Coliseum Overhaul Backed : Bid to Keep Raiders on Davis’ Desk

The Los Angeles Coliseum Commission voted 8 to 0 today to support the concept of demolishing and reconstructing the Coliseum as a means of either keeping the Raiders football team or attracting a new professional team.

The only commission member who is opposed to the idea, Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum, left the meeting before the vote for another engagement. The decision cleared the way for the stadium’s private managers, Spectacor Management Group and MCA, Inc., to proceed with negotiations with Raiders owner Al Davis in hopes of reaching an agreement to keep the team in Los Angeles.

The motion offered by commission member Matthew Grossman stipulated that reconstructing the Coliseum and keeping professional football would “be achieved without expense to the public or any liability or commitment of public funds on the part of the commission.”

The motion also said the commission supports “the concept of privatizing the management and operation of the Coliseum,” an apparent commitment to approving a long-term lease of the facility to the private partners.

Despite the reference to attracting a new team if the Raiders leave Los Angeles, it is unlikely the project could secure financing without a professional team already here.

Following the vote, Irving Azoff, a spokesman for the private management team, said Spectacor and MCA, joined by the Pritzker hotel interests, already have a firm offer on Davis’ desk and Azoff said he hopes for its quick acceptance.

Davis’ office said the owner was out of town and unavailable for comment.

In past statements, Davis has said he wants a more “intimate” stadium to play football in than the present 92,000-seat Coliseum. He has been pursuing that goal in negotiations the last two years in Irwindale, Oakland and Sacramento as well as Los Angeles. Just last Friday, he was in Sacramento meeting with those who have proposed building a stadium there, and this Friday, he is due in Oakland to meet with promoters there.

The latest Los Angeles offer from the private firms would entail demolishing the Coliseum except for its eastern peristyle end and building a $140-million facility with about 70,000 seats, including 200 luxury boxes and several thousand club seats. In addition, the Raiders would be paid sums estimated at today’s meeting at up to $40 million cash at the outset, as well as $56 million in cash guaranteed for later.

The commission vote, coming after brief debate, is only one in a series of steps necessary to bring such a deal into being.

If Davis approves, the commission would have to approve the exact details, new leases of the Coliseum grounds would have to be negotiated, historic preservation and environmental requirements met, and financing secured. Also, the joint powers agreement under which the Coliseum is run by a tripartite body composed of representatives of the city, county and state may have to be revised.

Looking toward dealing with all these details, commissioner president Richard Riordan appointed a committee composed of himself, Schabarum and Grossman, to talk matters over with the private managers.