Finding a Nest for the Seahawks : L.A. region wants a pro football club, but any deal must be right

The Rams and the Raiders have abandoned Southern California, leaving the National Football League’s second-largest market as a tempting destination for franchises looking to make pro football’s increasingly complex economics work to their advantage. In this topsy-turvy environment, the frantic scrambling of recent days has even had the Seattle Seahawks professing concern about earthquake safety up north as a reason to move to the Los Angeles area. Ken Behring, the owner of the team, has been negotiating a deal on a practice facility in Anaheim before it’s clear where the team would play, and on Monday he met with Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.

In this seemingly unavoidable turmoil, Southern California public officials and civic leaders should keep in mind that the area is the one being courted, and that it need not play the role of suitor. In Pasadena, or Anaheim, or any of the sites the NFL might be considering as a franchise host, there is no need to embrace a newcomer without getting something in the bargain. Those who are negotiating on the area’s behalf must mind the public coffers to ensure that the taxpayers don’t get taken for a ride.

Los Angeles and Orange counties by now should be wiser for their experiences, having been burned by the departure of two NFL franchises, which, remember, came from other cities in the first place. On the other hand, the Dodgers and Lakers have been highly successful imports, while the Angels are a home-grown prize. Franchises can be fickle.

Southern California should keep all this in mind. It should note, for instance, the damage to community spirit in Cleveland when the Browns, that city’s longtime home team, shuffled off to Baltimore on the promise of a better financial deal, the kind of arrangement that even millionaire owners covet to make their teams competitive and keep the turnstiles clicking.

National Football League owners will discuss the Seahawks’ intentions at a meeting this week. So far they and Commissioner Paul Tagliabue have yet to find a formula that reconciles the economic imperatives of the teams with the time-tested value of community identification.

The NFL should also not forget that Southern California has its own collection of sports-minded entrepreneurs, including the O’Malley family in Los Angeles and, in Orange County, the Walt Disney Co. and the City of Anaheim. That expertise and civic sensibility should be aired along with the Seahawks’ proposal.

A reminder: Los Angeles is a huge market, though its abundance of diversions means a sports franchise has to work hard for its money. Any deal that results in NFL relocation to this area should be a win-win situation, with both club and host city benefiting.