Coliseum’s New Team

The appointment of two new members to the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission has created an important opportunity for improving relations between that body and its principal tenant, the Los Angeles Raiders football club.

The key to a new relationship between the team and the nine-member commission is the replacement of developer Alexander Haagen as the body’s president. Haagen and Raiders owner Al Davis had let their quarrel over renovating the Coliseum become personal. This week, with Haagen and another board member replaced, the “chemistry has improved dramatically,” in the words of new commission President Richard Riordan.

Not only local sports fans but all Los Angeles County taxpayers must hope that Riordan is right. Since the Rams left the Memorial Coliseum to play in Anaheim, the historic old stadium has stayed alive largely with the help of the Raiders. That happened not just because the 10 games that they play there each year earn revenue for the city, county and state, but also because the team was an important ally in the commission’s lawsuit against the National Football League, which refused to put another team in the Coliseum to replace the Rams.

That alliance benefitted both the Raiders and the commission. The team was able to move into a larger, more lucrative market. The commission kept a publicly owned, admittedly outdated facility profitable and won $20 million in its lawsuit against the NFL. It is unfortunate that personal animosities were allowed to undermine such an eminently sensible arrangement.

One can only hope that the damage done during Haagen’s tenure was not permanent, for now there are other stumbling blocks that must be overcome. The Raiders are negotiating with Irwindale about the building of a new stadium in that city, and they are unlikely to talk with the Coliseum management unless or until an Irwindale deal falls through. The commission is suing the team to collect unpaid back rent. So it won’t be easy, but both the football team and the Coliseum Commission should take whatever steps they can now to start building a new relationship for the future. As before, it can only benefit both sides.