1994 World Cup Soccer Effort Centered in L.A. : Organizers: Lawyers Rothenberg, Cale and LeTellier hold top positions. Each were LAOOC officials.

With Wednesday’s announcement that Alan Rothenberg will become chairman of the board and Chuck Cale chief executive officer, the three most influential positions on the organizing committee for the 1994 World Cup of soccer have been filled by Southern California lawyers who are veterans of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee.

So, it was no surprise when the U.S. Soccer Federation also announced that the organizing committee soon will open an administrative office in Los Angeles to work in conjunction with the office already established in Washington.

The Washington office is headed by Scott LeTellier, a former Newport Beach lawyer, who became the organizing committee’s president and chief operating officer in February 1989. LeTellier will report to Cale, a Los Angeles lawyer, who said Wednesday that he hopes to open the office in Los Angeles as soon as possible.

Both offices will be overseen by Rothenberg, an L.A. lawyer and former president of the NBA’s Clippers and the California State Bar, who replaced Werner Fricker as president of the U.S. Soccer Federation in August. In their postions with the organizing committee, Rothenberg and Cale will share duties formerly handled by Fricker.

Rothenberg, Cale and LeTellier worked together during preparations for the 1984 Olympic Games in L.A. Cale was the LAOOC’s vice president for sports. Reporting to him were LeTellier, an assistant vice president for sports until he became the committee’s legal counsel six months before the Games, and Rothenberg, who was commissioner for soccer.

Hank Steinbrecher, a Chicago businessman, who was named last Sunday as the USSF’s executive director, was venue chief for the soccer competition at Harvard during the 1984 Summer Olympics.

This will be the first time that the United States has organized the World Cup. Between eight and 12 cities will be selected next year to stage the games. Los Angeles and Pasadena are among 31 cities in the bidding.

“The first thing we want to do is make sure that the 1994 World Cup is successful artistically, public relations-wise and financially,” Cale said. “But we also want to use the summer of 1994 and the period of time leading up to it to bring the sport to a high level in this country. We want the rest of the world to say, ‘We’re glad we went to the United States.’ ”