Coliseum commissioners receive threats

The bitter standoff between USC and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum intensified Thursday as members of the stadium’s governing board reported getting death threats from angry fans while legislators worked behind the scenes to revive negotiations.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are looking for ways to help broker a deal that would keep USC from moving its home games to Pasadena’s Rose Bowl.

If anything, relations between the university and stadium officials appear to be growing more acrid.

A Coliseum Commission executive said his office received scores of “incredibly threatening” phone calls after USC posted a letter on its website urging fans to complain.

Some of the commission’s nine members said they had been harassed too, and at least one has canceled plans to attend the regular-season finale against UCLA on Saturday.

“I’ve gotten many, many calls along the following lines: ‘Hey, Mr. Chadwick, hope our paths don’t cross. Understand you’re married, you’ve got three little girls,’ ” Commissioner Bill Chadwick said.

“That’s taking it to a low, low level,” he said. “When you send something out to your entire alumni, don’t expect every response to be rational.”

The Los Angeles City Council is expected to weigh in today, officially urging stadium officials to cut a deal. Meanwhile, the USC student government has called for a boycott of Coliseum concession stands Saturday.

USC has played football at the Coliseum for 80 years, but its most recent lease expires this weekend. Frustrated by a lack of progress in negotiations for a long-term deal, the university is negotiating with Rose Bowl officials to play in Pasadena next fall with an option on an additional season.

The Rose Bowl Operating Co. will consider the proposal at a meeting next Thursday.

“We don’t want them to go,” said Pat Lynch, the Coliseum’s general manager. “Let’s go forward. Let’s keep talking.”

But the sides appear to be far apart on a critical issue.

“It’s really simple,” Chadwick said. “It’s a question of control.”

The commission wants to retain its authority over the stadium, which stands on state-owned land in Exposition Park. As the primary and most lucrative tenant, USC wants a master lease under which it would refurbish and operate the venue, scheduling year-round events and keeping the revenues to offset its costs.

Several stadium officials suggested a compromise by which USC administrators become voting members of the commission, a change that would require approval of state legislators.

In the meantime, Lynch said, the Coliseum could establish an advisory board comprised of commissioners and university administrators, “something real, something with teeth.”

Todd R. Dickey, USC’s senior vice president for administration, did not seem impressed.

“It sounds like not a lot there,” he said. “We need a master lease and not a committee.”

The commission has previously offered a master lease to attract an NFL franchise. But commissioners say that situation was different because they believed a new professional team -- and a Super Bowl every so often -- would provide a significant economic boost to the community.

No such advantage would be gained from giving control to a team already in place.

Money is a thread that runs through other disagreements between the stadium and the university next-door.

As recently as last fall, USC administrators said they were happy with the stadium. But then they commissioned a private study that determined the Coliseum needed extensive renovations.

Commissioners say they have already done some work and have plans for more upgrades, including an overhaul of the giant video board.

Dickey said: “We’ve been hearing that for 10 years. ‘We’re going to build this, we’re going to build that.’ The problem is, they just don’t have the money.”

The commission hopes to fund additional improvements by selling naming rights to the stadium, but that has led to yet another dispute.

Last month, the commission and USC met with a sports marketing group that estimated the Coliseum could attract $4 million to $6 million a year from a naming sponsor.

University administrators say that estimate was dependent on allowing the sponsor to use USC’s name and mark, which the school does not want. Lynch disagreed with this assessment.

The commission, meanwhile, worries that if USC has a master lease, it will give priority to its own football and women’s soccer games, decreasing the number of events such as concerts and international soccer games that appeal to the broader community.

“People come to us and say ‘Just give the Coliseum away,’ ” said City Councilman Bernard Parks, also a commission member. “But the Coliseum belongs to the residents of the state of California.”

As part of its work, the commission considers impact to the local economy. A recent soccer game, Lynch explained, provided jobs for approximately 1,000 residents who manned the gates and concessions stands. Parking revenues contributed to upkeep of the entire Exposition Park grounds.

If there are fewer events, he said, “that would be a negative impact on the community.”

USC administrators counter that, even with their sports teams playing in the stadium, they could expand the stadium’s calendar of events.

Last summer, the university proposed to take over the Coliseum, offering to spend $100 million on renovations.

The proposal included another option by which the commission retained control but promised to pay for the upgrades and not allow any other amateur or pro team to play there.

Later, in the absence of an agreement, the university asked for a two-year extension of its current lease, which the commission granted.

But, according to various accounts, the commission’s reply came too slowly. It also included an additional charge of $108,000.

“We needed a place to play and we had no other options,” Dickey said. “Since then, we were able to work out a deal with the Rose Bowl.”

Against the backdrop of this standoff, multiple sources said Thursday that Dodgers owner Frank McCourt is planning to push for an NFL stadium and franchise for Chavez Ravine. League officials had been in town earlier this month to tour another proposed site in the City of Industry.

A high-ranking Major League Baseball executive said that McCourt recently stated that he was open to bringing the NFL back to Los Angeles. Other well-placed sources in the local sports community said McCourt and unnamed partners have plans to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into upgrading Dodger Stadium and the surrounding parking lot, perhaps with restaurants and shops, before making an all-out pitch to swing a football stadium deal.

The team already completed several rounds of baseball stadium improvements and has plans for an additional $70 million in renovations this winter and more in stages over the next couple of years.

A Dodgers spokesperson said McCourt was out of town and could not be reached for comment. The NFL also declined comment.

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david.wharton@latimes.com

sam.farmer@latimes.com

Times staff writers Duke Helfand, Jack Leonard, Dylan Hernandez and Bill Shaikin contributed to this report.