No One Takes Giant Leap for Fan-Kind

It’s a mile into the marathon, and if Los Angeles is to get professional football back, it does not look to happen in record time.

Dodger owner Peter O’Malley continues to plod on as the early leader, while Hollywood Park and the Walt Disney Co. appear winded. The Seattle Seahawks, looking to take a shortcut as the Los Angeles Whatevers, have been sent home. El Segundo, Marvin Davis and Lew Wasserman never left the starting line, and the Coliseum, which has never been considered an official entrant, is now threatening to crash the race.

Beyond O’Malley, no one has emerged with the clout to champion the return of football in Los Angeles. St. Louis had former Sen. Thomas Eagleton working on its behalf. Baltimore had a young and energetic John Moag, who led the Maryland Sports Authority. Nashville had an aggressive mayor who persuaded the Oilers to leave Houston.

Jacksonville and Charlotte got expansion opportunities because of the quality of owners and the stadium opportunities they presented to the league.

Los Angeles has demonstrated a void in leadership as it relates to football, which should only delay the process.

By now, R.D. Hubbard, chief operating officer at Hollywood Park, predicted three months ago, Los Angeles would have a football team. But instead of football drawings being passed around the offices at Hollywood Park, its grand plan now is for the construction of an arena for the Lakers and Kings.

Hubbard still talks football, all right, but met recently with Arizona Cardinal owner Bill Bidwill to discuss building a domed football stadium at Turf Paradise--in Phoenix.

Football LA, the group of business leaders formed by Mayor Richard Riordan to help get a professional football franchise, met twice for updates and now is all but out of commission.

Although designed to do little more than set up appointments between the NFL and interested suitors in Los Angeles, Football LA drew heavy criticism from Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Hernandez for talking positively about Dodger Stadium as a potential site.

And why isn’t anyone criticizing Hernandez? So far he has persuaded the City Council to spend up to $50,000 on a consultant to scout possible stadium sites and he recently voted successfully for an additional $100,000 from various funds to be used to market the Coliseum.

Hernandez, along with Coliseum-area councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas and Councilman John Ferraro, the former president of the Coliseum Commission, are on the mayor’s Ad Hoc Sports Franchise Committee, along with Roger Kozberg, current president of the Coliseum Commission; Zev Yaroslavsky, L.A. County Supervisor, and George Kirkland, president of the L.A. Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The first order of business by the ad hoc committee was to unanimously endorse the Coliseum as the only site within the city of Los Angeles that should be considered for a football stadium. That after the NFL said it would never consider the Coliseum.

The committee then commissioned an architect to produce plans supporting their contention. Paid to make something out of nothing under almost any circumstances, the architect announced to the ad hoc committee that indeed the Coliseum could become just what the NFL wants. Surprise, surprise.

All it would take, he said, is basically building a whole new stadium within the Coliseum walls, thereby keeping the historical outer shell in place. He produced handsome drawings, showed the committee pictures of potential luxury box suites and then pleaded ignorance when asked for the cost of such work, plans for parking in the area or how to finance the project.

The ad hoc committee--minus the mayor who never showed up--then immediately passed a resolution calling for $100,000 to market the Coliseum.

Pat Lynch, Coliseum general manager, has listened well to the NFL’s objections and has done a masterful job in bringing the Coliseum back to life. Instead of a warmed-over facility, he solicited HOK, the NFL’s favored architectural firm, to paint a pretty picture.

“We changed our approach and I think we have swayed a lot of nonbelievers,” said Lynch, who will get a chance to make a Coliseum presentation to the NFL Stadium Committee. “More and more people are running the economic numbers, and while everybody else is coming up short at other sites, these look pretty good.

“The Coliseum Commission doesn’t have to turn a profit, and because of our historical status, the Coliseum has certain tax breaks and other considerations that might make this project more appealing.

“But the NFL owners call the shots, and we have to convince them. Having the support of the ad hoc committee is terrific and keeps us motivated, but the ultimate decision will be made by one NFL owner willing to come here or NFL expansion. Both are tough nuts to crack.”

Lynch’s assessment, after talking to NFL owners, is that relocation will happen in Los Angeles before expansion, and so he sees the Coliseum competing with Hollywood Park rather than Dodger Stadium.

“We’re more able to deal with the relocation of a team right now,” he said. “That’s what we believe will happen.”

The Coliseum, however, didn’t have to spend a marketing dime to get the attention of Seahawk owner Ken Behring. Behring needed a permanent resting spot for his team in the Los Angeles area. Fact is, Behring also needed an interim resting spot for his team, and in neither case did he consider the Coliseum.

Remember the Seahawks? They were going to play in the Rose Bowl this season, then strike a deal with Hollywood Park or Anaheim to become the area’s new football team.

“If Behring comes, then O’Malley’s out of the picture, but it sure looks like the moving vans are going in the wrong direction,” said Steve Soboroff, a local land developer with ties to Riordan who has donated more hours to the football situation in Los Angeles than anyone else. “If Behring could break out of that lease and stick a flag in L.A., it could force things to happen faster.

