Offer of 2nd NFL Team in L.A. Expected

A proposal that would bring Los Angeles a second professional football team in 1998 and two Super Bowls is expected to be formalized by the league’s finance committee today, paving the way for the construction of a $200-million stadium at Hollywood Park that would house the Raiders and an undetermined existing franchise.

However, one final hurdle exists: a $20-million loan requested by Hollywood Park officials, who will build the stadium with the Raiders.

The league steadfastly refuses to make the loan, but instead will offer Hollywood Park as much as $20 million in relocation fees from the stadium’s second tenant, possibly the Cleveland Browns. But that money would not come until 1998.

R.D. Hubbard, chief executive officer of Hollywood Park, maintains that he needs the money now to begin construction.

“If we don’t get the $20 million up front, I don’t see how the deal can be done,” Hubbard said.

The league’s finance committee hopes to deliver the proposal to Raiders owner Al Davis and Hollywood Park officials this afternoon. If they agree to the deal, the league will be expected to approve it by the end of the spring owners’ meetings here Wednesday.

“Unless Al goes wacky on us at the last minute, it should be a done deal,” said one official. “He’d be crazy not to accept this.”

The seven-member finance committee, whose decisions are generally accepted by the other 23 owners, met for five hours here Monday night to debate the merits of giving away Super Bowls, of agreeing to move franchises, and of becoming involved with a gambling concern such as Hollywood Park.

By the end of the night, most had decided that if it meant maintaining a league presence in the nation’s second largest market, such unusual steps were necessary.

“I’d like to think that we could put a resolution on the floor that would work not just for the league, but for Hollywood Park and the Raiders,” said Carmen Policy, San Francisco 49ers president and member of the finance committee.

But, said Bud Adams, Houston Oilers owner: “I don’t think anybody is going to go along with the league putting up money for another team. There has to be another way.”

If Hubbard agrees to the league’s proposal to give him the $20 million in three years, construction on the new stadium could begin as soon as November.

The first game would be played there in 1997. Within the next 10 years, the stadium would also be the site of two Super Bowls and Davis would be allowed to market 10,000 tickets to each of those games.

While the revenue from those tickets would be returned to the league, their availability would increase the attractiveness and the price of luxury boxes and other types of season tickets.

League officials estimate that given the opportunity to buy Super Bowl tickets, prospective owners of $100,000 luxury boxes would pay double that price.

“We realize the importance of the Los Angeles market, and we’re doing everything we can to help,” Adams said.

At the same time, owners are apparently willing to snub Orange County and Anaheim Stadium. This is even though sources say that Michael Eisner, chief executive officer of Walt Disney Co., recently mailed the league a letter of interest.

“Los Angeles is the main focus of our concern right now,” one league official said. “This is not to say Orange County wouldn’t play a role down the road, but right now, we are thinking only about getting two teams in a state-of-the-art facility in Los Angeles.”

If the proposal is approved, Davis would probably remain in the Coliseum for the next two years in hopes of increasing his Los Angeles fan base. He would soon be joined at the new stadium by a team experiencing stadium troubles.

The leading candidate remains the Browns, who play in aging Cleveland Stadium and are pushing for $150 million in renovations.

“I will not comment on anything. I don’t want to say a word about any of this,” said Browns owner Art Modell, whose lease ends in 1998.