Whatever the Pitch, the Goal Is the Same: World Cup : Soccer: Representatives from U.S. cities gather in Los Angeles to try to persuade the organizing committee to let them entertain the world in 1994.

It was like a convention of used-car salesmen. Smiling, back-slapping, chattering representatives from 24 of 26 cities campaigning to have soccer games played in their stadiums during the 1994 World Cup gave oral presentations last week to a panel assembled by the organizing committee at the Century Plaza Hotel and Tower.

World Cup, do we have a spiel--uh, deal--for you!

They were lawyers, bankers, publishers, corporate executives, philanthropists, college presidents, soccer coaches, football coaches, mayors, lieutenant governors and governors.

Booth Gardner, representing Seattle, wore two hats. He is Washington’s governor and a former youth soccer coach who helped develop three players on the U.S. women’s national team. The only coach there who could claim better results was Dallas’ Tom Landry.

“If you’d told me two years ago you’d get this many cities to bid for a soccer tournament in the United States, I’d have said, ‘No way,’ ” said Bill Stroube, another Dallas representative. “But they’re here.”

One reason, the one that probably went the furthest in attracting mayors such as Los Angeles’ Tom Bradley, Chicago’s Richard Daley and Atlanta’s Maynard Jackson, is money.

The calculations used to determine the economic impact on a city of playing host to six or seven World Cup games are about as easy to figure as the Theory of Relativity. Kansas City delegates estimated the total at about $21 million. Miami’s said it was closer to $850 million. Best guess is that it’s somewhere in between, probably in the range of the $100 million to $150 million that a Super Bowl leaves behind.

As the organizing committee, World Cup USA 1994, attempts to narrow the field to between eight and 12 final selections by December, here are some of the things it will find as it kicks the tires:

Did You Hear About the Aggie Who Tried to Grow Grass Indoors? It Cost $81,000

That’s no joke.

The organizers would like to show off the U.S. gift to stadium architecture--the dome--but needs assurance that natural grass, required by FIFA, international soccer’s ruling body, can be maintained indoors.

To this end, the three domed stadiums under consideration--New Orleans’ Superdome, Houston’s Astrodome and the Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich.--have pooled resources.

Dr. James Beard, a Texas A&M; agronomist who, according to Mike Abington of the Silverdome, is “the Red Adair of sports grass,” has been commissioned to conduct a three-week, $81,000 experiment this summer in the Superdome.

The last time it was tried was in 1965, when the Astrodome opened. It might have worked, but when outfielders complained they were losing fly balls in the glare, the roof was coated with a darker paint to shut out the sunlight. That also shut out ultra-violet rays necessary for growing grass. Thus, AstroTurf was born.

The Ball Is Round and White, but You Can’t Win if You Boot It

We’re talking baseball.

The United States has more modern stadiums than any other country, but many in the summer are used for major league baseball. Some that aren’t would like to be.

Three potential sites--the Astrodome, San Francisco’s Candlestick Park and Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium--have baseball teams. Two others, Miami’s Joe Robbie Stadium and Washington’s RFK Stadium, hope to have one soon.

Denver also is seeking a team to play in a new stadium. But the team would use the city’s World Cup facility, Mile High Stadium, until construction is completed in 1994 or ’95. Another baseball wannabe, Orlando, Fla., has made provisional plans to build a stadium for that sport next to its World Cup facility, the Citrus Bowl.

We’re talking scheduling nightmares.

World Cup organizers will have a clearer picture after the National League announces two expansion cities on June 12. But, even then, there will be complexities.

Who knows whether the Giants will still be at Candlestick in 1994? And if Washington doesn’t get an expansion team, city leaders have told the organizers they will attempt to buy the Astros and move them to the capital.

If the Astros remain in Houston, will they be able to move out of the Astrodome for the six weeks that the organizers require? The Astros already have agreed to move out for 28 days during the 1992 Republican Convention at the Astrodome, but the National League isn’t happy about it.

Even Phillie owner Bill Giles, chairman of Philadelphia’s bid committee, is offering Veterans Stadium for only 18 days.

If We Build It, They Will Come

To FIFA, playing the World Cup in the United States without games in New York would be like playing in France without games in Paris or Italy without games in Rome.

This, New Yorkers know.

But FIFA also has mandated that stadiums selected should forevermore maintain dimensions necessary for international soccer and stand as examples of the World Cup’s legacy to the sport in the United States.

This, New Yorkers ignore.

The New York City Sports Commission proposes building a 60,000- to 70,000-seat stadium in either the parking lot or infield of Aqueduct Raceway that would be used for eight games and then come down.

“If we have a venue, we’ll win,” said Matt Scheckner, the commission’s executive director. “That’s very clear.”

