Rams Take Formal Step Toward Leaving Anaheim : Football: The team gives notice of intent to move but has 15 months to decide. Several cities are interested.

In a move that may strip Orange County of its professional football team and diminish its growing reputation as a thriving sports market, the Los Angeles Rams on Tuesday took the first formal step toward moving from Southern California.

The Rams hand-delivered a letter of intent and a $2-million non-refundable check to City Hall in the morning, exercising a 15-month escape clause in their 30-year stadium lease. The Rams have until Aug. 3, 1995, to let the city know whether they are staying, although the team is supposed to inform the National Football League of its intentions by next February.

Meanwhile, they are free to shop the team to other cities.

Anaheim officials both expected and dreaded the notice.

“It’s a sad day,” Councilman Bob D. Simpson said. “I had hoped against hope that this would not happen, but it did. . . . It almost has an air of finality to it.”

The team may stay in Anaheim if it cannot find a more profitable location. But many Anaheim officials say they are unable to compete financially with offers from other areas in the country and fully expect this to be the team’s last season here.

Several cities are courting the Rams, and Tuesday’s action is expected to ignite a flurry of competition. Baltimore, St. Louis, San Antonio, Hartford, Conn., and Memphis, Tenn., are the most frequently mentioned suitors.

Baltimore reportedly is willing to use lottery money to build a state-of-the-art stadium and rent it to a team for $1 a game. The Rams would receive all revenue from parking, concessions and luxury seats. In Anaheim, the team splits such revenues with the city.

Maryland Gov. William Donald Schaefer said Tuesday’s official notice opens the way for Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos to lure the team.

“Peter has been pursuing this very persistently. He knew the Rams were going to make a move today. He could do nothing until after that was formalized,” Schaefer said.

Angelos was unavailable for comment Tuesday, but Monday he said he would “aggressively move forward” to procure a team. Sources familiar with his plans say he has offered to buy a significant minority share, allowing Rams owner Georgia Frontiere to retain control and receive an immediate infusion of cash.

Connecticut Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr., who is spearheading Hartford’s attempt to attract an NFL team, is planning to visit Los Angeles next week to meet with officials from both the Rams and the Los Angeles Raiders, according to a report in Tuesday’s Hartford Courant.

Rams officials, who announced in February that the team would become a free agent by activating the escape clause, issued a brief statement Tuesday, saying they have not started talks with other cities and have made no decision to move.

The team will play all of its 1994 home games at Anaheim Stadium and can revoke its notice at any time, team officials added.

John Shaw, the Rams’ executive vice president who is heading the relocation efforts, was unavailable for comment.

“This notice has been anticipated for some time and therefore comes as no surprise to us,” said Anaheim City Manager James D. Ruth in a prepared release. “The city remains open and responsive to exploring options that would keep the Rams in Anaheim.”

The Rams were lured here from Los Angeles in 1980 with promises of a better facility than the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, better financial opportunities and more fans. Although the team prospered in Anaheim through most of the 1980s, it has struggled in the 1990s. Over the past four years, the team has suffered consecutive losing seasons and sagging attendance. The team reported that season ticket sales were off 40% over the last three years.

During the last football season, the Rams said openly that opportunities to earn more money are limited by their lease in Anaheim and the lack of passion in Southern California sports fans.

Team officials believe the market is ripe and that football interest in other cities, including some that failed to land expansion franchises last year, gives them a window of opportunity.

Furthermore, Rams and Anaheim officials acknowledge that their 14-year partnership has been deeply troubled at times. As recently as two weeks ago, the team faced eviction from its practice facility over a dispute with the city and the school district that owns the property.

The Rams’ escape clause, in fact, arose out of a dispute between the team and the city. Anaheim created the clause in the lease in 1990 in exchange for the team’s dropping a lawsuit it had filed to block or delay construction of the city-owned arena, the Pond of Anaheim. The Rams agreed, should they move, to pay off all the debt on stadium improvements made by the city since 1980 to accommodate the team.

That payment would be $28.1 million. The $2-million check the franchise gave the city Tuesday goes toward that debt.

Because the Rams would have to pay off the stadium debt, city officials contend that the financial impact, if the team leaves, would be minimal. But local restaurants and hotels have said they will suffer from the loss of eight Ram home games, plus exhibitions, each season.

Economics aside, city officials say the Rams’ departure would affect the reputation of Anaheim and Orange County in the sports world, which has boomed this past year with response to Anaheim’s Mighty Ducks hockey franchise.

“If we can’t keep the Rams, who’s going to want to come here?” Councilman Simpson said. Anaheim also is home to the California Angels baseball team, and the city is trying to lure a professional basketball team to the Pond.

City officials, however, have not given up on the Rams.

Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly has been meeting with county and business officials to enlist their financial support. He also has proposed building a massive retail complex near the stadium that would link it with the city’s other tourist attractions, especially Disneyland, and possibly building a new football stadium. But the plans have received little support.

If the Rams do leave next year, city officials said they will seek another NFL franchise. The city will also attempt to fill the stadium dates left vacant with other sports, such as motocross, and concerts.