Coliseum Board Sues Raiders; Charges Breach of Lease

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission filed suit against the Los Angeles Raiders on Friday, claiming that the football team had breached its lease by not paying its rent for the 1988 season.

Because the team failed to pay its rent and provide required documents, the commission alleged in its suit filed in Superior Court, the Raiders are not entitled to extend their lease after the 1991-92 season.

The latest suit against the Raiders appeared to be another in a series of legal steps the commission has taken in recent months to force the Raiders to make either a definitive long-term agreement to continue to play in the Coliseum or leave at the end of the 1991 season.

On Thursday, Coliseum General Manager Joel Ralph said the Raiders had paid most of their 1988 rent after an earlier suit was filed alleging that they had not done so.

Although Ralph said that some rent remained to be paid, he indicated that the outstanding amounts were minor.

However, the Coliseum Commission has been trying in court for months to obtain an order that would disallow exercise by the team of five three-year lease extension options it has after the end of its first 10-year lease term in 1991.

Recently, a Superior Court judge refused, under an earlier suit the commission filed for alleged breach of contract by the Raiders, to rule out the options.

The suit Friday appeared to be another method of seeking the same end, although neither Coliseum commissioners nor the commission attorneys were immediately available for comment.

Raiders owner Al Davis traditionally has been slow to pay his rent, both in Oakland where the team played until 1982 and in Los Angeles.

But in 1988, according to Coliseum commissioners, the Raiders had paid nothing of what they owed by the end of the season.

Under pressure from commission President Richard Riordan, the Raiders agreed to pay about 70% of the amount owed, estimated at about $1 million, several months after the season was over.