He, of course, said this by telephone because his group, as well as the one representing New Jersey, was not prepared to make an oral presentation in Century City. He put together a written bid a few days before the May 1 deadline--after the financially strapped city wrote a $255,000 check for the deposit required by the organizing committee--and didn’t form a task force until later.

New York’s rivals aren’t impressed.

“This whole idea that they have a bid, I haven’t seen one shred of evidence of it,” said Jay Shaw of the bid committee from New Haven, Conn.

If They Come, We Will Build It

After the 1959 NFL championship game, Jerry Richardson, a wide receiver for the triumphant Baltimore Colts, took his $4,700 bonus check and bought a fast- food restaurant in Spartanburg, S.C.

Richardson turned that investment into a corporation that owns and operates 3,200 restaurants, including the Denny’s chain, and has earned $3.7 billion in revenues.

Now, he is attempting to bring an NFL franchise to Charlotte, N.C., in 1994. If the NFL decides in his favor, he will provide the money for a $150-million stadium that architects promise would be even better for soccer than the sport’s shiniest jewel, Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami. But if the NFL doesn’t expand to Charlotte, the stadium won’t be built.

World Cup organizers salivate at the idea of playing games in the proposed stadium, but they have committed to select their sites in December. The NFL won’t award its new franchises until next year, perhaps as late as the fall.

“The organizing committee is sold on Charlotte,” said Frank Kohlenstein, soccer coach at University of North Carolina Charlotte. “They just want to make sure that, when they come here, they have a place to play.”

No Knocking Knoxville

If this were a horse race, Knoxville, Tenn., would be one of those 100-1 shots that you would put two bucks on because it didn’t sweat in the paddock.

The driving force behind the bid, Michael Birch, didn’t apologize for being in Century City. “Tennesseeans don’t get intimidated,” he said, invoking the names of Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone.

Birch has as much Tennessee blood in him as Princess Di. He is an Englishman who spent much of his adult life in Africa before moving to Knoxville to run a company specializing in international trade. He has found selling Knoxville to the World Cup only a little more difficult than he found selling the World Cup to Knoxville.

“No one listened at first,” he said. “They thought I was a maniac.” But he found a sympathetic ear in the University of Tennessee, which offered its 91,000-seat stadium, and, voila! Knoxville was a player.

“We’re not shy,” Birch said. “Who in their right mind would come from Europe for a month and settle in the city of New York when they could come to the Great Smoky Mountains?”

Book ‘Em, Danno

Think about Main Street, USA. Think about hundreds, thousands of English, Dutch, German or Italian hooligans shouting obscenities, smashing car and store windows, looting, fighting.

It was apparent last week that bid committees from most of the communities don’t want to think about it.

When asked about it, some tried to deflect the issue with quips.

Knoxville’s J. Edward Ingram: “No problem. If anyone ever goes to a Tennessee-Alabama football game, they’ll know we can deal with hooligans.”

Pontiac’s Mike Abington: “We have no questions about security. We’ve had the Republican National Convention, the Pope and Wrestlemania.”

Honolulu’s J.W.A. Buyers: “Haven’t you ever seen Hawaii Five-0?”

Amusing. But the organizers should take their cue from Woody Allen. In the movie “Manhattan,” a sophisticate tells Allen’s character, Isaac Davis, of her appreciation for a biting satire in the New York Times regarding a recent march of neo-Nazis in New Jersey. Davis replied that he appreciates biting satire as much as the next fellow. But when it comes to neo-Nazis, he said, he prefers bricks and bats.

