Behring Reaches Deal With Rams Facility

Seahawks owner Ken Behring has agreed in principle to a one-year lease of the former Los Angeles Rams practice facility in Anaheim, Calif., followed by a one-year option, sources said Tuesday.

The cost of using so-called Rams Park, originally an elementary school still owned by the Magnolia School District, will be about $250,000 a year once Behring signs a formal lease, the sources said. In addition to that fee, Behring also reportedly has agreed to pay for the costs of renovating the facility.

Although no actual lease document has been signed by the owner of the Seahawks, the city of Anaheim or the school district, Behring has a “gentlemen’s agreement” to move into the site, said Bret Colson, Anaheim public information officer. Equipment already has been moved from the team’s headquarters in Kirkland, Wash., into Rams Park.

Despite threats from King County that any party entering into an agreement with Behring could be subject to the county’s lawsuit against the team, Colson said the potential legal action would not prevent a formal lease on the practice facility from being signed.

“We can probably still do an agreement as far as training camp is concerned,” Colson said Tuesday. “But as far as anything else is concerned - no, we can’t do anything” because of the lawsuit.

Behring still is bound by a King County judge’s temporary restraining order that prevents the team from moving any equipment essential to the Seahawks playing games in Seattle next season.

King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng was out of town Tuesday and unavailable for comment. His spokesman, Dan Donohoe, said that an agreement to use the practice facility probably would not be seen as a violation of the restraining order.

“If there was an agreement that would prevent the Seahawks from playing future games in the Kingdome, that obviously would be a violation,” he said. “But the training facility would not pose a problem.”

Colson said Anaheim city manager James Ruth would likely execute the formal lease agreement with Behring for Rams Park, and he didn’t believe it would require full approval of the Anaheim City Council.

“I’m sure it would just be a formality… . But, again, no specific terms have been discussed,” Colson said.

But the lease would have to be approved by the Magnolia School District, which thus far has allowed Behring to move equipment into the Rams Park cafeteria without yet receiving any monetary compensation.

“All we know is that they have agreed to pick up all the costs of renovating the facility,” Colson said. “The school district, in anticipation of them reaching a formal agreement with the city, has allowed them to come in and store all of their gear, which is all they are doing.”

School Superintendent Paul Mercier said the reason that the agreement would be for only one year with a one-year option is that the school district eventually wants to use the site as a school again.

After the Rams moved out, plans called for the team to pay up to $1.4 million to rebuild the school, but those plans were put on hold after the city of Anaheim requested that it be used to accommodate Behring’s plans to move the Seahawks to Southern California.

Mercier said he believes a formal agreement with Behring will be nearly identical to the agreement with the Rams, who moved to St. Louis last year.

The money helps the school district pay for special reading, technology and music programs, he said.