Paul Allen and WA Gov.-elect and King County Exec Gary
Locke have reached an agreement on Kingdome lease
concessions, "the first critical step in Allen's bid to buy
the Seahawks and keep the football team in Seattle for a
long time," according to Ed Penhale of the SEATTLE POST-
INTELLIGENCER. The deal shortens the team's Kingdome lease
to three years and would allow the team to leave Seattle
after that time, but "would make Allen share the profits
with King County if he sells the team outside the Puget
Sound region." The Metropolitan King County Council "is
expected to ratify the deal Monday." The deal also calls
for an additional $1M in revenue for the Seahawks per year,
primarily through a reduction in rent. The Seahawks also
would get 100% of concession sales from home games. Locke
said the county would still make $100,000 profit off the
team annually, and could recoup some of the $1M through a
guaranteed percentage of new advertising outside the
Kingdome and enhanced marketing of Kingdome suites (SEATTLE
POST-INTELLIGENCER, 12/10).
MY WAY OR NO WAY? Allen said yesterday that the only
stadium option he would contribute private money to or lobby
state lawmakers for would be a new open air stadium on the
current Kingdome sight, according to Foster & Boren in the
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER. Leaders of the Seahawks
/Kingdome Renovation Task Force expect to recommend this
week that the stadium be torn down and replaced with a
72,000-seat, open-air stadium, with a price tag of $386M.
K.C.-based HOK produced the cost figure in a study presented
to the task force last night, that put the price tag of
renovating the Kingdome at $351M, and moving the team to the
suburbs at over $400M (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, 12/10).
