It May Be a Losing Season : Recovery: Thousands of jobs are at stake if the quake-damaged Coliseum doesn’t open in time for Raiders and Trojans football. Restaurants and other businesses that count on fan patronage could close.

If the quake-damaged Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum remains closed during the upcoming football season, the economic effects will be devastating for the city government and neighborhoods surrounding the historic stadium, economists and officials say.

The Raiders and the USC Trojans draw hundreds of thousands of fans, many of whom are the lifeblood for local businesses that can directly link more than half of their annual income to football games. And Coliseum officials say the stadium and adjacent Sports Arena are the second-largest employers in South-Central, providing about 8,000 full- and part-time jobs, most of them to local residents.

In addition, the city receives about $1 million annually in sales taxes from a combined revenue of about $26.3 million in ticket sales, concessions and parking fees from USC and Raiders games, according to figures in a state environmental impact report.

“If the Coliseum shuts down, it would just be tragic in a whole variety of ways,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Economic Development Corp. of Los Angeles.

The damage to the 70-year-old Coliseum may also force the cancellation of the monthlong World Festival, which is expected to draw up to 250,000 people paying $6 to $12 each for soccer exhibitions and concerts preceding the World Cup in July, a spokesman for the event said.

Along with USC and the museums in Exposition Park, the Coliseum is one of the economic anchors in an area struggling to overcome the lingering effects of the 1992 riots. Its closure would deal a major setback to long-term revitalization efforts, say business owners and community leaders.

Coliseum officials have said repairs to the stadium will cost at least $33 million, about half of which is expected to be covered by federal grants. Though the officials are awaiting a structural report expected this week, they have said the damage appears so extensive that it might not be repaired in time for the football season, which starts in August with preseason games and can last until January if the Raiders make the playoffs, as they did this year.

“We can’t afford another economic blow in this community,” said Levi Kingston, chief executive officer of the Community Consortium, a coalition of neighborhood and business organizations in the Exposition Park area.

The thought of life without football weighed heavily last week on the minds of local business operators, who are already suffering from the riots and the recession.

“Basically, the football season has always carried restaurants around here,” said Rudy Polin, chief executive officer of Julie’s Trojan Barrel, a venerable USC football hangout at 3724 S. Figueroa St.

With its photos and wall paintings of Trojan football greats, Julie’s is packed with fans before and after the five or six USC home games each year and the eight to 10 Raiders home games. Those crowds account for about 40% of the restaurant’s annual business, Polin said.

Julie’s has yet to recover from the riots, which scared away its nighttime clientele. The loss of the football crowd, Polin said, “would be the nail in the coffin” for the tavern.

Down the block from Julie’s, the Margarita Jones restaurant relies on the football season for about 60% of its annual business. Before and after Raiders games, the Mexican restaurant is packed with fans decked out in silver and black.

“If there’s no football, we will have to close the restaurant,” said general manager Antonieta Montoya. “It’s what we wait for all year--football.”

Revenue from football and other Coliseum events accounted for about $1 million last year for the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, formerly the University Hilton, which is across the street from USC.

Boosters from visiting college teams often book more than half of the hotel’s 250 rooms for up to five days, said general manager Albert A. Salah.

“We’re talking about a tremendous amount of money--not just for us, but for everybody around here,” he said.

During the football season, Coliseum spokeswoman Cindy Rubin said, the stadium provides many of the sport complex’s 8,000 full- and part-time jobs, ranging from parking lot attendants and maintenance workers to vendors. That total is second only to USC in the number of jobs provided in South-Central.

Many of the workers are low-income people “who are already living on the edge,” said Madeline Janis-Aparicio, spokeswoman for Local 11 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents about 400 Coliseum food service workers.

The Coliseum is also the centerpiece of the World Festival, which is scheduled to begin in June and culminate with the Word Cup final in Pasadena July 17. The event is meant to give Angelenos an affordable taste of international soccer through a variety of musical, artistic, sports and culinary events. The Coliseum would house the major events such as soccer games and concerts.

“With the Coliseum in disrepair, those activities that would bring in the largest crowds are in jeopardy,” said Todd Parker of World Cup USA 1994. He said festival officials are considering other sites, including the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and the Los Angeles Convention Center, if the Coliseum is not repaired in time.

Officials have said the World Festival is intended to be accessible to families that might not be able to afford tickets to World Cup games, which run from $25 to $475 apiece.

Many of them would likely patronize affordable food outlets such as McDonald’s at 2800 S. Figueroa St., which sees its sales rise 5% to 10% on Coliseum event days.

“I’m sure we will be affected,” said Rahim Aref, director of operations for the hamburger franchise. “I hope they fix (the Coliseum) soon.”