Behring Says He’s Still California-Bound

He says he is tired of the harassment, and the fight to get his Seahawks out of Seattle has been tougher than expected, but team owner Ken Behring said Thursday, if the courts let him, he will still be bringing his team to Los Angeles.

Behring said it might be April or May before the dispute over his Kingdome lease comes to trial, but he said reports that his team will be removing items from Rams Park and returning them to the Seahawks’ practice facility in Kirkland, Wash., are untrue.

A dispute between the Magnolia School District and the Rams on who will pay for the $1.4 million to $1 million in renovation costs at the Juliette Low Elementary School (Rams Park) continues to keep the Seahawks from reaching an agreement to rent the facility for one year at $250,000.

Coach Dennis Erickson arrived in Los Angeles Thursday to tour Rams Park along with several possible summer training camp sites. Behring said his staff has ordered new carpet for Rams Park and he is hoping to move his players and coaches in as early as March 1.

“It all boils down to this,” Behring said. “Either the Kingdome has seismic problems or it doesn’t, and either it’s a first-class facility or it isn’t. Whatever the court decides, all the rest of this junk goes with that.

“If the lease is declared invalid, we move. If for some reason the court does not decide that way . . . we have to do what the court says.”

If the court rules against Behring, the Seahawks will be required to honor the 10 years remaining on their user’s permit for the Kingdome and play their home games in Seattle.

“We’re getting through this as fast as we possibly can, but they are giving us a lot of harassment,” Behring said. “They are doing everything in their power to make me sell, but do I sound like someone who wants to sell? They don’t even have any local buyers; they’re begging people to please come to me. They figure if they make things tough enough for me, I’ll just give it away.

“They’re wrong. I’ve never been afraid of a little battle, and especially when you know you’re right. Let’s just let the court decide what happens. We’re very confident it will rule in our favor.”

Behring’s legal team is seeking action to force King County officials to begin giving depositions, and a March 27 hearing has been set to determine what jurisdiction will handle the case. Although no trial date has been set, Behring said he will honor NFL guidelines and submit an application to the league in time for their March owners meetings to play in Los Angeles this season.

“We’re going to be playing football this year and I think it will be down in Los Angeles,” Behring said.

Behring met with NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue in Chicago last week, and he said he heard no objections about his proposed move to Los Angeles. A few days later, however, Tagliabue announced in London that the league was opposed to Behring’s plan.

“What he said [in London] was completely different as to what he said to us,” Behring said.

“When I spoke with the owners, I made them aware of the liability of playing in the Kingdome, and the liability is partly theirs too. Do they want to take on that liability if the court doesn’t rule in our favor?”

Behring said a Cleveland-like compromise, which the NFL reached last week to free the team to leave for Baltimore, “would be nice. That would be best for everybody, but we can’t depend on that. It’s out of my hands.”