NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue "said yesterday he believes
the league can stop Ken Behring's proposed move of the Seattle
Seahawks to the Los Angeles area," according to this morning's
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER. Speaking in London, where he was on
a promotional tour for the World League, Tagliabue said, "I think
it's possible to stop them. We had a specific resolution that
the membership adopted, and Seattle voted for it, relative to Los
Angeles." NFL VP of Communications Joe Browne: "We think it's
enforceable. It's a vote by the members of the league. We think
it's as binding as any vote they take." NFL sources said that
after last week's owners meetings in Chicago, Tagliabue told
Behring and his son, team President David Behring, of his
"displeasure" over their intentions to move. Tagliabue,
yesterday: "We told the Seattle people last week that we thought
they should be operating exclusively in the Pacific Northwest,
which is where they are franchised to operate, and that it was
inappropriate for them even to be practicing in Southern
California." Ken Behring said he was "completely surprised" by
Tagliabue's comments and that, in fact, they were "directly at
odds" with previous statements made to them by Tagliabue
regarding L.A. A vote on the Seahawks' move will not be taken
until the team has filed an application for relocation. The team
missed the deadline to have the issue added to the calendar for
the March meetings in FL (Clare Farnsworth, SEATTLE POST-
INTELLIGENCER, 2/13).
JUST SAY NO: Columnist Laura Vecsey writes, "This is a
surprise, considering most pundits had predicted the NFL would,
again, be powerless to stop Behring." But, Vecsey adds, unlike
Browns Owner Art Modell or owners of the Rams, Raiders or Oilers,
"Ken Behring might be the guy to whom the NFL will finally say
'no'" (SEATTLE P-I, 2/13).
LEASE OF THEIR WORRIES: The P-I's Farnsworth also notes
"growing sentiment" that the team's Kingdome lease "could be the
deciding factor." Tagliabue, noting the ten-year lease: "If
they have a legitimate safety issue, then the lease is a
different question. Until that court case is decided, they are
under a lease obligation to operate in Seattle." Broncos Owner
Pat Bowlen: "It appears Seattle may have its own way of blocking
the move, via the lease" (SEATTLE P-I, 2/13). In a separate
piece on the call for a political effort, a la Cleveland, to save
the team, U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton is quoted as saying, "Everything
pivots around the lawsuit" (SEATTLE P-I, 2/13).
