TAGLIABUE SAYS BEHRING HAS A CASE.

Byline: Barbara Kingsley Orange County Register

NFL owners might snicker at Seahawks owner Ken Behring's Kingdome earthquake worries, but commissioner Paul Tagliabue isn't laughing.

Tagliabue said Tuesday he is taking Behring's case seriously and is determined to wait until the courts decide. That means the question of where the Seahawks will land could drag on all summer.

"Clearly the Seahawks have a case, the city (of Seattle) has a case," Tagliabue said.

King County is suing the Seahawks for breaking a lease that expires in 2005. Behring wants to move his team to Southern California, and Anaheim has been mentioned as a possible site. Behring contends he must move because the Kingdome would come tumbling down in even a moderate earthquake.

King County officials are to present their case to NFL owners today at the league's annual meeting.

"The issue is a serious issue - the structural integrity of the stadium," Tagliabue said. "That's the way we need to evaluate it. It's not something that should be taken lightly."

Some members of the NFL's finance and stadium committees chuckled and passed notes and others were angry Monday when Behring and his lawyers pushed their case using an L.A.-based structural expert and elaborate charts that poked holes in King County's own earthquake study.

But San Francisco 49ers president Carmen Policy said fans have more a chance of getting hurt slipping on ice in Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium than in a Seattle Kingdome earthquake. Another owner said Behring, who left the meeting Tuesday, seemed upset.

NFL owners Tuesday also discussed bringing back instant replay in 1996 on a trial basis, with the potential for actual implementation in 1997. The league stopped instant replay in 1991 after six years because coaches said it was making the game drag.