Unlimited Tribute? No Way

Talk about piracy. Civic leaders and public officials from Los Angeles to Oakland to Sacramento seem willing to hang themselves from the yardarms to appease a shrewd and secretive black-suited fellow by the name of Al Davis. Davis is such a wanted man because he happens to control a closely held private business known as the Los Angeles Raiders of the National Football League, a team that proudly displays its buccaneering symbols. Davis has--constantly--threatened to move the Raiders elsewhere unless officials pay enough tribute to keep him in Los Angeles.

But the price has gotten too high, and it is time for local authorities to call his bluff. According to The Times’ Ken Reich, writing in Thursday editions, the managers of the Los Angeles Coliseum--home of Olympics games in 1932 and 1984 and a designated state and national historic landmark--now are considering razing the Coliseum and building a $125-million new stadium on the site and paying as much as $60 million in ransom over a 10-year-period to keep the Raiders. This is, by the way, a team that still glories in Super Bowl victories of yore, but has not made the NFL playoffs since 1985.

What is new about this round of negotiations is that it is being conducted primarily by Spectacor Management Group and MCA Inc., the private firms that now manage the Coliseum under contract from the public Coliseum Commission. The land is owned by the state’s Museum of Science and Industry and the facility is overseen by the commission of city, county and state appointees.

This grandiose payment to Davis ostensibly is made acceptable by the promise that no public money would be involved--ultimately. The private managers using private capital would build the new 65,000-seat stadium suitable to Davis’ demands and some day repay the up-front money that would come from the Coliseum Commission. The commission would have to use the $20 million it won in a lawsuit against the NFL as part of the payment to Davis and grant a lease of up to 30 years on the Coliseum site.

The fact is that public money is involved and so is a public facility of considerable economic and historic value to the people. The fate of the Coliseum is a subject worthy of broad public discourse and policy-making, but a decision should not be forced on the basis of a take-it-or-leave-it demand from Davis--certainly not for a man who seems never to make a commitment or name his final price. Reasonable concessions to keep the Raiders, yes. Unlimited tribute, absolutely not.