Seahawks Nearing Deal to Practice at Anaheim Park

The owner of the Seattle Seahawks said Saturday his organization is close to finalizing details with the Magnolia School District for the use of Rams Park in Anaheim, and said his team will be moving there “very soon,” possibly by this week.

Anaheim city officials, who have been preparing the park for a new tenant, said they will immediately begin negotiations with team owner Ken Behring to bring the Seahawks to their city permanently. Behring is expected to meet with city officials in Anaheim on Monday and tour the facility.

In his first interview since announcing in a statement that the Seahawks were leaving Seattle, Behring said he is committed to bringing his football team to Los Angeles immediately in the hope of moving into a state-of-the-art football facility for the 1998 or 1999 season.

His first order of business will be finding a Southern California partner, and Behring said he will concentrate his efforts on the entertainment industry here, including the Walt Disney Co.

“A partner from the area helps us meet people much faster and lets us know what people here are looking for,” said Behring, who owns more than 95% of the Seahawks. “We want to do everything we can to make this the type of team people will like. We want to have a great stadium, a stadium that still has some reasonably priced seats available for people.”

Behring said he has no deal in place with a prospective minority owner nor any understanding as such with Michael Ovitz, a close friend who is president of Disney. He said that won’t preclude Ovitz from possibly becoming his partner at some time, but he said Ovitz’s ties to Disney and Disney’s reluctance to attach itself to a team leaving another city have forced him to be cautious in his dealings with Ovitz.

“I’m a Californian and this is where I want to be,” Behring said. “We’re going to come down there with all the advantages of an expansion team and yet still have the advantage of having an organization in place. We’re leaving all logos, pictures, trophies, stationery, everything behind and starting out as Los Angeles’ team.”

But Anaheim officials are hopeful that the Seahawks will be Orange County’s team instead.

City Manager James D. Ruth said Saturday it is his understanding that the city will immediately begin “an exclusive six-month negotiating period” with the Seahawks, although nothing is yet in writing.

“We’re delighted,” Ruth said. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. But, they are coming down and they will be negotiating with the city of Anaheim.”

Ruth said that although the Seahawks will occupy the practice site and embark on serious negotiations with the city, Anaheim will distance itself from any legal entanglements in Seattle.

“We will be doing everything we can to accommodate their immediate needs,” Ruth said. “But the city is not going to get involved in any litigation. Whatever the legal issues are, that is between the Seahawks and Seattle. We will accommodate the team for the training and transition, then begin working on long-term arrangements. We hope we can successfully negotiate.”

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Other city leaders were cautiously hopeful Saturday.

“We are optimistic we can reach an agreement with Ken Behring for his team’s use of our training facility, and then use it a springboard for negotiations for his NFL team to have a home at Sportstown Anaheim,” said Mayor Tom Daly, referring to the city’s proposed sports, entertainment, retail and office complex slated to be built on 159 acres of stadium property.

Councilman Bob Zemel called Saturday’s developments “absolutely fabulous. It’s what we all hoped for. Anaheim is certainly going to step up to the plate and be a major venue for pro sports.”

Officials said the six-month negotiating period will give the city and the Seahawks time to settle issues such as where the team could play next season.

However, those dealings could complicate the city’s ongoing talks with Walt Disney Co. over renovations to Anaheim Stadium.

Disney, which recently purchased 25% and controlling interest of the California Angels baseball team, has set a March 17 deadline for the two sides to reach agreement on stadium renovations that could cost as much as $110 million. If no agreement is reached, Disney can walk away from the deal, leaving Angel majority owners Gene and Jackie Autry in search of another buyer.

“The baseball issue makes it more complicated for everyone,” Ruth said.

But the city manager did not rule out the possibility of the Seahawks playing at Anaheim Stadium in the coming season.

“It would involve a lot of coordination and cooperation from Disney, the Angels, the city and the Seahawks,” Ruth said. “It’s a difficult one to do but we’re willing to sit down and talk about it. It’s not impossible if everyone puts their minds together to make it happen.”

Up until now, the possibility of the Seahawks occupying Anaheim Stadium has not been a part of ongoing discussions between the city and Disney over renovations to the Big A, Ruth said.

“We have been focusing on baseball,” he added.

Zemel said “the renovation could take place with joint usage. I think it’s such a win-win for everybody if it works out.”

Disney Sports Enterprises spokesman Bill Robertson said that Saturday’s developments “certainly do open up some different possibilities” but declined further comment.

A renovated Anaheim Stadium and a brand-new football stadium are already components of Sportstown Anaheim. Its price tag, still undetermined, would be funded through the private sector, Anaheim officials have said.

Disney officials did not attend the splashy press conference unveiling the proposal for Sportstown last month, and have largely been silent about the project so far.

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Much of what happens to the Seahawks and where they will play, though, will depend on Behring, the team’s owner, who announced last week that he intended to move the team from the city where it has played for the past 20 years.

In a wide-ranging interview Saturday from his Danville, Calif., land developing offices, Behring said he has not contacted the Rose Bowl because of legal considerations, but his intention is to have his team play there on an interim basis.

“We couldn’t contact the Rose Bowl yet because we don’t want any possibility of Seattle starting legal action to take the team away from us,” he said. “It just depends on when our legal counsel determines we can do that, but I can tell you this: I’m committed to Los Angeles.”

