Baseball

King County might allow owner Jeff Smulyan of the Seattle Mariners to move the team before the 1993 season if Puget Sound businesses can’t raise the team’s revenues enough by next spring, County Executive Tim Hill said.

But Hill said he is confident a public-private group headed by businessman Herman Sarkowsky will meet a goal of $13 million a year in new revenues for the team. Sarkowsky’s group so far has raised between $4 million and $5 million.

If the goal is met, a new agreement with Smulyan could eliminate the year-to-year uncertainties of the escape clause in the Mariners’ lease of the Kingdome.

The Mariners are committed to Seattle through the 1996 season by the Kingdome lease, which narrowly defines terms under which the team might be moved before then.