NFL Sees Holes in L.A. Plan

By T.J. SIMERS

Oct. 31, 1996 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

NEW ORLEANS —

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said Wednesday he cannot foresee the return of pro football to Los Angeles any time before the year 2000.

Three floors lower in the same hotel, meanwhile, a Los Angeles delegation of politicians and businessmen were trying--unsuccessfully as it appeared later--to sell a group of NFL owners on the viability of a $229-million Coliseum project, which could be ready for a team as early as 1999.

“You’re not ready to move there, I can see that,” Houston owner Bud Adams joked with Denver’s Pat Bowlen after emerging from the meeting.

Los Angeles city leaders are proposing an entirely new stadium be built within the shell of the Coliseum. The project, which has won significant backing in Los Angeles, would also include a new parking structure, a renovation of Exposition Park and an entertainment corridor linking the facility with a new proposed arena that would be built adjacent to the convention center.

What the project does not include, at the moment, is a specific plan to finance the deal or a prospective owner for the team.

That makes it “a tough deal” at this point, Bronco owner Bowlen said.

“They have a wonderful plan as far as renovating the Coliseum, but the toughest part about it is the financial aspects. I don’t want to throw cold water all over their work, but I just don’t see anyone going for this particular opportunity.”

Jerry Richardson, chairman of the NFL’s stadium committee, offered no comment.

Tagliabue, a tardy visitor to the Los Angeles presentation, said the NFL will have a franchise up and running in a new stadium in Cleveland in 1999. Many NFL observers anticipated the NFL announcing plans for expansion to both Cleveland and Los Angeles at that time, but Tagliabue, speaking in specifics about the city’s prospects for the first time, said, “It’s hard to see at this point how anything gets done in Los Angeles before 2000.”

And that timeline might be optimistic unless Los Angeles can address the NFL’s financing and ownership concerns for a new franchise and build a new stadium in short order.

“The whole thing hinges on an owner, and the Coliseum project needs that commitment to move forward,” said one member of the Los Angeles delegation. “All this is fine, but without that component, we’ve only gone halfway.”

The presentation, however, brought Los Angeles back to the forefront for the owners, who have shown little inclination to concern themselves with the football void in the second largest city in the nation. Upcoming TV negotiations, which at one time were expected to compel the NFL to return to Los Angeles, are expected to be conducted without Los Angeles being a significant issue because of the competition between networks to gain NFL favor.

“It’s good to see this group effort coming out of Los Angeles,” said Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, “but they’re going to have to work a little harder on the financing part of their package.”

At least one NFL official had an idea of where the money could be generated.

“I think what they have to do is somehow, some way get more public money into the project to make it work,” said Neil Austrian, NFL president.

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who gained citywide support for the Coliseum project in the last three months, including Dodger owner Peter O’Malley, said this was only the first step in the process, and rather than being discouraged by the remarks of some owners, he was leaving encouraged by their attention, questions and willingness to make suggestions.

“We came to make believers of the NFL owners, and the message we got was ‘keep going,’ ” Ridley-Thomas said. “The next step is to complete the equation in terms of getting a group of investors together . . . and then market the suites and club seats to the public.”

A Price Waterhouse report, included in the books given to NFL owners, suggested that an NFL owner could realize between $100 million and $150 million in the sale of personal seat licenses in a new Coliseum at an average price of $1,700 to $2,500. That figure would still leave as much $130 million toward the renovation unfinanced.

Fred Rosen, president of Football LA and chief executive officer of Ticketmaster, has already agreed to begin testing the Los Angeles marketplace on the sale of luxury suites and club seats.

“Basically, the way the people have it in financing the Coliseum project is the team going in--whether it’s expansion or relocation--picks up the majority if not all the cost of renovating the stadium,” Bowlen said. “And that is not going to happen.

“Football will come back to Los Angeles the day the city opens a new stadium . . . but I think they have a long ways to go.”

The Los Angeles delegation drew praise from the owners for its professional delivery, which included models of a new Coliseum and heavy emphasis on the impact of the proposed sports arena adjacent to the Convention Center.

“It was a good presentation and a meeting that needed to be conducted,” Tagliabue said. “I think there’s a growing feeling of some momentum, and it’s been suggested to Jerry Richardson that we’ve got to keep it going to the NFL owners meeting in March.”

One of the objectives of the Los Angeles presentation was to dispel the notion that the neighborhood surrounding the Coliseum is unsuitable for a football stadium, but in that regards, “No, it has not changed my opinion,” said Carmen Policy, president of the San Francisco 49ers.

“But I’m leaving here with the idea of opening my mind more so than before the meeting.”

During the presentation, which included a video of a USC game played in the Coliseum, Policy spoke up and challenged the Los Angeles officials.

“Is that really being played in the Coliseum?” Policy said after a scene of “friendly” fans was shown tailgating in the Coliseum parking lots.

Policy, whose experience at the Coliseum has been limited to Raider games, then made a point of reminding his fellow owners of the kind of football fan that most of them had seen in their visits to Los Angeles.

“It’s unfortunate there is so much prejudice against the Coliseum as a result of many of these people’s Raiders’ experiences,” said Roger Kozberg, president of the Coliseum Commission. “Sadly, it’s a legacy for us, and we have to deal with it.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Price Tag

A look at the costs involved in the proposal to renovate the Coliseum to house an NFL team:

STADIUM CONSTRUCTION

* Hard construction costs: $143,180,000

* Designs, permits: $31,144,000

* Construction contingency: $11,323,000

* Total new stadium construction: $185,647,000

PARKING STRUCTURE CONSTRUCTION

* Hard construction costs: $14,600,000

* Designs, permits: $2,400,000

* Construction contingency: $3,000,000