The Candidates 1. CHICAGO Stadium: Soldier Field, 67,000 Comment: Needed only four months to raise $5 million in private funds to finance bid. Chances: Second City first to have act together. 2. LOS ANGELES / PASADENA Stadium: Rose Bowl, 102,083; Coliseum, 92,516 Comment: Three largest soccer crowds in U.S. history were in Pasadena for 1984 Olympic Games. Chances: Real competition is with Miami, Kansas City and possibly Washington for final. 3. WASHINGTON Stadium: RFK, 61,872; or proposed new facility, 78,000 Comment: Wants worldwide exposure for something other than White House, Pentagon and Marion Barry. Chances: Games will be played in nation’s capital. 4. NEW HAVEN, CONN. Stadium: Yale Bowl, 70,000 Comment: State Legislature will vote in January on $10-million bond package to renovate 77-year-old stadium. Chances: International soccer federation, FIFA, loves New York, and this is only credible bid in the area. 5. MIAMI Stadium: Joe Robbie, 75,000; Orange Bowl, 75,000 Comment: The late Robbie, former Dolphin owner, was so confident of soccer’s future in U.S., he built stadium virtually perfect for it. Chances: Possible baseball expansion into Joe Robbie could limit availability, but FIFA will find way to have games there. 6. KANSAS CITY Stadium: Arrowhead, 72,000 Comment: Has $1.5-million plan for placing temporary grass field on plywood scaffold above artificial surface. Chances: Bid collapses only if scaffold does. 7. SAN FRANCISCO / PALO ALTO Stadium: Candlestick Park, 65,000; Stanford, 86,000 Comment: Stanford handled large crowds for soccer at 1984 Olympics and drew 61,000 for U.S-Soviet Union game last year. Chances: If you’ve got Bay Area, flaunt it. 8. FOXBORO, MASS. Stadium: Foxboro, 67,000 Comment: Stadium and Patriots spent $1.3 million before last football season to convert from artificial to natural turf. Chances: Fewer liabilities than other Northeastern sites. 9. TAMPA, FLA. Stadium: Tampa, 72,000 Comment: Responding to terrorism threat during Persian Gulf War, security was excellent at last Super Bowl. Chances: Edge over Orlando as second Florida city because of rich soccer tradition. 10. DALLAS Stadium: Cotton Bowl, 67,000 Comment: City will ask voters this summer to pass $30-million bond issue, including $5 million in stadium upgrades. Chances: Soccer fans throughout world want to see Southfork in person. 11. ATLANTA Stadium: Bobby Dodd, 60,000 Comment: Although city is preparing for ’96 Olympics, its corporate sugar daddy, Coca-Cola, encouraged it to remain in World Cup hunt. Chances: As Greeks learned, don’t bet against Atlanta or Coca-Cola. 12. NEW ORLEANS Stadium: Superdome, 73,000 Comment: If grass can be grown indoors, organizing committee would like to show off a dome as country’s contribution to stadium architecture. Chances: If dome is chosen, it is likely to be this one. 13. COLUMBUS, OHIO Stadium: Ohio, 90,000 Comment: World Cup would be only game in a large town: 1.4 million people in metropolitan area. Chances: Could be a surprise despite lack of visibility in the world outside the Big Ten. 14. ORLANDO, FLA. Stadium: Citrus Bowl, 74,000 Comment: Presentation was given the same week that Orlando was featured in Time magazine cover story extolling city’s virtues. Chances: Only question is whether organizers will choose three Florida sites. 15. PHILADELPHIA Stadium: Veterans, 60,000 to 62,000. Comment: Stadium needs Phillies out and temporary natural grass in, but bid committee has guaranteed sellouts. Chances: With so many good East Coast sites, why hassle with baseball schedule? 16. SEATTLE Stadium: Husky, 65,000 to 68,000 Comment: Caught international sports bug with Goodwill Games, but isn’t as advanced in plans as some others. Chances: What’s not to like, particularly if organizers decide on four West Coast sites? 17. DENVER Stadium: Mile High, 76,123 Comment: Recent game between U.S. and Uruguay drew more than 36,000. Chances: Mile-low if National League expands to Denver and if new baseball stadium isn’t completed by 1994. 18. PHOENIX Stadium: Sun Devil, 75,000 Comment: Escaping heat from Martin Luther King controversy by pointing out that Phoenix and Tempe have paid holidays. Chances: But wilting from heat of desert sun. 19. CHARLOTTE, N.C. Stadium: Proposed, 70,000 Comment: If NFL doesn’t expand to Charlotte, stadium modeled after Joe Robbie won’t be built. Chances: Possible Southeastern site instead of Atlanta, but problematic because NFL won’t make decision until next year. 20. PONTIAC, MICH. Stadium: Silverdome, 76,000 Comment: Ann Arbor would have been competitive, but University of Michigan wasn’t interested. Chances: Even if grass can be grown indoors, hurt by negative international image. 21. HOUSTON Stadium: Astrodome, 60,000 Comment: If grass can grow indoors, if a dome can be used, if Astros move or don’t pose scheduling conflict . . . Chances: Too many ifs. 22. KNOXVILLE, TENN. Stadium: Neyland, 91,000 Comment: Only 600,000 people in metropolitan area. Chances: Charming, but . . . 23. CORVALLIS, ORE. Stadium: Parker, 35,000 Comment: With or without World Cup, $10.4-million renovation of stadium is under way. Chances: Organizers aren’t thinking small. 24. HONOLULU Stadium: Aloha, 50,000 Comment: Willing to take English and Dutch hooligans, like island of Sardinia did for ’90 World Cup in Italy. Chances: Enticing, but not practical because of location. 25. EAST RUTHERFORD / NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. Stadium: Meadowlands, 76,000; Rutgers, 25,000 (expansion projected) Comment: Meadowlands would be a lock, but its management isn’t accommodating to anything other than opening ceremony. Chances: None unless Meadowlands changes mind. 26. NEW YORK Stadium: Aqueduct Raceway, 60,000 to 70,000 Comment: Proposed $15 million to $20 million temporary stadium in parking lot or infield of thoroughbred track. Chances: Even bid committee knows its stadium plans will fly as soon as horses do.