Seahawks Looking South, Sources Say Staff Member Told ‘We’re Moving,’ But King County Not Ready To Give Up On Team

The worst fears of Seattle Seahawks fans may soon be realized as the National Football League franchise appears to be closing in on a deal to move to Anaheim, Calif.

Two sources close to Seahawk staff members said that word of the impending move was spread to the staff on Tuesday.

“It’s a done deal, we’re moving,” one source was told by a staff member Wednesday evening. “It’s all going to come out (today).”

Another source within the administration stopped short of that assessment, saying only that “there’s a major, major concern in that building.”

Frank Abe, the spokesman for King County executive Gary Locke, told KIRO-TV Wednesday that this is the latest in a series of rumors that majority-owner Ken Behring would relocate the team.

“All the information we’ve gathered right now is that the rumors are unfounded, and they (the Behrings) seem to be working toward staying in Seattle, just as we have been talking with them about doing,” Abe said.

KIRO also reported that a closed-door meeting took place Wednesday night between Locke and the county officials responsible for the Kingdome.

Seahawks owner Ken Behring has summoned King County’s top political leaders to a meeting today, according to a report in today’s Tacoma News Tribune. The meeting was called to discuss whether the football team has a future in Seattle.

Tribune sources close to the Seahawks said Behring is likely to present county officials with results of an engineering study he commissioned on repairs needed to fortify the Kingdome against an earthquake. Behring’s study reportedly shows the repairs would cost millions more than expected - one source put the figure at $90 million.

If his study showed conclusively that the county can’t afford the seismic improvements needed to make the dome safe, Behring could use it as an excuse to break the team’s lease, which is good through 2005.

Behring has repeatedly said that without an expensive, extensive renovation of the Kingdome, the 20-year-old stadium is not a “first class facility” guaranteed in the team’s lease.

Such a move by the Seahawks might spur legal action.

Last spring, NFL owners voted to give the office of Commissioner Paul Tagliabue the right to control the Los Angeles market - vacated by the Rams and the Raiders - and to sue any owner who attempts to move there without approval of the owners.

Behring originally sought $150 million in improvements to the Kingdome, including new luxury suites, club seats, wider concourses and a new entry-way. But more recently he hinted that nothing short of an entirely new facility would keep the team in Seattle.

Behring could be in a hurry to move since concerned fans are pushing legislation that would make franchise relocation more difficult.

A move to Anaheim would likely mean the Hawks would play in the 68,000-seat Anaheim Stadium, which had been home to the Rams. It could also mean possible minority-ownership by The Disney Corp., which reportedly has been interested in an NFL franchise.

No further details of the move were available.

League offices in New York were closed Wednesday evening.

Seahawk spokesman Dave Neubert said Wednesday that, to his knowledge, no agreement has been signed with anyone in Los Angeles to move the team.

The Seahawks have been a Seattle fixture since joining the league as an expansion team in 1976. At one point, the waiting list for season tickets reached 30,000. But the team has not advanced to the playoffs since 1988, and the Hawks routinely played in front of 15,000 to 20,000 empty seats the past several years.

Dennis Erickson, a native of Everett, left the University of Miami to take over as head coach of the Hawks before this season. He turned down more lucrative offers with other teams for a chance to move back to his home area.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Where are they now?