SEATTLE – The Seahawks must match the guarantee provision in the $49 million, seven-year deal offered to All-Pro guard Steve Hutchinson by the Minnesota Vikings if the NFC champions want to keep their transition player.

An attorney for the NFL’s players’ union confirmed Monday that a special master ruled against Seattle, saying a provision guaranteeing all of the $49 million in an offer sheet Hutchinson signed with Minnesota should he not be the team’s highest-paid offensive lineman is valid.

“The Seahawks lost,” NFL Players Association general counsel Richard Berthelsen said Monday.

League spokesman Michael Signora said Monday evening that the Seahawks had until midnight (EST) Monday EST to match the Vikings offer or lose Hutchinson to Minnesota.

Berthelsen attended a two-hour hearing Monday morning in Philadelphia on the matter.

The Vikings’ seven-year offer, which Hutchinson signed on March 12, included $16 million guaranteed. It would be the richest deal ever given to a guard. And Monday’s ruling means it just got richer.

The Seahawks had argued Monday morning that because they have recently re-negotiated Pro Bowl left tackle Walter Jones’ $54.5 million, seven-year contract by adding an eighth, voidable year, Jones’ team-best lineman deal now has an annual value below that of Hutchinson’s offer.

After the re-negotiation, Jones’ annual base salary would dip to $6.81 million – just below Hutchinson’s $7 million annual average if Seattle matched Minnesota’s offer. The Seahawks argued Monday morning, they should not have to guarantee the rest of Hutchinson’s new deal.

Berthelsen said special master Stephen Burbank did not elaborate in his ruling.

But Berthelsen said the decision validated the NFLPA’s stance that the conditions at the time Hutchinson signed the offer sheet with the Vikings are the conditions Seattle must match – meaning Hutchinson wasn’t the highest-paid Seahawks linemen then, so Seattle must guarantee all $49 million of the Vikings’ deal to match it.

“They wanted to put in additional language to make it from any point from now until the end of the 2006 league year,” Berthelsen said. “That is contrary to the intent of the wording that was in the contract.

“And the special master agreed.”

The Seahawks did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

AP-ES-03-20-06 1813EST