Coliseum Dangles the Bottom Line for Davis

Los Angeles Coliseum Commission President Richard Riordan and two officials of Spectacor Management Group, the Coliseum’s private managers, have told Al Davis, owner of the Los Angeles Raiders, that he could make far more money in a reconstructed Coliseum than he could if he moved the team to Oakland or Sacramento.

Meeting last week with Davis amid reports circulated by Raiders sources that Davis may announce a move north as early as next week, Riordan said he and Spectacor President Edward Snyder told Davis that their plan is to arrange private financing for the construction of 180 new luxury boxes and 10,000 club seats in a new Coliseum with a smaller total seating capacity than the present 92,000.

Riordan said Tuesday that he and Snyder estimated that the boxes and club seats could be sold to corporate and other buyers for $45 million to $50 million, in effect matching the franchise fees that Oakland and Sacramento interests have agreed to pay the Raiders if they move.

Riordan said Davis had indicated he would like to hear more details and he said a second meeting will be arranged as soon as the Raider owner signs a compromise agreement making clear that whatever is said in the discussions cannot be used by either side in a pending Coliseum Commission lawsuit against the team. Riordan said Davis has agreed to sign such an agreement after balking for months at doing so.

Davis did not return a telephone call asking for comment.

However, various Raider sources, asking not to be identified, have said in recent weeks that a deal is close to being consummated to move the team out of Los Angeles and will be announced Monday or Tuesday of next week.

One high Raider official said privately last week that the deal would be announced in the days following the Raider game this Sunday with the Denver Broncos. He said the team was going to Sacramento.

Another Raider official, however, cautioned that if the team beats the Broncos and seems to have a good prospect of landing a wild-card playoff berth, then Davis may delay any announcement. Recurring reports that the team may move have already hurt it at the gate this season.