COLISEUM WATCH : Rebuilding Program

This weekend marks the kickoff of the 1993 football season, and here’s hoping our local pro and college teams do well. For the Raiders and USC Trojans--and, just as important, their fans--the season is sure to be extra fun if only because games will be that much more pleasant to attend at a “new” Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The stately old stadium in Exposition Park, where many a historic event has been held since the 1920s, has been getting a face lift these last seven months and has rarely looked better. With an entrepreneurial spirit that could serve as a model for other local government entities, the Coliseum Commission used $15 million it won in a lawsuit to make improvements that go a long way toward converting a 70-year-old facility into a state-of-the art stadium.

The distinguished exterior architecture remains, but all the old wooden benches have been replaced by new theater-style seats, the best of which are 66 feet closer to the playing field. New, brightly lit restroom facilities have been built, quadrupling the number available to women (from 92 to 420). There is a lot more wheelchair-access seating and even special listening devices for the hearing-impaired.

Coliseum officials admit that further improvements, such as luxury boxes and new scoreboards, are needed to make the Coliseum a competitive venue for major events. But even the changes already made will help keep the stadium profitable--which means it won’t be a drain on local taxpayers. That’s something even non-sports fans should applaud.