Mormons Draw a Bigger Crowd to Safeco Field Than the Mariners

Anybody who's anybody was at Safeco Field on Saturday JOAN MARCUS

Maybe the King County Council, who just handed $135 million to Mariners, should reconsider who they choose as their sole tenant.

Russell L. Nelson is 94, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and packed Safeco Field on Saturday and brought more fans to Safeco Field than almost any Mariners game this year, especially if you consider no one in the crowd came for beer.

Safeco Field, built with public funds for the Mariners, was filled to the brim with Mormons on Saturday. About 49,000 of Nelson's followers were in attendance to hear him speak. In addition to being the president, Nelson is also a prophet and an apostle of the Mormon religion. Naturally, this drew in the crowds.

To put this into perspective, according to ESPN, the Mariners only manage to draw in an average of about 29,000 fans to their home games. That's 14th out of the entire MLB. The Dodgers hold the number one spot with an average of about 46,700 Dodgers fans. The Latter-day Saints crammed more Mormons into Safeco than Dodgers Fans into Dodger Stadium.

Look at all these people at Safeco:

A significant weekend for Latter-day Saints in the Pacific Northwest as President Russell M. Nelson speaks to 49,000- the largest audience he has ever addressed as president of the @LDSchurch Watch a recap of his message on @KSL5TV at 10. pic.twitter.com/BbdzJ1KJLU

— Sam Penrod (@KSLsampenrod) September 17, 2018

This sight may get even rarer. The Mariners are inching closer and closer to the end of another season without an appearance in the playoffs (which will be their 17th season missing a postseason in a row, the longest drought in professional sports.)

What was all the Mormon hubbub about? Who knows. Nelson spoke on five points: a rafting trip he went on with his some of his nine (NINE) daughters, the Book of Mormon (not the musical) being the word of god, something about the honor of men fading, caring for others, and something else about the lord. You can read the specifics here, it's filed under church news.

At the King County Council meeting yesterday that set aside another $135 million of public money for the Mariners, Councilmember Kathy Lambert said part of why we should pay for Safeco maintenance is that it hosts other events like her son-in-law's graduation and another non-sporting event she attended this past weekend that filled Safeco. Councilmember Lambert has not responded to an email inquiring whether it was this event that she was at this past weekend.