Billionaire Paul Allen is proceeding with his plan to purchase the Seattle Seahawks on the assumption the public has given its approval to a financing plan for a $425 million stadium.
Some 137,000 ballots remain to be counted from Tuesday's election. Referendum 48 was ahead by 22,748 votes Wednesday - 721,276 votes (51 percent) to 698,528 votes (49 percent).Without public approval of a new stadium, Allen has said he would walk away from the deal to buy the NFL team, and owner Ken Behring would probably continue trying to move the team from Seattle.
"Even though the issue is not yet decided, it's our belief that it's time to move forward because we believe the voters have spoken and Referendum 48 will pass," King County Executive Ron Sims said Wednesday.
Sims and Allen's representatives announced an agreement on the wording for a letter of intent to proceed with the deal.
Allen's people acknowledged that the final outcome of Referendum 48 won't be known until next week because most counties voted by mail only, which means ballots could continue arriving for several days. But they said the agreement was necessary in order to meet Allen's July 1 deadline for buying the team.
The County Council must approve the pact before Sims can sign it, and a vote could be taken as early as Monday. If approved, the agreement would authorize the various taxes called for in Allen's stadium plan, and Allen would exercise his option to buy the Seahawks from Behring.
The council held a hearing on the plan Wednesday, angering stadium opponents.
"It would really be nice if they respected the vote," said Seattle stockbroker Chris Van Dyk, a leader of Citizens for More Important Things, one of two organized stadium opposition groups.
"They've bought the election. They've spent tons of money, demanded all sorts of things, and they're not even waiting until the ballots are fully counted before holding a hearing and going forward on this."
Allen promised to buy the NFL team if taxpayers agreed to his plan to demolish the aging Kingdome and build a more profitable stadium, exhibition center and parking garage in its place. The public's share of the cost would be $300 million.
On Wednesday, the measure trailed in 32 of Washington's 39 counties, including all but one county east of the Cascades. It also was losing badly in Clark County, across the Columbia River from the home city of Allen's Portland Trail Blazers.
But it was winning approval in most of the populous Puget Sound region, including King County - which includes Seattle - where it was up by almost 60,000 votes.