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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Officials Want Details Before Cutting Kingdome Lease For Allen

Associated Press

King County officials are willing to consider shortening the Seahawks’ Kingdome lease - from nine years to three - to keep billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen interested in buying the team.

But first they want the details of other concessions being discussed by County Executive Gary Locke and Allen’s Football Northwest organization.

“Show me the whole deal,” said Metropolitan King County Councilman Rob McKenna, who wants to know what the county will lose if it delivers other incentives sought by Allen, including reduced Kingdome rent and a bigger share of revenues from luxury seating, advertising and stadium concessions.

“I think it is a reasonable risk to take,” he said of the three-year lease. “The alternative is that you would lose the team anyway. You’d lose them because (owner Ken) Behring would file for bankruptcy and sell the team.”

County Councilman Ron Sims said he would be willing to go along with a three-year lease if Allen would drop demands for certain financial considerations. He said the council is “not even close” to an agreement on the lease concessions and that Allen’s call for economic considerations are “driving us absolutely up the wall.”

“We haven’t agreed on anything,” Sims said of the council. “We haven’t discussed a position yet. Nothing has been moved forward because we haven’t had a chance to meet on it.”

Allen, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft Corp., has said he will drop his option to buy the Seahawks if the county doesn’t grant the lease concessions by Dec. 15.

And he won’t exercise the option unless the Legislature approves a funding package for a new or renovated stadium next session. He contends a shorter lease is necessary to get the Legislature to act on the matter.

Football Northwest, formed by Allen to acquire the Seahawks, is frustrated in its dealings with the county. On Wednesday, Allen spokeswoman Susan Pierson said he will only accept lease concessions “promised” by Locke eight months ago.

She said no one from Locke’s office has been in contact with Allen’s organization for two weeks.

In a Wednesday statement from a vacation in Hawaii, Locke - who will become governor in January - said he had been in “almost daily” contact with Allen representatives.

Football Northwest lobbyist Martin Durkan Jr. was optimistic.

“I believe there are eight or nine votes (on the 13-member council) to make this happen,” he said.