OK Expected on Plan to Begin Coliseum Work : Renovation: $15 million received by commission in lawsuit against the National Football League would be used to start remodeling project early next year.

A plan to jump-start renovation of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum--to begin early next year with a lowering of the stadium floor and the addition of thousands of new seats near the field--is expected to be approved by the Coliseum Commission today.

The plan, developed by a special committee of the commission, is unlike earlier, unsuccessful attempts to reconstruct the 70-year-old stadium with private financing. It calls for the remodeling to be kicked off with $15 million the commission won in a lawsuit against the National Football League several years ago.

Coliseum officials said the funds should be enough to pay architects and to finance work on the first phase, which would be finished by next August, in time for the 1993 Raiders and USC football seasons.

The field would be lowered 11 feet and eight to 10 rows of seats added--with a six-foot vertical separation between the field and the lowest seats near the playing field.

The plan calls for a second phase--building luxury boxes and a press box--to begin in early 1994. Officials speculated that this too could be finished between football seasons.

But the second phase would be contingent on successful negotiations with the Raiders and USC over the distribution of box revenues and on securing a loan, officials said.

Put on indefinite hold would be the more extensive renovation called for in earlier plans, including adding thousands of club seats and an upper spectator deck. The scaled-down plan also entails putting the luxury boxes close to the rim of the Coliseum, which would be less expensive than the earlier proposal to construct them at the stadium’s mid-level.

The plan was developed by a renovation committee consisting of four members of the nine-member Coliseum Commission. Headed by N. Matthew Grossman, the commission’s former president, the committee also includes current President William Robertson, as well as James Dickason and Dominick Rubalcava. The proposal calls for HNTB of Kansas City, which was involved in earlier renovation plans, to continue as architect.

This is the latest of many efforts since 1978 to modernize the Coliseum, a national landmark and the only stadium in the world to serve as the principal arena for two of the modern Olympic Games, in 1932 and 1984. Other significant events--the 1959 World Series, John F. Kennedy’s speech accepting the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination and a Mass by Pope John Paul II--also have been held there.

The commission has already approved the idea of proceeding with a first phase of renovation in early 1993, and Robertson and Grossman predicted that the plan will be approved today by the commission.

“What is most important is that we get a renovation program started, that we show some activity,” Grossman said.

“We want to send a strong message to the Raiders that we are serious,” Robertson added.

Neither would put a price tag on the renovation they envision over the next two years. But the remodeling would cost far less than $116 million, the least expensive projection by the Spectacor partnership before it gave up two months ago on finding private financing for the earlier renovation concept.

USC representatives were present for the discussions leading to the new plan, and Athletic Director Mike McGee said he supports it.

“It is in keeping with (our) expectations,” McGee said. “We are frankly very pleased that we’re finally breaking out the details of a plan. There has been more progress in the last two months than ever before in my experience.”

The Raiders declined to comment, and Robertson and Grossman said the professional team did not participate in the discussions.

Because of all the broken promises that the stadium would be modernized over the decade that the Raiders have been in Los Angeles, Robertson said he did not want to take another plan to owner Al Davis until something had been accomplished.

The commission president said Davis has long said that his top priority is for the Coliseum to become a better place to view football. This could be accomplished by lowering the field and bringing seats closer to the action, Davis has said.

But the first phase of the renovation could increase seating capacity when Davis has said it should be reduced from the current 92,000 to 65,000. Only the second phase could reduce it by eliminating rows of seats to accommodate luxury boxes near the top of the stadium.

Under a secret contract between the Raiders and Spectacor, nullified when the partnership pulled out, the Raiders were to get practically all of the revenue from the lease of luxury boxes, while revenue from the club seats was to be used to provide collateral for securing a loan to finance renovation.

But under the new plan, which does not include club seats, it apparently will be necessary for the Raiders to share enough box revenue with the Coliseum Commission to allow a loan to be secured for the second phase. Such an arrangement could mean protracted negotiations between the team and the commission.

The renovation, as originally planned, would have required preparation of an environmental impact report, which can take a year or more.

But a partner in the firm Environmental Planning Associates, originally retained by Spectacor to provide the report, says that the first phase may not require such a review.

“Maybe, they (the Coliseum Commission) could simply file a negative declaration, a finding of no significant impact on the environment,” said Chris Joseph. Robertson and Grossman declined to comment on that point. But they expressed confidence that all required permits can be obtained to allow work on the first phase to begin no later than February.