Grand Jury Panel Probing Deal to Keep Raiders Here

A committee of the Los Angeles County Grand Jury is conducting an inquiry into the agreement reached last September under which the Raiders football team will remain in Los Angeles in exchange for a $145-million reconstruction of the Coliseum and a reported $42 million in private payments and credits.

Coliseum Commission President N. Matthew Grossman said the four-member committee, headed by Herbert L. Kneeter of Brentwood, has met twice with him and with representatives of the Coliseum’s private management firm, the Spectacor Limited Partnership, and asked a series of questions about the financial terms of dealings with the Raiders.

Grossman said it is his understanding that the inquiry is informational and not criminal in nature. He said Spectacor has offered to reveal to the grand jurors some of the provisions of the contract it has with the Raiders, which until now have remained secret.