“But there are too many variables for anyone to pick one site and really get behind it. Time hasn’t forced clarity yet, and the NFL is feeling good about the way it handled the Seattle situation.

“From a league’s perspective, O’Malley is a big rallying point for L.A. if all his neighborhood issues can be resolved. Hubbard’s and the Coliseum’s chances rest with Behring. If he can’t get out of there, that throws a huge monkey wrench at both of those projects.”

Behring, who showed in only a matter of weeks that he had everything it would take to join the likes of Al Davis and Georgia Frontiere as owners of mismanaged Los Angeles football franchises, knuckled under to NFL pressure and returned to Seattle. A trial will start May 28 to determine if Behring must honor the 10 years remaining on a Kingdome lease, but NFL sources say a deal to sell the team contingent upon Seattle agreeing to build a new stadium for new owners Paul Allen and John Nordstrom is in place.

Behring’s surrender to NFL pressure has set a precedent, which should make it tough for another team to move here without the league’s blessings. Also, there are no teams free from lease concerns or stifling financial restrictions--such as Tampa Bay, which must pay more than $30 million if it leaves the state of Florida--to persuade to move here.

Thus, Hollywood Park’s problem. Hubbard has a building permit in hand, a plan to make a prospective owner millions while controlling the second-largest market in the country, and yet he can find no takers.

Hollywood Park is now in a tug of war with the city of Los Angeles for the favor of the Kings’ owners. Ed Roskie and Philip Anschutz have told people they are getting close to announcing their selection for the site of a new arena for both the Kings and Lakers. As part of their deal to buy the Kings, Roskie and Anschutz will pay Laker owner Jerry Buss $40 million to move his team into a new facility built for the Lakers and Kings. Buss will keep the Forum, perhaps turning it into a concert hall.

Roskie and Anschutz are now deciding between Hollywood Park and a site next to the Convention Center. Hollywood Park would lease the land to Roskie and Anschutz and gain some parking considerations, but the two developers would do the construction and own the facility.

The city of Los Angeles, meanwhile, is offering public money in the forms of bonds to be repaid quickly from profits from the facility.

Hollywood Park wants the arena to bring more traffic to its facility, giving it credibility and making it more attractive to still pursue football. The city, which appears to be giving up on the idea of a new Sports Arena with the Clippers, wants to bring traffic downtown.

The new arena, wherever it lands, may very well be in need of renovation by the time football returns to Los Angeles. At recent meetings, NFL owners made it clear they are in no hurry to return to Los Angeles.

Soboroff, who sat in for the mayor at the recent ad hoc meeting, repeated comments made by Jerry Richardson, chairman of the NFL Stadium Committee, to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“I do not think we’re going to have football in Los Angeles if we do not solve the stadium issue,” Soboroff said in quoting Richardson. “I’m going to tell you I’m not going to support it. I’m not going to support anything in Los Angeles until the stadium issue is resolved.

“I do not know what more this league could have done in Los Angeles than what we tried to do to create a venue for the Oakland Raiders. I don’t know what else we could have done. We did unprecedented things. We gave 20,000 Super Bowl tickets, which have great value. We tried to create a lease with Hollywood Park. We assisted them in making it financially viable to bring a second team at a later date to come into Los Angeles. I don’t know what else the league could do.

“And I can assure you I have one vote and I’m not going to vote to put a team into Los Angeles until they have a state-of-the-art facility.”

Agree or disagree with the NFL’s penchant for dictating terms, and it really doesn’t matter. The NFL believes with the passage of time--possibly lots of time--that passions will become inflamed here, promoting a better climate for the return of football and a welcome market when it comes time to sell personal seat licenses.

“What happens next is a period of dormancy,” said Fred Rosen, chairman of Football LA. “I don’t think there is any passion in the streets to bring football back. The league certainly doesn’t see it.

“The league just doesn’t feel there is enough demand to make something happen here right away. This city needs someone out front, someone with passion to bring it all together. Someone who can speak for the city’s best interests and not be pushed around by the NFL. I don’t know how much further we can go until some one like that steps forward.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Who Can Run With the Ball?

Prospects for sites of a possible NFL stadium in the L.A. area:

Dodger Stadium--Probably the people’s choice, definitely the NFL’s pick, but politicians could sack Peter O’Malley.

Hollywood Park--Like an imploded hotel, its chances have gone up in smoke; attention now focused on bagging a new arena.

Coliseum--General Manager Pat Lynch keeps pitching: New plan, new blood on the Coliseum Commission and the same old chances for success--none.

Anaheim--City officials are still dreaming; the NFL isn’t interested. If Disney’s Michael Ovitz was advising the Seahawks, the Angels are in trouble.

El Segundo--Interest drove up the property price; but if Disney wants a piece of the L.A. market, price won’t matter.

Convention Center--There is little interest now, but if O’Malley whiffs, the NFL might listen to the city’s downtown bid.