San Diego Gains Bid for 1998 : Super Bowl: Los Angeles misses big game, with big economic payoff, after Charger owner makes last-minute appeal for his city.

In what amounted to a fourth-quarter upset, Los Angeles on Wednesday lost a bid to hold the 1998 Super Bowl at the Rose Bowl to a group from San Diego offering substantially less money. Even though the Los Angeles group offered the league $19.6 million, compared to the $15.6 million promised by San Diego, the 28 owners or their representatives were moved by what they considered greater financial stability and a sentimental appeal from Alex Spanos, owner of the San Diego Chargers.

This will be the second Super Bowl for San Diego, which had the 1988 game. The city had lost three bids in the last four years, including last January’s to Los Angeles.

Sources said San Diego won on a fourth ballot, 15-13.

“San Diego will have gone 10 years between games. There was a real sentimental feeling toward them,” said Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys. “Alex Spanos did a real nice job selling his town.”

The group representing Los Angeles, which has had the game seven times, said it was hurt by lack of support from Raider owner Al Davis, as well as repercussions over the $800,000 dispute between the city of Pasadena and the Los Angeles Sports Council involving Super Bowl XXVII this year.

Davis, who the Los Angeles committee had hoped would speak on its behalf, left the meeting early and was not in the room when the voting was done.

“We asked for Al’s help and he was very helpful, but the fact that he left the meeting hurt,” said George Kirkland, president of the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau. “When you have an environment in that voting room where Mr. Spanos is a compassionate delegate, the absence of such a delegate does not help your chances.”

Davis was represented during the voting by legal counsel Amy Trask, who could not be reached for comment.

Ram owner Georgia Frontiere was also not in the room. But the Los Angeles representatives were appreciative that John Shaw, the team’s executive vice president, set up a special meeting between the Los Angeles group and league officials before the early evening vote in hopes of resolving potential problems.

During that meeting, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan said he sensed trouble.

“You got the feeling that (NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue) was holding the hand of a patient who he thought would die,” Riordan said.

Besides taking advantage of Los Angeles’ lack of a strong ownership voice, the San Diego group also capitalized on the financial dispute over money that the city of Pasadena claims it is owed from ticket sales by the Sports Council.

Although the Sports Council was not involved in this effort, photocopies of a newspaper story detailing past problems were passed around the hotel by the group representing San Diego.

That group admitted to subtly reminding the owners of Los Angeles’ problems during its 15-minute presentation.

“We framed San Diego in a positive way that alluded to Los Angeles’ problems,” said Bob Payne, chairman of the San Diego Super Bowl Task Force.

Owners denied that they took those problems into account--”It was never brought up,” said Bill Bidwill, owner of the Phoenix Cardinals--but the Los Angeles group did not believe that.

“I was told two weeks ago that if anything more negative was written about our efforts, we would not get the bid,” said Gail Thompson, president of the Pasadena Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Why would the L.A. Times keep $150 million from the city? I don’t understand.

“When we get support like this from the newspaper in our own city, how in the hell do you expect us to ever win a Super Bowl bid?”

Although Riordan promised that the city would join the bidding for the next available Super Bowl in 2000, Kirkland scoffed at the notion.

“We’d be a dead loser in that one,” he said. “Other teams are already in there for that one.”

The Los Angeles group also may have appeared disorganized when one of its four speakers, former NFL star Willie Davis, arrived eight minutes late to its presentation because of a previous business engagement.

Former Ram quarterback Pat Haden, who was there as part of the Los Angeles task force, was asked to sub for Davis.

Probably the most moving speech was made after the announcement, by Spanos.

“Going against L.A., for San Diego to come out on top . . . that, to me, is real big,” he said. “This is a very, very big day.”

It was also a good day for New Orleans, which was awarded the 1997 game.