SAN DIEGO FIELD OF DREAMS...WILL FANS, VOTERS STICK WITH PADRES AFTER SERIES?

Byline: Matt McHale Daily News Staff Writer

From the backs of Range Rovers and battered Toyota pickups, music is blaring and fish tacos are grilling. It's three hours before Tuesday's Game Three of the 1998 World Series between the underdog Padres and the powerful New York Yankees and the parking lot at Qualcomm Stadium already is a carnival.

You wouldn't find this at Dodger Stadium, where tailgate parties are illegal, but here it is as big a part of the ritual as anything that goes on inside.

``We've been coming here since the Nate Colbert days,'' said season-ticket holder Merrill Campbell, remembering the first star of the 30-year-old Padres. ``It hasn't always been great, but it's great right now. The World Series is here.''

Baseball clearly is in the air, even though the Padres trail the Yankees in the Series three games to none after Tuesday night's 5-4 loss. But so is a lot of uncertainty.

While the Padres have electrified this city and drew 64,667 Tuesday night, the level of their Padres enthusiasm might be better gauged Nov. 3, when voters decide on helping pay for a new $411 million downtown stadium.

The measure is expected to pass, but not without opposition. Even Mayor Susan Golding was against it until finally coming on board in early August.

The proposed stadium complex would be built on a 26-square-block area east of downtown.

It will include a 42,000-seat ballpark and surrounding retail, office and hotel development. The Padres are hoping to be playing there by 2002.

The city will pay $225 million with the Padres adding $115 million. The remaining construction funds will be raised through projected advertising and other city agencies.

The Padres, who set a franchise attendance record of 2,555,901 this season, believe their survival hinges on the vote. The club shares the existing stadium with San Diego State University and the NFL Chargers, who played on the field just three days ago.

In an attempt to lure the Super Bowl here several years ago, the stadium was expanded and the Chargers received some major concessions from local government.

They now get most of the revenue from stadium advertising, something the Padres said destroys their chances of remaining competitive.

``Everybody knows how important a new stadium is,'' said the Padres' top pitcher, Kevin Brown, who will go tonight against the Yankees in Game Four. ``This is a wonderful place to play. Ownership is very good to the players. But they can't continue under this arrangement.''

Brown, 33, is a symbol for the Padres dilemma. As an 18-game winner and Cy Young Award candidate for the National League's top pitcher, he is one of the team's most important players.

He also is a free agent after the season and is expected to command up to $12 million annually in a multiyear contract on the open market.

The Padres have an overall payroll of $49 million, a figure they say will have to be trimmed next season.

Brown figures to play elsewhere in 1999. The future of other potential free agents Ken Caminiti, Steve Finley and Wally Joyner also remains in doubt.

John Moores, who purchased the team after the 1994 season, said before the playoffs that the club would lose $10 million to $15 million this year.

Losing Brown and the others also would damage much of the good will the team has created this season.

The Padres won just their second pennant this season and have not produced consistently winning clubs. After winning the National League West in 1996, the Padres finished last a year ago.

``This is a front-running town,'' said Brad Jahnz, a bartender at Bully's, a local watering hole frequented by Padres players and coaches. ``They will not support the team just because they're here. They have to win.''

Although the stadium issue will be overshadowed this week by the roar of the crowd, baseball will be watching closely.

In the 1990s, new ballparks have sparked enormous financial windfalls and civic resurgence in cities such as Cleveland and Baltimore.

Montreal has extended the deadline for funding a new stadium for the Expos. Like the Padres, the future of baseball in that city might depend on local support.

In Los Angeles, the Dodgers are weighing the possibility of renovating Dodger Stadium or building a new one.

A renovated stadium in Anaheim did not result in the expected huge crowds. Recently, there was a noticeable drop-off at the restaurants and shops surrounding Coors Field in Denver, where attendance records were set when it opened in 1995.

``So many great things here have come out of this season for the Padres,'' said Dodgers President Bob Graziano. ``I think the measure will pass and they will continue to grow.''

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo: (color) Yankee Scott Brosius, center, greets teammates after hitting a three-run homer that beat the Padres 5-4.

Mark J. Terrell/Associated Press

Box: Yankees rally past Padres