Coliseum Presents Proposal Today

The NFL owners took the kind of trip they love here Monday night, visiting the Redskins’ new stadium on the eve of their fall meetings to see how much more money the Washington team is going to make now with its new club seats and luxury boxes.

That should lead to excited and envious discussion today when they begin two days of meetings focused on improving revenues in Minnesota and Indianapolis, putting a team in Cleveland and listening once again to Los Angeles’ bid for football in a new Coliseum.

The Los Angeles pitch, which will be given by Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas and Kings’ co-owner Edward Roski, has been scheduled for 7:30 a.m. today before the NFL’s stadium committee, which should test the stamina of the owners who attended Monday night’s game, which was an hour away and ended around midnight.

This will be the fourth presentation by the new Coliseum group, which has taken a hospitality room outside NFL headquarters here, once again to present their toy models depicting a new football facility, and how it can be linked to the proposed new sports arena and Dodger Stadium.

NFL owners are not expected to make any decisions regarding Los Angeles, although it’s known they are considering removing the new Coliseum’s exclusive opportunity to negotiate a deal for the return of football.

The NFL must put a team in Cleveland before the 1999 season, but remains undecided as to whether it will be an expansion team or an existing franchise. The Minnesota Vikings appear to be the most troubled franchise, and the NFL has talked about buying out the team’s lease, then moving the team to Cleveland.

Cleveland, however, is expected to oppose anything other than an expansion team. Under terms of its deal with the city, the league cannot move a team that has a lease elsewhere to Cleveland. If Minnesota officials chose to fight the NFL’s effort to buy out the team’s stadium lease, that might be enough for Cleveland to raise an objection.

Indianapolis is also looking for a better deal, but NFL officials now believe they can find a solution that will keep the Colts where they are.

If the NFL is unable to move a team to Cleveland, it will have to expand. The league has already talked about expanding by one team, and then opening a two- or three-team expansion window for other cities, such as Los Angeles.