Fans Need To Give Behring Tidal Wave

Now, we Northwesterners know how Cleveland feels. And Houston. And possibly Tampa Bay, Cincinnati and Arizona. The National Football League’s version of musical chairs finally has come to a city near us: Seattle.

Seahawks owner Ken Behring has conjured the weakest of excuses - the seismic inadequacy of the Kingdome - in his attempt to break his stadium lease and respond to the siren call of Los Angeles, the nation’s No. 2 market.

As Behring’s vans head southward toward the San Andreas fault, we have recourse, however. Northwesterners should make Behring’s life miserable, fighting the Seahawks’ exodus in the courts, in Olympia, in Washington, D.C. - as jilted Cleveland is doing.

First, fans should support King County’s lawsuit against the Seahawks, demanding that he honor the final decade of his stadium lease. Then, Washington leaders should search for a local owner. Finally, all sports fans should support a Fans Rights Bill, co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., which would make it difficult for franchises to abandon communities.

Fans and professional football itself deserve protection from ruthless owners like Behring, Cleveland’s Art Modell, Arizona’s Bill Bidwell, Oakland’s Al Davis, ad nauseam.

A sports franchise doesn’t deserve the protection of a typical private business. It’s quasi-public enterprise, relying on fan loyalty and community subsidies to survive. You don’t, for example, see people routinely wearing Boeing baseball caps or Microsoft jackets. Northwesterners have been crazy about the Seahawks since the franchise joined the NFL in 1976, supporting the team by buying tickets, paraphernalia and products hawked by broadcast advertisers.

The Fans Rights Bill offers the best opportunity to stop the franchise-shuffling madness, which has seen five pro football teams relocate or announce plans to do so in 10 months.

The bill calls for a limited antitrust exemption to keep the NFL from being sued if it denies a relocation request. Additionally, Gorton plans to add a provision that would give communities six months to block a franchise move by finding a local buyer.

The battle’s not over.

If we’re lucky, we’ll exorcise opportunistic Behring from the Northwest, witness the Seattle Seahawks return to prominence and local ownership, and possibly help save pro football.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = D.F. Oliveria/For the editorial board