Behring, 67, said he will let the area determine the name of the team, whether it be by contest or some other idea suggested, and he indicated his son, David, who is president of the team, will be moving to Los Angeles immediately to oversee the organization.

“We’ll let the people decide the colors for the team too,” Behring said. “We want this to be an L.A. team all the way.”

In Washington, a King County judge issued a 14-day temporary restraining order Friday, but the Seahawks have interpreted that to mean the team cannot be sold or play its home games anywhere besides the Kingdome. They do not believe it keeps them from moving their administrative offices and practice facilities here.

“The most that could happen if everything goes bad is flying up to Seattle a certain length of time for Sunday games in the Kingdome,” Behring said. “But I don’t know how they can make us go in there.

“We know morally we can’t play in the Kingdome. We cannot take the liability, morally or financially, to play in a place where we are fully aware of the dangers. Their own report addresses the seismic concerns.”

For that reason, Behring said, he does not expect the NFL to block the Seahawks’ move to Los Angeles. He said he will present his case to fellow owners at this week’s meetings in Chicago.

“We have been working with the NFL for the last year and we will try to do everything within the rules when we start talking about a permanent site for a stadium,” he said. “But who knows?

“But then what team owner is going to let his players play in a stadium when they are aware that if an earthquake comes, people will be injured or killed?” Behring said. “I don’t know of anybody willing to take that liability on.”

Behring said he is familiar with all the sites that have been mentioned in the Los Angeles area for the construction of a football stadium, but he said he has conducted no negotiations with anyone at this time.

“I don’t know who will want us,” Behring said. “We want to get started as soon as possible and have a new stadium by at least 1999. I’d like it to be 1998.”

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Behring said he can foresee no scenario in which a deal could be struck to remain in Seattle. And although King County officials are urging him to sell the team, he said, “That would only be the last resort. I’m sure that’s what they [King County] would like to see happen, but it would be absolutely the last resort. I don’t need the money.”

Behring said he tried to negotiate a settlement with King County officials, but instead he became a target of insults and duplicitous conduct.

“They decided to make a vicious personal attack, while we tried to do it the other way,” he said. “They said they were going to get back to us, but they went out and filed a lawsuit. They absolutely lied.

“We have not gotten anything [from King County]. They have no money to spend. They put $320 million into baseball and that finished them. It will be a long time before they spend any money on another sports franchise. Maybe if they get a local owner--I wasn’t a local owner.”

Behring, who was labeled a “rogue and bum” by one sports columnist in the Washington area, said the fact he was not a local owner doomed his stay in Seattle.

“I’ve taken a beating from the day I went up to Seattle to own the team,” Behring said. “Right away they pegged me as a rich California developer, the three most hated words in the dictionary, as they say so often. They drove George Argyros [former owner of the baseball Mariners, who lives in Orange County] out, and he’s a great person. It was just never a good relationship; they treated me as an outsider.

“When I purchased the team I guess I thought it was a business, but it is more than a business. You have to get more involved, but I had so many things going on and I wasn’t able to devote enough time to it. I learned a lot and don’t intend to make the same mistakes in Los Angeles.”

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The move of the Seahawks, on the heels of the Cleveland Browns’ proposed move to Baltimore, has raised the ire of many football fans, but Behring said it all comes to down to stadium revenue and competition for free agents.

“Football cannot survive in cities where a few teams do not have the stadium income to compete with others. We’re down now to only a few teams with such problems, but cities have to improve stadiums or they will have to move. I could fill up every seat and every luxury box--I have no advertising revenue, no parking revenue--and I would have $2 million a year. That’s not counting money made from tickets sold. but in the same situation, there are teams like St. Louis that will make between $20 million and $40 million a year.

“I can’t compete in the free agent market; I don’t mind breaking even, but I don’t see why I should lose money. You have to have a stadium to provide you that income to bring players in. I’m not coming here for greed. I have more than enough money now. I’m at an age now where I have a dream.

“One of the reasons I’m coming down there is because it’s the best city in the world to do something like that. I want to do things for education and make a difference. I want our young players to be role models, and I want to see maybe the NFL Experience, retail stores and a huge complex surrounding a football stadium. I don’t know yet if that can be done, but I want the people of Los Angeles to become a part of our organization.”

Behring, however, is prepared to lose money in the short term while setting up residence in the Rose Bowl. He said he hopes his team, which finished 8-8 by winning six of its last eight games under new Coach Dennis Erickson, will excite people here. He said the team has made a huge financial commitment to running back Chris Warren and quarterback Rick Mirer.

“I think we’re going to be more than competitive,” he said. “I don’t want to oversell the team, but I feel we have the possibilities of being very much a winning team. I was very naive when I purchased the team and I made mistakes. I purchased a very old team and didn’t change it right away. But we’re on the right track now.”

The Seahawks’ owner said he is not concerned about Los Angeles’ reputation for not supporting pro football in recent years. “We’re one team that is willing to take a chance,” he said. “My life has been spent in marketing. I’m not afraid to come there.”

Behring said he will build or buy a home in Los Angeles and will hire a marketing and sales team from the Los Angeles area, while bringing most of his front-office employees along with the team.

“We know how we can do the football end of things, but we’re still learning and working on the permanent site for a new stadium and all that is involved with that,” Behring said. “You know, it’s actually kind of fun being the free agent for a change after having dealt with free agents for so long.”

* RAMS PARK CLEANUP

Workers get practice facility ready for Seahawks. C13