Rams Hit With Ultimatum on Practice Facility

In a testy exchange between the Los Angeles Rams and local officials, the school district that owns the team’s practice facility has told the Rams to renew their lease on the Rams Park complex by March 11 or get out.

Frustrated by protracted negotiations, Magnolia School District officials issued the ultimatum in a letter this week. Team officials replied that they may have to abandon the spot where players have practiced since 1980 and look elsewhere.

The lease impasse has increased speculation that the Rams intend to leave Anaheim after next season. The Rams have publicly stated they are interested in exploring deals with other cities.

Paul Mercier, superintendent of the Magnolia School District, said the Rams have refused to sign a lease agreement that essentially was completed several weeks ago. Ram officials have repeatedly stalled the negotiations by raising “non-issues,” he said.

“How much longer can they drag this out?” Mercier asked. “The board is saying, ‘Let’s have a decision.’ Either this (agreement) is something you can live with or not. They’re beating the same stuff to death.”

John Shaw, Rams executive vice president, said the team has “no intention” of signing the present lease offer, which covers the practice facility at the former Juliette Low Elementary School.

“We recognize the strong possibility that we could be evicted from the practice facility,” Shaw said. “It looks like that is what they will do and I guess we will have to figure out (where we will find) another practice site.”

Caught in the middle is Anaheim City Manager James D. Ruth, who is acting as chief negotiator in the talks on the lease agreement. “We’re trying to work out an amicable resolution to this,” said Ruth. “The school district has been terrific. In my opinion this should not be that difficult.”

Mayor Tom Daly said the Rams “just want to pin down the details (of the agreement) like any other business would do.”

The standoff on the practice facility lease has heightened tensions between team and city officials who seem on the verge of parting ways after a 15-year marriage. Rams officials have publicly said they are looking at more modern stadiums and better financial opportunities in other cities.

Shaw said the team will officially notify the city May 3 that it is exercising an escape clause in its Anaheim Stadium lease agreement. The notification means the Rams will be free to look elsewhere, but they still could negotiate with Anaheim and decide to stay.

Mercier said he suspects the team “is stringing the district along” until it knows where it will ultimately play.

Since moving to Anaheim from Los Angeles in 1980, the Rams have used the school site under a complicated agreement among the city, the team and the district. Under it, the city sublet the site from the district and then leased it to the Rams. That agreement expired Dec. 31, but was extended for a month by the district so all parties could renegotiate a lease extension.

Several times in the past two months, city and district officials said they thought they had reached a deal with the Rams only to have the team refuse to sign the agreement. In fact, the agreement has been on the City Council’s agenda for approval five times since the beginning of the year.

“It’s incredible,” said Mercier, who noted that the city has made great efforts to resolve the negotiations.

On Tuesday, the agreement was yanked off the agenda once again. Under that aborted document, the Rams would have signed a 10-year lease with a five-year extension option. The lease would have provided an escape clause for the Rams, allowing the team to leave after giving six months’ notice and paying the school district one year’s rent of $250,000.

That agreement also had the city subsidizing $120,000 of the team’s annual $250,000 rent, with the subsidy coming out of Anaheim Stadium’s $21-million operating budget.

Sources close to the negotiations say the deal was killed by Rams officials, who want to be absolved of the team’s obligation to restore the school site to its original condition when the team vacates the property. It is an obligation the team had agreed to when it moved to Anaheim, according to city and district officials.

Shaw said the team believes the city may be responsible for part of the restoration costs.

City officials on Wednesday said they are hopeful that a lease agreement for the practice site will be reached before the deadline.

To many people in the city, the machinations around the practice site lease are further proof that the Rams will leave Anaheim.

Although the Rams’ stadium lease expires in 2015, the city agreed to add an escape clause in 1990 to settle a lawsuit brought by the team concerning the construction of the Anaheim Arena. It is a concession that the city now regrets.

Daly said he remains optimistic that the team can be persuaded to stay in Anaheim.

Currently, city officials are looking at options to improve Anaheim Stadium and offer the team other incentives.

Several Orange County investors are also exploring the possibility of purchasing majority ownership of the team, though Rams owner Georgia Frontiere has said that will not happen. Meanwhile, the Rams Booster Club has asked the business community to step up and buy season tickets to increase attendance and Rams revenue.

Mercier, however, said the district, for one, is tired of catering to the Rams’ every whim.

“I look at Disney and the way they reach out to the community with the Ducks and try to give something back to the city,” Mercier said, “ . . . and then I look over in the other direction and see the Rams fighting for every last inch of property, giving nothing back to the city and just wanting to take.”

Times staff writer T.J. Simers contributed to this report.

Lease It or Leave It

The Rams have until March 11 to sign a new lease on an abandoned elementary school in Anaheim that they have used for the past 15 years. The site is owned by the Magnolia School District.

What’s There:

* Two fields, each less than 100 yards long

* Weight room, part of which is outdoors

* Locker room, including showers for coaches and players and training room

* Meeting rooms

* Coaches’ offices

* Administration offices

Source: Los Angeles Rams