Behring Bows to NFL Demand in Leaving Anaheim for Now

Hours before Thursday night’s ballyhooed Orange County “Welcome Ken Behring Party” in Newport Beach, the Seahawks’ owner announced his team was leaving and returning to Seattle.

Behring told an estimated 100 partygoers he will return, but earlier in the day he was not very McArthur-like in his confrontation with NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

Buckling to the threat of a $500,000 fine and an additional $50,000 fine for each week his team continued to practice in Anaheim, Behring agreed to vacate Rams Park by April 1 and continue the Seahawks’ 12-week conditioning program at the team’s suburban Seattle practice facility.

“This is supposed to be the beginning of a relationship and now that seems to be somewhat tenuous,” said party invitee Werner Escher, director of domestic and international markets for South Coast Plaza.

Behring’s about-face would appear now to support his contention that he had no plan in place when he made his Feb. 2 announcement that he was moving his team to the Los Angeles area. Waving the white flag will also add more support to talk that Behring will wilt to pressure and sell his team to billionaire Paul Allen.

Bill Temko, Behring’s attorney in Los Angeles, offered this perspective. “In Ken’s judgment, life is too short and he will pick his fights,” Temko said. “It’s just not worth getting into more litigation. He’s going to let the lawyers win the lawsuit in Washington, get free of his Kingdome lease and let his team focus on football. He’s confident we will win the lawsuit and he remains committed to coming to Los Angeles.”

Behring talked about his interest in Sportstown, a mega-sports complex proposed for Anaheim lacking investors at this time, to those welcoming him in Newport Beach. In return, business leaders gave Behring a crate of oranges, which now have to be shipped to Washington.

While Behring surrendered to NFL pressure, he won a concession from the NFL with the league’s acknowledgment that Seattle must pursue plans to build a state-of-the-art football facility. “A state-of-the-art facility will enable the Seahawks to remain in Seattle well into the next century and be competitive in the NFL and with other forms of entertainment in the Northwest,” Tagliabue said in a statement. “The Seahawks currently play in a venue that falls well short of the stadiums--existing, new and projected--in many NFL communities.”

Jerry Richardson, Carolina Panther owner and stadium committee chairman, will join senior NFL executives in a meeting with King County officials in Seattle next week. The Seahawks, meanwhile, will begin reloading the moving vans at Rams Park.

The Seahawks, as Ram President John Shaw predicted a week ago, never signed a Rams Park lease, although 33 players were at the renovated facility for workouts Thursday. Temko said the Seahawks have agreed to reimburse the city of Anaheim for expenses incurred in upgrading the facility, but because no lease was signed the team will have no rent to pay.

Behring declined to discuss the move back to Seattle at the Newport Beach party, and a Seahawk spokesman said Behring would no longer respond to interview requests because of the negative press he has received. In addition to his team’s public relations staff, Behring has hired Lon Rosen, Magic Johnson’s agent, and the public relations firm of Hill & Knowlton to improve his image. After Thursday’s hello and goodbye routine, they will get to earn their money.

“As soon as we prevail in the litigation against King County,” Behring said in a statement released by Hill & Knowlton, “we will be prepared to move quickly to have the league approve our application to relocate the franchise.”

While Behring made the party rounds with Orange County business leaders, the name tags for Jackie Autry, wife of Angel owner Gene Autry, and Richard Brown, the Angels’ president, went unclaimed. Autry had harsh words for Behring earlier in the week and suggested Behring was responsible for sabotaging negotiations between Disney and the city of Anaheim on the renovation of Anaheim Stadium.

Autry’s outburst, coupled with an overwhelming negative response from NFL owners at last week’s meetings and Seahawk defensive lineman Cortez Kennedy filing a grievance because of having no place to practice in Seattle, increased the pressure on Behring, who also has had to struggle to convince his son, David, the team’s president, to endorse his efforts.

Orange County, however, remains ready to embrace Behring.

Donald Koll, chairman of the board for the Koll Co. and host for a Wednesday dinner for Behring, said, “I think this is what they had to do and now they will play it out and see what happens in the courts.”

Agent Leigh Steinberg, who said previously he would never support a team leaving another community to move to Orange County, was with Behring the last two nights, and was appointed by Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly to head a committee formed to bring professional football back to Orange County.

“We should be first in line to get a team,” Steinberg said. “It’s very ironic that a year ago we were desperate for help from the commissioner to save the Rams. Now, after allowing two more teams to escape, they have decided to make this their stand.”

Steinberg said of the committee: “We will work to keep baseball, bring football to Anaheim and build Sportstown.”

Meanwhile, a Wednesday hearing will determine the jurisdiction for a Washington-based trial, which is not expected to start any time before May. Legal observers believe the regular season could be under way before a final verdict is rendered on the Seahawks’ future. The Seahawks, who appear likely now to be forced to play in Seattle this season, might seek a temporary compromise and petition to compete in Husky Stadium where the University of Washington plays its games.

*

Staff writer Chris Foster contributed to this story.