State Can Unilaterally Sell Coliseum, Counsel Claims

The state has the power to unilaterally sell the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena, as long as it compensates Los Angeles city and county and bond holders for their shares, according to a state legislative counsel’s opinion released Tuesday.

The opinion, signed by Legislative Counsel Bion M. Gregory and deputy Alvin D. Grass, opposes the position taken by city and county attorneys for the Coliseum Commission, who contend that the state cannot act without the assent of these other two parties to the joint-powers agreement under which the Coliseum complex is governed.

Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles), who requested the opinion and has been supporting proposals to unite management of the Coliseum complex under one agency, would not say Tuesday whether he would author any new legislation on the matter.

But Roos, joined at a City Hall press conference by two political allies, Los Angeles City Council President John Ferraro and Councilman Richard Alatorre, strongly indicated support for putting the Coliseum and Sports Arena under city control. The three also expressed doubts about proposals to put the complex under private management.

Next Steps

The Coliseum Commission is expected to decide at a meeting today on the next negotiating steps to take with two private companies bidding to manage the facilities: MCA Inc.-Spectacor and Weintraub International-Madison Square Garden Corp.

Roos said he could not see anything the private companies could do to improve the economic prospects of the complex that the Coliseum’s own management team could not do.

He called upon the Coliseum Commission to use $19.6 million in National Football League damage suit payments it recently received to renovate the Coliseum to keep the Los Angeles Raiders professional football franchise there. But under questioning, he refused to say if he would spend the money before the team agreed to remain, or only after it had entered into an agreement to do so.

Raiders owner Al Davis has vowed to move the team to suburban Irwindale and build a stadium there. But the project has been delayed by a temporary Superior Court injunction pending preparation of an environmental impact report.