Will the Seahawks Fill L.A. Vacuum? : Pro football: Ovitz group wants to build stadium. NFL approves Raider move, but there are problems, as usual.

CHICAGO —  As the Raiders were officially receiving approval to leave Los Angeles on Friday, another team was busy preparing to take their place.

The Seattle Seahawks have been working with Creative Artists Agency in studying the potential location and feasibility of a new stadium in the Southland, The Times has learned.

CAA, a Hollywood talent agency led by Michael Ovitz, would oversee the building of a stadium financed by investors, including several from the entertainment industry.

A preliminary site for a venue has been identified in El Segundo, coincidentally the home of the Raiders’ training facility.

David Behring, Seahawk president, did not deny the report.

“We are endeavoring to improve our situation in Seattle with the Kingdome,” Behring said. “But there exists a vacuum in Los Angeles. Certain people are aware of that vacuum and are looking into the situation.”

A spokeswoman from CAA declined comment.

The Seahawks are unhappy with the Kingdome and believe they could escape their lease immediately by proving that their King County landlords failed to provide them with a first-class facility.

They recently demanded more than $150 million in stadium improvements and a new lease. But county officials estimate that even if voters agree to a recently proposed sales tax increase, they will be able to give only $70 million-$100 million to the football team.

Some officials warn that talk of moving the franchise is only a way of gaining leverage in these negotiations.

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue acknowledged that the next team to move to Los Angeles would probably be an existing franchise instead of an expansion team.

The relocation process could be quicker than expansion, since a team could move into a temporary facility here as soon as 1996.

Tagliabue, who said there would be a team in Los Angeles by 1998, named the Seahawks as one of three teams with stadium problems. The Cleveland Browns and Houston Oilers were the other teams cited, although the Seahawks are the only team known to be actively seeking a move.

“As long as we have teams with inadequate stadium situations, we need to focus on those teams [for Los Angeles],” Tagliabue said. “Until those problems get resolved, expansion is not an immediate solution.”

This does not mean that Walt Disney Co., considered a front-runner after initiating contact with league officials, is out of the picture.

The Seahawks are known to have also spoken to Disney officials. Although Ovitz’s group would be content to simply build a stadium, Disney wants to build a stadium and own at least part of a team.

A spokeswoman from Disney declined comment.

The league, however, is unsure whether it wants Los Angeles to become a two-team market again.

Owners fought to keep Al Davis from moving to Los Angeles from Oakland in 1980, then gladly let him return on Thursday by a vote of 23-0, with five abstentions and two owners--from the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals--who were absent when the vote was taken.

“Right now, we need to just worry about one team for Los Angeles,” Brown owner Art Modell said. “Nobody is thinking much past that.”

Although the Raiders were not charged a relocation fee--the Rams were charged $29 million after moving to St. Louis three months ago--Davis was not able to leave town unscathed.

The league’s finance committee determined that his deal with Oakland and Alameda County involved the hiding of revenues that are supposed to be shared among the 30 owners.

The league said Davis will have to share revenue from club seats, accompanying maintenance fees, and personal seat licenses even though Davis had already promised half of that money to city and county officials.

Davis says a deal must be worked out between the league and government officials for the money.

League lawyers will be in Oakland this weekend in hopes of negotiating a settlement of about $30 million in the first year of the deal, and at least $7 million a year in the remaining 15 years of the lease.

Other owners surmised that the local taxpayers will not be pleased.

“I’ve had it up to here with this,” said 49er President Carmen Policy, who stormed out of the meeting early. “When we were drawing up all these proposals, I guess we forgot we were dealing with Al Davis.”

Davis warned that he would not sign the actual deal until the revenue-sharing issues were resolved, saying, “it’s a possibility” that he will never sign it.

But owners are certain that if an agreement is not reached, Davis will still open the season in Oakland while the matter is settled in court.

“We have bent over backwards to be accommodating,” Policy said. “The whole attitude around this thing has not been very uplifting.”

Davis, however, said he and Policy shared some kind words Friday during their first meeting since Davis announced he would be moving across the Bay.

“I talked to Carmen, he thought it was great that I was up there sharing his territory,” Davis said, tongue planted in cheek. “He even offered me some of his players.”

John Shaw, Ram president, was also displeased with Davis’ deal, specifically the absence of a relocation fee. Shaw has not paid his club’s $29-million debt yet and hinted that a check would not be forthcoming.

“If the rules are not being equally applied, then we will explore all options,” he said. “If the legal route is one of those options, then we will explore that.”

* Times staff writer Steve Springer contributed to this story from Los Angeles.