Ways to Woo the Raiders

Spokesmen for the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission are making peace overtures to their principal tenant, the Raiders football team. This, after two years of antagonism, is a good time to try to patch things up.

Publicly, spokesmen for the Raiders say the team still plans to abandon the Coliseum when its current rental agreement ends after the next football season. But planning for their new stadium in Irwindale has been slowed by financial and political problems. Though it is a prosperous city, Irwindale is having a hard time coming up with $150 million to finance the new stadium. And Raiders’ owner Al Davis is finding that infighting among Irwindale officials rivals the political battles that soured him on the commission.

That’s why new Coliseum Commission Chairman Richard Riordan should proceed with plans to modernize the Memorial Coliseum, which was built in the 1920s, and offer the improvements as an inducement to keep the Raiders. Among changes already planned are better lighting and more restrooms. Should the Raiders stay, Riordan says, the commission will lower the playing field so more prime seats can be installed along the football sidelines and luxury boxes built along the stadium rim. But those would be worthwhile improvements even without the Raiders. They would make the Coliseum a state-of-the-art facility that could bid for major concerts and other events that will keep it profitable.

The fact of the matter is that the Raiders and the Coliseum don’t need each other as they did several years back when they jointly, and successfully, sued the National Football League. The football team can play almost anywhere and still make a profit, given television revenues. And under private management, the Coliseum Commission can be profitable even without a pro football tenant. If the two sides approach each other as level-headed equals, they just might work out an agreement that benefits everyone.