Rams, Anaheim Still Discussing Practice Site : Talks: Officials negotiating the conversion of the facility back to a school if the team decides to leave.

The Los Angeles Rams’ latest deadline to sign a new lease with the city for their practice facility passed Friday with the football team still in place and negotiators planning meetings to resolve the one issue causing the impasse.

Officials with the Rams, the city and the Magnolia School District will meet by Tuesday to determine how much it would cost to convert the team’s practice facility back into an elementary school, if the team moves after next season as threatened, officials said. Under a complicated agreement, the city leases the school from the district and then sublets it to the team.

Under its previous lease with the city, which expired Dec. 31, the Rams would have been liable for the conversion. But the team has balked at signing a new agreement with that clause and have tried to force the city to agree to pick up at least part of the tab.

In the 15 years the Rams have practiced at the former Juliette Low Elementary School, they have converted classrooms into weight rooms and offices, installed locker rooms and showers and replaced asphalt playgrounds with grass practice fields. The conversion cost could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“The Rams are concerned that there is no cap on their liability,” City Atty. Jack L. White said Friday. “The city and district have been unwilling to put a cap in place. We decided we need to find out how much money we are talking about. Are we talking about a large amount of money? A small amount? It’s hard for anybody to make a decision if we don’t know how many dollars we are talking about.”

White said the estimate will be presented to the City Council on Tuesday night, and council members could decide then how much, if any, financial help to promise the team.

Rams officials refused to comment on the lease Friday. Magnolia officials released a statement saying they support the negotiations.

The Rams, who are being courted by several cities, including Baltimore and St. Louis, have told Anaheim they will file a notice by May saying they might move out of Anaheim Stadium after this season. If the team moves, it will be responsible for paying off a $30-million mortgage on the stadium that paid for a 1979 expansion.

“It’s hard to imagine why the Rams are making such a big deal out of this (paying for the school reconversion) when they are going to have to pay off the stadium,” White said. “But (Ram’s Executive Vice President) John Shaw is a good negotiator and I respect that. He’s trying to get a good deal for his side.”