ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 2, 1996 TAG: 9602020068
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SEATTLE
SOURCE: Associated Press
The Seattle Seahawks are joining the growing list of NFL teams to abandon their home, saying they will play next season in Los Angeles, which last year lost both its pro football franchises.
Citing the high cost of renovating the aging Kingdome, team sources said Thursday the Seahawks would play in the 102,083-seat Rose Bowl after 20 years in Seattle.
Seahawks owner Ken Behring met with King County officials at an undisclosed location to notify them of the move.
The Seahawks would be the fifth NFL franchise to change cities in the last year. The Raiders and Rams moved out of Los Angeles last year. The Cleveland Browns have announced they will play next season in Baltimore and the Houston Oilers will move to Tennessee.
Since the Rams and Raiders moved out of Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest TV market was left without an NFL team.
There was no immediate response from Pasadena's Rose Bowl Operating Committee. A message requesting comment from its president, Alfred Moses, was left with his office.
KIRO-TV in Seattle said Seahawks coaches were told Wednesday to be ready to move to the Rose Bowl.
It seemed unlikely the 74-year-old Rose Bowl would be the team's permanent home, however.
Several groups in Los Angeles have expressed interest in building a new stadium for an existing or an expansion NFL franchise. Among them were R.D. Hubbard, chairman of the Hollywood Park racetrack; Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley; and Disney chairman Michael Eisner.
Franchise instability has been increasingly troublesome for the NFL in the last 12 months, and commissioner Paul Tagliabue as recently as Sunday decried it, saying the league ``shares the emotions of fans'' losing their teams to other cities.
``It is incoherent to destroy what it took 75 years to build,'' he said. ``We want to maintain continuity and tradition.''
Tagliabue blamed the NFL's problems on a competitive marketplace and escalating player costs. He wants the league to have at least a limited antitrust exemption that would allow it to battle franchise moves.
Other teams still considering moving include the Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello, reached in Hawaii at the Pro Bowl, said he was not familiar with the situation. But he noted league owners voted last year that ``the LA franchise opportunity would be controlled by the league - the 30 clubs collectively.''
The Seahawks would be the second major pro sports franchise to abandon Seattle. The Seattle Pilots played the 1969 season and then left in 1970 to become the Milwaukee Brewers. The Seattle Mariners, formed in 1977, decided to stay last year only after a winning season won them legislative support for a new stadium that had been rejected by county voters.
The Seahawks, who were 8-8 last season, have repeatedly complained about the 20-year-old Kingdome they share with the Mariners.
Behring, a California developer, reportedly had a study indicating it could cost as much as $90 million to fortify the Kingdome against earthquakes - at least three times more than earlier estimates.
That amount, along with other improvements sought by the Seahawks, could send the cost of renovating the domed stadium past $200 million.
Earlier estimates of seismic repairs to the county-owned stadium have been $10 million to $30 million.
If the county couldn't afford to make those improvements, Behring conceivably could use it as an excuse to break the team's lease, which runs through 2005.
Behring has said the Kingdome is not the first-class facility guaranteed in the team's lease and has pushed for $150 million worth of improvements.
Behring's call for Thursday's meeting had prompted a session Wednesday night that included King County Executive Gary Locke and Councilman Peter Von Reichbauer.
HOK Sports Facilities Group of Kansas City has been hired by the county to study the dome. A report is due next month.
The Seahawks joined the NFL in 1976 in the expansion that also brought Tampa Bay into the league.
Seattle's NBA and major league baseball teams either have or are getting new venues.
The city-owned Seattle Center Coliseum was redesigned as Key Arena for the SuperSonics. A firm was chosen this week to design a new baseball stadium for the Mariners, whose owners had vowed to sell the team if it was forced to keep playing in the Kingdome.
LENGTH: Medium: 88 linesby CNB