Davis to Coliseum: Make Me an Offer

Los Angeles Raiders owner Al Davis declared Friday that he is ready to entertain a detailed dollar-and-cents proposal for rebuilding the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and keeping the team on as a long-term tenant, according to Coliseum representatives who met with him.

After a two-hour meeting at the Raiders’ offices in El Segundo, Coliseum Commission President Richard Riordan declared that “the ball is in our court” to come up with a precise proposal after what he termed an “amicable” discussion with a clear-speaking but “very friendly” Davis.

Riordan said Friday’s meeting was preliminary and general and that “before any concrete offers are made, they will be cleared with the full commission.”

He and two Coliseum private management officials who were at the meeting, Irving Azoff of MCA Inc., and Joseph M. Cohen of Spectacor Management Group, reported that Davis had said he would be available any time to hear such a formal proposal, although at the same time he made it clear that he would continue to listen to offers from Sacramento, Oakland and suburban Irwindale.

They said Davis had set no deadline for coming up with an offer.

Davis, after wishing Azoff and Cohen “godspeed” in front of the Raider offices and warning a television crew not to take any pictures of him, declined to comment on the meeting and disappeared quickly back into his offices.

Also attending the meeting were two Raider lawyers, Jeff Birren and Amy Trask, according to the Coliseum participants.

It was the first meeting in more than two years in which Coliseum and team officials gathered to discuss terms for the Raiders continuing to play in the Coliseum after expiration of the first term of their lease at the end of the 1991 season. That lease allows the Raiders three five-year options that could extend the team’s tenancy to 2006, but it has become clear that without substantial reconstruction of the Coliseum and changes in lease terms, the options will not be taken up.

All word of what was said at the meeting came from the Coliseum participants, and not the Raiders.

The participants said they had asked Davis whether it would be worth their while to make a precise, formal proposal to him, and that Davis had responded essentially that he was “open for business” and willing to listen to all offers, no matter from where they came.

‘Cold Feet’ in Irwindale

At one point, they said, Davis remarked that Irwindale had gotten “cold feet” after signing a memorandum of agreement in 1987 to provide Davis with financing for a stadium in that San Gabriel Valley community.

They said that while Davis did not spell out in detail what he wanted a Coliseum offer to contain, he did give some parameters. According to meeting participants, Davis said:

* He would not be willing to sign a 30-year lease as previously suggested by Coliseum officials.

* He would prefer to see at least some luxury boxes built closer to the playing field rather than up on the Coliseum rim as previously planned.

* The Raiders have been losing money and would require some financial assistance to get through the period of Coliseum reconstruction, but that he is “not a mercenary” and would not let the size of cash inducements determine whether he stays in Los Angeles or accepts an offer from another city such as Sacramento or Oakland.

The meeting participants added that Davis said “some nice things” about Sacramento, which reportedly has offered the Raiders $35 million in earnest money as part of a $225-million deal that would include a new stadium.

But they said Davis also remarked that “if Oakland puts the right offer on the table in 10 days, I’ll certainly look at it.”

The Lawsuit Thing

Davis was cordial, except during a brief period when he and Riordan got into a contretemps about the Coliseum Commission’s $57-million lawsuit against the Raiders for alleged breach of contract, the Coliseum participants reported.

At another point, they said, the Raiders owner remarked that he had been very disappointed with his dealings with the Coliseum Commission in the past, and he really didn’t know why he was willing to resume discussions now.

As the contact that Davis had once said would never resume did resume, Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum, a Coliseum commissioner who has been dubious in the past of arrangements with the Raiders, told The Times that, in this set of dealings, he wants to avoid negotiators making any commitments to Davis that have not been cleared with the full commission in advance.

Riordan responded that he will indeed be consulting with the commission, although he said he feels he can command at least seven votes on the nine-member commission for the general approach he has been taking with Davis since the contact resumed.