Bill to Allow Coliseum and Sports Arena Sale Advances

A legislative conference committee, adding its voice to criticism over the announced departure of the Raiders football team from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, approved a bill Tuesday that would strip the embattled Coliseum Commission president of his post and pave the way for sale of the 64-year-old facility and the nearby Sports Arena.

The removal of Commission President Alexander Haagen is part of a major restructuring of the nine-member body authorized by the compromise measure, which is being rushed through the Legislature in anticipation of its Friday adjournment.

“They bungled the whole negotiation with the Raiders,” the bill’s author, Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles), said of the current Coliseum commissioners, whose failure to reach agreement with Raiders owner Al Davis led to the team’s pending move to Irwindale.

A 4-0 vote of the joint Senate-Assembly committee sent the proposal to the floor in both houses.

Restructures Commission

Roos’ bill would restructure the commission, requiring more direct ties between its members and major political officials, while barring any of the state’s current appointees--including Haagen--from continuing to serve.

The bill authorizes the restructured commission to begin negotiations for the eventual sale or lease of Los Angeles’ two major publicly owned sports facilities. USC already has notified the commission of its interest in purchasing the Sports Arena and MCA, owner of Universal Studios, has expressed interest in both properties.

Additionally, the bill calls for a comprehensive study by the state’s Little Hoover Commission of problems in the Coliseum’s management and possibilities for its future.

Roos said his bill was “a mechanism for putting the Coliseum and the Sports Arena into professional hands where making a profit means something.”

But Donovan Main, Los Angeles County’s legal adviser to the commission, said it is unclear whether the Legislature can order such drastic action without the agreement of the county and city, which jointly govern the Coliseum complex with the state.

A spokeswoman for Roos noted, however, that the agreement under which the facilities are governed was established in 1955 by a vote of the Legislature and contended that it could be changed regardless of the views of city or county officials.

The nine appointments to the commission are divided equally among Los Angeles, the county Board of Supervisors and the state. The state’s three members are appointed by the governing board of the California Museum of Science and Industry, a neighbor of the sports complex in Exposition Park.

Although the museum board is appointed by the governor, Gov. George Deukmejian has disavowed any responsibility for the performance of the state’s commissioners.

The Roos bill would transfer appointing authority from the museum board directly to the governor and would bar present state appointees from membership on the reorganized commission. The bill increases the number of commissioners to 15, adding two representatives each from the city, county and state. The state’s two new members would come from each of the Legislature’s houses.

Roos characterized the reorganization as “a firm swipe at Haagen” and said he does not believe that Deukmejian will veto the measure “unless he is trying to protect Haagen.”