Hawks Stay Put, For Now
The Seattle Seahawks are not likely to be headed out of Seattle for Los Angeles - or anywhere else - at the end of the season.
Stay tuned, though! If the Browns can leave Cleveland, anything can happen.
Seahawks majority owner Ken Behring is a bottom-line businessman and land developer from Danville, Calif., with no ties to the Northwest. And he’s frustrated and unhappy with the Kingdome situation here.
Behring acknowledged this week that he’s talked to R.D. Hubbard of Hollywood Park about the possibility of relocating his franchise to a new stadium in Los Angeles.
But he said Hubbard called him as Hubbard called all the other NFL owners so there was nothing special about their conversation.
“We’re not going to Hollywood Park,” Behring said, denying a Los Angeles broadcast report that the Seahawks were on the verge of moving at season’s end.
Hubbard has said he’s negotiating with four NFL teams, but he hasn’t identified them.
What is holding up the relocation of an existing NFL franchise to Los Angeles now is that such a move will need the approval of the league and its owners.
Last spring, the owners voted to give commissioner Paul Tagliabue’s office the control over that market and sue any owner who tries to move there without approval.
The league favors sites near Dodger Stadium and a Disney-promoted site near El Segundo. So Hollywood Park has had to make contacts on its own to get a team.
Just because the Seahawks probably are staying put after this season doesn’t mean they’re going to be in Seattle forever, however.
Behring, who started out selling cars as a teenager in 1950, bought the Seahawks from the Seattle-based Nordstrom family before the 1988 season.
Eight years later, Behring still does not feel comfortable in Seattle, although he brought in his son, David, to be the team’s president in January 1993.
Behring wants either $150 million in improvements to the Kingdome, where the Seahawks have played in all of their 20 seasons, or a new stadium - although he’s emphasized he’s not asking for a new stadium.
Behring has said the last thing he wants to do is move the Seahawks, because Browns owner Art Modell is going to be tied up in lawsuits for years when he moves to Baltimore. And Behring has a contract to play in the Kingdome through the year 2005.
But Behring has said he needs a stadium that will allow him to compete financially in the NFL.
The city of Seattle built the NBA SuperSonics the Key Arena. The Washington Legislature and King County have worked out a financing plan for a new, retractable-roof outdoor baseball stadium for the American League Seattle Mariners.
Behring feels like the odd man out. The Seahawks and the county are talking.
“There’s always progress, but it’s never as fast as I’d like,” he said this week. “We’re trying. That’s all I can say.”
Under Behring’s ownership, the Seahawks have slipped - both on the field and at the gate. They haven’t made the playoffs since 1988.
Behring fired Tom Flores and brought in Dennis Erickson from University of Miami to try to bring fans back into the Kingdome seats. Erickson has done a remarkable job after a 2-6 start. When the Seahawks (8-7) beat Oakland 44-10 last Sunday night, it was their sixth victory in seven games and gave them a chance to make the playoffs in the NFL’s final Sunday.
More importantly to Behring, a season-best 58,428 fans turned out in the Kingdome for the Raiders game.
Those Los Angeles reports that just won’t go away are putting pressure on King County’s politicians to give into Behring. Behring said he’s sick and tired of the reports. Yeah, right!
Is Behring playing football’s version of hardball or is he playing stadium blackmail?
That’s hard to figure out and Behring isn’t much help.
“I don’t even know where Hollywood Park is,” he said.