[GernB]

^Yes BC Place was built at least partially in anticipation of an MLB franchise, and hosted some Seattle exhibition games before the rebuild. Lots of pics out there if you google BC Place baseball. IIRC it would have seated about 55,000 in the baseball configuration.
Again, IIRC, the potential ownership group made overtures to the White Sox, A's and Seattle, and only a last-minute infusion of cash from Japanese investors kept the Mariners in Seattle. If it had happened, I would have taken the occasional trip to the coast for a weekend set of games. Seems to me there was a BC Senator involved in the plan as well, though I don't recall his name...I believe they came very close. After being passed over in favour of other cities, we never heard much about it again. I suppose Pattison and/or Molsons lost interest. A damn shame it didn't happen.