It Could Be A Whole New Ballgame If Stadium Vote Fails, Would Behring Move The Seahawks? Would Allen Really Walk Away?

When it comes to building stadiums for pro sports teams, probably the only thing certain about a deadline is that it will be broken.

Consider this: Billionaire Paul Allen gave lawmakers until April 3 to approve a financing plan for a new football stadium or he’d drop his bid to buy the Seattle Seahawks. They didn’t, so he fudged the date a little and told them to get the job done within a week or so.

Three agonizing weeks later, the Legislature finally gave Allen a stadium plan that he could put on the statewide ballot for voters to decide.

Such is life when the worlds of politics and pro sports collide.

So what happens if voters reject Referendum 48 on Tuesday?

At this point, there are far more questions than answers.

Would Allen really walk away from a deal that has cost him at least $40 million already? Would he consider asking current owner Ken Behring for an extension of his option to purchase the team, which expires July 1? Would Behring try again to move the team?

Wouldn’t Behring, who could double his investment by selling the team for $200 million, be motivated to work something out with Allen? Would civic and government leaders find another way to build a stadium, just as they did for the Mariners in 1995?

Allen insists he’ll drop his option on the Seahawks if voters reject his request to replace the Kingdome with a plush stadium featuring a grass field and lots of luxury boxes. His purchase of the team has been billed as the best way to keep Behring from moving the team out of state.

But Allen won’t buy without a public partnership. Under the deal he’s offering, he’ll buy the team if the public pays for $300 million of the $425 million stadium project.

“He’s said all along there would be no movement without an affirmative vote of the people,” says Allen’s campaign strategist, Bob Gogerty. “He’s put it in writing. He’s been on TV. He’s told legislators. He said it personally to the governor. What else can he do?”

State Rep. Steve Van Luven, the Bellevue Republican who sponsored the financing plan in the Legislature, advises against calling Allen’s bluff. “His credibility is on the line.”

Gov. Gary Locke says there’s one certainty: He will not call the Legislature back for a special session to rescue professional football in Seattle. That’s how the Mariners got a new baseball stadium after King County voters narrowly had rejected a financing plan.

Behring hasn’t spoken publicly about the Seahawks in the past year, and his son, Dave, who runs the team, didn’t return a call seeking comment.

But fans remember last year when the Behrings stuffed the team’s equipment into moving vans and briefly moved the club to Southern California, even though their lease of the Kingdome doesn’t expire until 2005.

The National Football League made them return to Seattle. But NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has hinted that the league’s resistance to a move could weaken if the Seahawks are forced to continue playing in the Kingdome, where the team reportedly loses between $5 million and $8 million a year.

No matter what happens, the Seahawks are expected to play the 1997 season in Seattle. After that, it’s anybody’s ballgame.