Seahawks Threaten To Break Kingdome Lease $150 Million Asked If Voters Ok Money For New Baseball Stadium

The Seattle Seahawks have threatened to terminate their lease after this season if the Kingdome doesn’t get a $150 million share of any stadium-improvement money approved by voters.

Breaking the lease could be the first step in moving the National Football League team out of Seattle, although a memo from the Seahawks to King County Executive Gary Locke did not specifically mention moving.

King County voters likely will be asked later this year to raise their sales-tax rate to pay for a new baseball stadium.

The Seahawks have asked before that improvements to the Kingdome be part of any stadium package.

And they have maintained they have the right to break their lease because the Kingdome is no longer a “first-class facility.”

But the new memo delivered to Locke over the weekend raises the stakes for the county. For the first time, it sets a deadline and a dollar amount to keep the lease in effect.

Locke also asked the County Council on

Wednesday to place a 0.1 percent sales-tax increase on the Sept. 19 ballot.

He has said revenue from the tax would pay for the county’s share of a new, open-air baseball stadium, its $65 million debt from repairing the Kingdome roof and for other Kingdome renovations, as previously requested by the Seahawks.

Locke has been trying to win the Seahawks’ support for the tax measure.

In its memo, the football team said it would “waive our objections to the present sales-tax proposal” if King County agrees to provide $150 million for Kingdome renovations, over and above the money already spent on Kingdome repairs and any money to be spent for seismic improvements.

The renovations would be made as directed by the Seahawks, the memo said.

If voters agree to raise the sales tax, but the county hasn’t agreed to the Kingdome improvements by Feb. 1, the memo said, “It is expressly understood that the Seahawks may terminate their existing agreement.”

The county has insisted the lease, with 11 years left, remains valid.

The Seahawks’ memo did not say what the team’s position would be if voters turned down the sales-tax increase.

A Seahawks move became more plausible recently when the Los Angeles Raiders returned to Oakland, leaving the nation’s No.2 television market without a franchise.

Locke said the Seahawks have been some what jealous of all the attention paid to the Mariners and want to make sure the county is paying attention to the football team.

“They have made it clear they want to stay in Seattle,” he said.