Seahawks Ponder L.A. Move
There is a Sleeper in Seattle.
While rumors have been running rampant that the Bengals, Browns or Vikings might be eyeing a new home in Los Angeles, it appears Ken Behring has been working covertly to get his team there.
Behring owns the Seattle Seahawks, the sleeper team to fill the void created when the Rams departed two months ago for St. Louis.
Behring’s secret plan came to light in the midst of the discussion about the Raiders’ situation in Los Angeles, which took place at a league meeting in Jacksonville, Fla., last week.
Raiders owner Al Davis was addressing his peers about his future, telling them that even if he decides to take his team elsewhere, they should go ahead and build a stadium at Hollywood Park racetrack.
He even said that the deal was so good for the league in the long run that he would step aside and let any owner make it.
Behring volunteered to take it. He then told the owners that he had been in Los Angeles scouting locations for a new stadium.
Almost every owner in the room was stunned by the admission - except Davis, who had prior knowledge from his connections around Los Angeles that Behring had thought of moving his team into the territory.
Behring acknowledged that he owned a piece of property in the Los Angeles area that would be perfect for a football stadium. Working mostly in the San Francisco area, Behring is known as one of the top real estate developers in California.
The NFL makes no secret of the fact that it wants to place another NFC team in the market. Seattle is in the AFC. However, when the Rams moved to St. Louis, they reportedly agreed to shift into the AFC if there was an AFC team (such as Seattle, Cincinnati or Cleveland) that wanted to relocate to Los Angeles.
Even though the league approved a package to have the Raiders stay in Los Angeles and play at a new stadium at Hollywood Park, it is no slam dunk. Hollywood Park has not given the league an answer on the proposal yet, and Davis will not decide for at least another week whether he wants to stay or migrate to Oakland or Baltimore.
If he does leave, there will be no franchise in Los Angeles. In terms of revenue for the league, millions of dollars on the next television contract will be lost.
What then? The Bengals? Most likely not. Bengals owner Mike Brown has spoken often in the past six months about taking his team out of town because of his poor financial deal in Riverfront Stadium. However, this past week, he told some owners privately that he did not have an interest in Los Angeles and felt confident he could make a deal to stay in Cincinnati, which he prefers.
The Browns are definitely a candidate for a move, as are the Seahawks. Cleveland owner Art Modell has told some of his owner friends that he can’t stay in Cleveland and be competitive with his present arrangement. Modell does not have a stadium lease to worry about. Behring does. However, when questioned about the possible jump to Los Angeles, Behring said he felt his lease had been breached, which would make it possible for him to move any time.
In that case, the Sleeper from Seattle might be known as Seattle Flew. Ouch.