NFL Picks Coliseum for L.A. Team

The National Football League officially selected the Memorial Coliseum as the home of its anticipated Los Angeles franchise Tuesday, ending a longshot bid by the city of Carson and opening the door to a spirited competition between at least two of the city’s leading business executives.

Although the Coliseum news captured most of the immediate interest, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue also announced that the league’s expansion committee favors having the NFL set a price for the team, rather than auctioning the franchise. That represents a significant departure from league practice and suggests that the NFL is more interested in having a free hand in picking the team’s owner than in simply giving it to whoever can pay the most money.

Some owners appeared surprised by the committee’s ability to reach such an accord, and said that alone made the meetings over the past few days a significant breakthrough. If the NFL endorses the expansion committee’s plan and sets a price quickly, it could select an owner as early as next month, a move that some participants have said is essential for the deal to move forward.

Meanwhile, a parallel issue involving a proposal to move the Los Angeles Dodgers from Chavez Ravine to Exposition Park continued to add intrigue to the talks. Mayor Richard Riordan and Eli Broad, the billionaire financial services entrepreneur who leads one of the groups trying to get the football team, met Tuesday morning at their request with two top officials from Fox Entertainment Group, which owns the Dodgers.

A Fox executive, while indicating that the company is open to proposals, said the firm is not pushing the idea but rather reacting to suggestions brought to it by the NFL and others.

“The stadium question is a long-term issue that doesn’t have to be decided today,” said Chase Carey, Fox chairman. “Right now, we’re a reactive party to the process.”

Riordan declined to discuss specifics of that meeting, but said afterward that he believes that the stadium proposal for Exposition Park is an exciting idea that could come to fruition, though it would take more time than the football deal.

Model of New Dodger Stadium

NFL officials continue to express interest in bringing Fox to the Coliseum and have raised the issue in meetings with the company.

Fox has been working with the Catellus Corp. to prepare renderings of a new Dodger stadium at various Los Angeles sites, including the Coliseum. Color photographs of that model picture a three-deck stadium at Martin Luther King Jr. and Figueroa boulevards, with center field backing up near the entrance to the Coliseum. A four- to five-level parking structure sits across the street, linked to the stadium by a pedestrian bridge.

The grass in center field is emblazoned with the word “Fox.”

While many of the day’s developments unfolded out of public view, league and city officials did come together for one major gathering at the Coliseum. After first struggling to put together a news conference with the various parties, the NFL succeeded in luring not just Riordan but also most of the major players and even Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, who said he supported the football proposal because it represents an opportunity to continue the revitalization of downtown Los Angeles.

Beneath a warm spring sun, Tagliabue said the Coliseum--where two professional football teams have failed and to which many owners once vowed never to return--is the league’s chosen site for football in Southern California.

Bringing football back to the historic structure would be “great for the fans, great for the city and the county, and great for the league for many years to come,” he said.

Jerry Richardson, the owner of the Carolina Panthers and leader of the league’s stadium committee, echoed Tagliabue’s enthusiasm for the Coliseum but warned that football needs to succeed this time in Los Angeles.

“We’ve had two teams leave this stadium,” said Richardson. “We cannot afford to let that happen again.”

In interviews, several team owners said they were impressed by what they saw during their two-day visit to Los Angeles, a trip that included meetings with the prospective owners and local business leaders, as well as a quick tour of downtown and a walk-through at the Coliseum.

“I’m glad I came. I’m impressed with what we’ve seen, and the Coliseum has obviously come a long way the past few years,” said Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga. “I don’t see any reason why we can’t get a deal done here. You have two good groups here, and who knows, maybe a third or fourth group will surface. I’m encouraged, and when you put smart people together, good things happen.”

In the audience for the news conference but separated by an aisle were Broad and Michael Ovitz, an influential Hollywood figure--two neighbors and increasingly unfriendly rivals who lead groups trying to win the team. Both made it clear that a flurry of efforts to unite their groups has yielded little.

“They’re making their proposal,” Ovitz said. “We’re making ours.”

Broad, whose group includes developer Ed Roski, talked of joining forces with Ovitz, but made clear he believed that he was in the driver’s seat.

“Our door’s open,” Broad said as he arrived for the announcement. Asked whether that meant he was ready to take on Ovitz as a partner, he shook his head.

“I didn’t say that,” he said, laughing. “I said we’d talk about it.”

Broad added that he has always been open to bringing in other partners, but only as long as he remains the majority owner.

Broad’s group also enjoys far more obvious political support. Broad has worked closely with Riordan, and though the mayor declined to specify a preference Tuesday, he sat with Broad--and away from Ovitz. He also pointedly reminded reporters that Broad is one of his closest friends.

All of that puts Ovitz at a distinct disadvantage, particularly because Roski has been working for years to develop a Coliseum proposal. Ovitz agreed that he would have to play catch-up, especially when it comes to developing a business plan, but said he already is working on that. In addition, Ovitz said he has been working for about 10 days on a stadium design for the Coliseum, an effort he said he launched as it became obvious that the league was leaning away from Carson.

Ovitz does not come to the table without some experience in trying to make a deal work at the Coliseum. He reminded reporters Tuesday that he floated a Coliseum proposal years ago, only to be told that there was little league interest at that time in the downtown stadium. With the Coliseum now officially designated the league’s preferred site, Ovitz said, he can quickly rekindle that work and meet the league’s 30- to 45-day deadline for presenting business, stadium and site plans.

Ovitz Still in the Hunt

League owners, who have asked both groups to address what they see as a serious shortage of parking spaces in the area, are divided on the Broad- and Ovitz-led groups, and observers say neither today has the 24 votes needed to win a franchise. Tuesday’s announcement keeps Ovitz in the game but still leaves him with challenges, they said.

“It’s obvious the Broad-Roski group have a head start on Ovitz because he’s had to abandon his site in Carson,” said Pat Bowlen, owner of the Denver Broncos. “But after meeting with him today, what he had to say made a lot of sense and he’s still in the game.”

One other thing that became clear in the wake of Tuesday’s news conference is how quickly some aspects of the negotiations can shift.

Just last week, league officials and owners were complaining that an agreement between Roski and the Coliseum Commission gave Roski exclusive rights to bring a football team to the Coliseum. The league fiercely objected to that limitation since NFL owners insist on being able to pick their new partner instead of having one thrust upon them because they want to be in the Coliseum. Some owners demanded that Roski walk away from that deal or risk ruining the chances for football in Los Angeles.

Warned that any exclusivity deal might send football to Houston, where a ready-made proposal awaits the NFL, leaders of the Coliseum Commission wrote to the league to say that Roski’s only right was to seek reimbursement for his investment up to $5 million, not to command an exclusive share of the team. Tuesday, Tagliabue said that the league, once stymied by the prospect of having to navigate that deal, now believes it will “fundamentally resolve itself.”

Others agreed.

“The Coliseum Commission tells us in a letter that we have a right to talk with anyone we wish,” Miami’s Huizenga said. “So that leaves Ovitz in the picture and anyone else who wants to get into the race.”