Pledge Made by Coliseum Managers : City Hall: Mayor releases letter promising that “under no circumstances” will the facility be demolished.

A day after Oakland officials voted to scrap their deal with the Raiders, Mayor Tom Bradley on Wednesday released a written commitment from the private managers of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that “under no circumstances” will the facility be demolished and that any renovation project will retain the exterior walls.

The private managers, Spectacor Management Group and MCA Inc., also said any renovation project will be the subject of an environmental impact report and that “any changes . . . will be accomplished in a way that is consistent with the historic and architectural significance of the structure.”

Bradley, at a press conference at which he expressed hope that an agreement keeping the Raiders football team in Los Angeles could now be reached “in all haste” in the wake of the collapse of their Oakland deal, said he had negotiated the terms of the letter from Don C. Webb, a senior vice president of Spectacor.

Webb, saying he wrote on behalf of both Spectacor and MCA, specifically pledged that “the exterior walls of the Coliseum, including the peristyle end, will be incorporated into any design of a renovated Coliseum.

“A new entrance at the western end of the Coliseum may be used which will conform to the Coliseum’s exterior,” he wrote. “It should be noted that this small section of the exterior wall has already been altered during previous renovation and modernization efforts.”

Webb is a third-ranking negotiator for Spectacor in talks with the Raiders, behind the board chairman of the firm, Ed Snider, and its president, Tony Tavaras.

Bradley said the private managers had told him no schematic drawings have yet been prepared for the renovation project and therefore there is nothing to be made public. This contrasted with statements made a month ago by one private management representative that some preliminary schematics had been prepared.

Bradley said he is convinced that assurances that the Coliseum’s historic features will be maintained are now solid enough to make “moot” the need for legislation authored by state Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) that would require a Los Angeles countywide vote before any demolition or other major alteration of the Coliseum.

Torres said later, however, that he remains to be persuaded, even after a talk with Bradley, that his bill is unnecessary.

He called the language in the Webb letter “vague in some paragraphs” and said he wants direct assurances from the private managers before deciding whether to drop his bill. He said it now commands decisive support in the Legislature.

Officials of the Los Angeles Conservancy, a preservationist organization, said at Bradley’s news conference they too believe that it is too early to abandon the legislation, which was approved Tuesday by an Assembly committee.

Bradley said he is devoted to preservation of the Coliseum, the only stadium in the world to host two of the modern Olympic Games and a national and state historic landmark.

“But the Coliseum needs renovation and repair to remain Southern California’s premier sports facility through the 21st Century,” the mayor said. “The agreement I have reached assures that this work can be completed without disturbing the historic components of our stadium. Our historic jewel will be preserved.”

Earlier, the private managers had talked of a plan to demolish all but the eastern peristyle end of the Coliseum and rebuild the rest. Polls indicated a majority of local voters were opposed to such a project.

As for the Raiders, Bradley said he has been in contact with team owner Al Davis and planned to speak to him in the wake of the officially expressed intention of the Oakland City Council on Tuesday night to formally scrap that city’s deal to return the Raiders to the Bay Area.

The Oakland officials said they will seek new negotiations with the Raiders on the basis of no municipal guarantees to the team. In the deal to be scrapped, the city of Oakland and Alameda County had pledged $486 million in such guarantees.

Raider negotiator Jack Brooks, however, said he had great doubts whether Davis will be prepared to negotiate on the new terms.

Bradley on Wednesday emphasized that in Los Angeles “not a dime” of municipal or county money will be committed in the form of guarantees to the Raiders. He acknowledged that the Coliseum Commission is ready to make a $15-million long-term loan to facilitate the deal, but he noted that these funds came out of a damage suit the Coliseum and the Raiders had won against the National Football League for impeding the Raiders’ move from Oakland in the early 1980s.

Commission President Matthew Grossman said, meanwhile, that with the lapse of the Oakland deal, “I am hopeful that Spectacor will be able to conclude the negotiations with (Davis) and enter into a new lease for the Raiders to play in the Coliseum.”

However, Grossman agreed that since no work could likely start until the conclusion of the 1990 season, there are several months to play around with and negotiations might not be concluded speedily.

The Raiders, under their present lease, are committed to playing in the Coliseum through the 1992 season.