The Kings set up offices near the site of today's CenturyLink Field, a giant Kings football emblem perched high above. From this site the Seattle Kings aggressively lobbied for a team, even going so far as to commission NFL Properties to design team uniforms.

Some background—in the years following the National Football League’s merger with the upstart American Football League, plans were hatched to add two expansion franchises at some point between 1974 and 1977. Seattle was considered a likely candidate to land a team—the city was competing with Tampa, Memphis, and Phoenix. (Tampa was awarded a franchise first, in April 1974.)

Seattle had been angling for a berth in the NFL as early as 1958.

A group calling itself “Seattle Sea Lions Management Corp.” and led by Minnesota businessman Wayne Field was formed in February 1969 in attempt to land an NFL franchise. The name of the potential team was changed to “Kings” late in 1971. Multiple factors led to this decision, including the fact that a Seattle franchise would be playing at the King County Domed Stadium—eventually called the “Kingdome”—as well as the hiring of Washington Huskies football legend (and NFL Hall of Famer) Hugh "The King" McElhenny as Vice President and General Manager.