lottery - funding from now on. Hardly. a surprise, what with Ottawa running record deficits and cutting back on spending in truly essential area. This will mean‘ half the annual lottery profit to Sport Canada, $50- million ‘a year being the cost, going into the 1980s, if Canada is to be seriously representative in the big five of international amateur sports competition: — Summer Olympics, Winter Qlympics, PanAmerican Games, Commonwealth Games and world cham- pionshipsin about 40 sports. What about the remaining $50 million a. year? Very probably much of this will be available to build sports facilities across the country in places where the actual (and no doubt political) need is the greatest. THE WEST VAN SQUASH & RACQUETBALL CENTRE Memberships are now being accented for the West Vancouver Squash and Racquetbatt Centre aN IMA INative CON CEpE cles one of the finest fac iithes of Memberships are bei accepted now and as they mu smashing ood tiie! check us out "those who want to keep tt and have fun dowy tt 1d wll Me a fester tezes Membership addition to the West Var wo iotte treated in nuenber yay ce. This, will he ny tite NOW bora Second level rates Single $300 Couples $450 - WV. residents given priority for first 3 months. Opening date 1979 July 1, Courts -6 Racquetball 3 International Squash Hand ball Facilities ‘pro shop “exercise room whirl poot - 3 saunas “games room ‘supervised nursery ‘lounge dining Location 2}stand Manne West Vancouver inquiries on request - Brochures are available and will be sent '_ \ With every city and village in the nation reaching out for Loto lolly to help build | rinks, gyms, running tracks, | field houses, etc., it would be just plain bad politics to shovel most of it into one city for the next two or three years. Ottawa politicians are only too keenly aware of what it has cost the government, politically. to give Quebec almost all the lottery income for three and a half years following the Montreal Games. They are not about to make that mistake again. Spreading it around will be ‘the name -of the game, no matter which party is in power following this year’s federal election. If the new formula turns out to be distmbution ac- cording to population, which seems likely, the facility- construction share for all of B.C. will be about $6 million a year at the most. That's a good deal more than petty cash, but it certainly won't be enough to- get Multiplex going, even if ALL of it were to come ‘to Vancouver for the next 20 years. There's another problem, too. Vancouver must decide on its priorities. It also wants barrowloads of federal money for the much talked-about waterfront convention centre and for enlarging the Roberts Bank dock facilities. 100% Portable Always Hot For Pennies A ODay 72 Jota For Total Massage ‘such as: It can’t have everything, so it’ must decide which comes first. It certainly won't get any more than its demographic share of lottery money if also it is to get gobs of tax lolly for convention centre and dock con- struction. Before the year is out the PNE is going to have to forget its plans to build Canada’s first indoor 60,000- seat stadium. It’s going to have to translate the stuff dreams are made of-into something more realistic, » an Page 15, January 21, 1979 - Sunday News ~ >» Football and soccer can survive ;.‘aving in the open air and the rain. They always have. But major league baseball, a $10 million-a- year Operation, can’t. Here in the Pacific Northwest, it... needs a dome. It's not going’ to oget one. So, forget it. Tearing down the old stands at Empire Stadium and replacing them with a 50,000-seat designed that if a can- tilevered roof over just the seats can't be erected im- mediately, it can be added later ‘ This is feasible. [tis within the realm of what Ottawa can be expected to provide (and Victoria to add to) in the way of lottery money _over, say, a five-year peiod. aN Friness Now I =. Fimess is a national issue. We call it Body Politics. ‘The Canadian mdvomens tot perongs times vow ‘ vole structure, SO - _ Sh. ‘Professional | Repairs of all Major Makes & Brands © RANGES © WASHERS & DRYERS. © REFRIGERATORS © DISHWASHERS © VACUUM - CLEANERS Ask about our conditional guorontee. 3020 Edgemont Bivd. in the ’‘Village’’. 980-9411 LO TAKE THE PLUNGE! * |s Affordable Hassle Free No Plumbing Required ® Operates an 110 Volts 20 Amp « e 14°x74 x30 High 10-Year Warranty LET US INTROOUCE YOU TO OUR PRODUCT WHY DELAY CALL TODAY ANO TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT US OPEN.7 OAYS A WEEK MON. TO FAI. TILL 8 SAT. & SUN. TILE 6 FREE DEMONSTRATION PLUS... OUR SHOWROOM (S LUXURIOUS & COMPLETELY PRIVATE BAOADWAY TYIMAVE 925-1331 get into the swing while the getting's good! 420 WEST 6TH AVE., VANCOUVER PHONE 872-8541 Contact) our 925 1331 PO 3N3 answenng serice at for complete detaits or write Box 91105 West Vancouver V7V