Coliseum Contractor Issues Ultimatum

The only projected contractor for doing the proposed $9-million Coliseum seating reconfiguration this year issued a written ultimatum Monday that it will bow out of the project unless it has an executed contract and a bank loan in hand by Friday.

Ron Tutor, president of the Tutor-Saliba Corp., said that his company imposed that condition because time is running out on a formal commitment by the Coliseum Commission and its tenants, the Los Angeles Raiders and USC, to going with the project in 1987 and finishing it before the beginning of the football season on Aug. 15.

Tutor said a letter of intent signed last Wednesday night by Coliseum Commission President Alexander Haagen and two other commissioners, under pressure from Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, has no legal working effect unless the details are ironed out and ratified by the full commission.

Meanwhile, other sources privy to the discussions said that Bradley plans to meet alone with Haagen today in an attempt to satisfy objections raised by the Raiders and USC to certain loan and other financial guarantees they have been asked to give to help obtain a loan for the project.

According to the plan, retractable seating would be installed over the Olympic track and lower levels of the Coliseum to make the stadium a better place to watch football.