Broad, Elway to Talk

Retired Denver Bronco quarterback John Elway, looking to stay involved in football and showing an interest in bringing the NFL back to the Coliseum, will meet with Eli Broad on Thursday in Los Angeles to discuss joining Broad’s venture.

“It’s clear John’s interests are to be involved in the day-to-day operation of a football team, whether it’s Denver, Los Angeles or someplace else in the future,” said Marvin Demoff, Elway’s Los Angeles-based attorney. “John made it known to me he does not want to be a passive celebrity investor; he’s looking to make a contribution to a team on and off the field.”

Broad, the billionaire businessman seeking to bring an NFL expansion team to the Coliseum, and, separately, Michael Ovitz, who is also trying to woo NFL favor with a different prospective ownership group, have contacted Bronco owner Pat Bowlen asking for his blessing as they prepared to approach Elway.

Elway, while also in town for a golf engagement, presently has no plans to meet with Ovitz, who will be in New York much of the week. But the NFL has let it be known that it would like Elway to listen to Ovitz’s overture before reaching any conclusion.

Bowlen, while extending an offer to Elway this past week to own a small piece of the Broncos, advised Broad and Ovitz that he will most likely be unable to satisfy Elway’s desire to also work in a significant management position with the team, freeing him to pursue the Los Angeles opportunities.

Bowlen, however, has cautioned Elway to take his time in deciding how he might become involved in the Los Angeles effort, pointing to former Brown quarterback Bernie Kosar, who signed on to one of the losing ownership bids for the Cleveland expansion franchise.

Elway, who played high school football at Granada Hills, distinguished himself as a football player and businessman in Denver, which has led to speculation that he and his wife and four children would be reluctant to move elsewhere. But Elway recently sold seven Denver-area automobile dealerships for more than $80 million, and some of Elway’s friends have suggested that he is motivated to excel in his life-after-football career, which might force him to start anew elsewhere.

NFL officials, who have become aware of Elway’s interest in Los Angeles in the past few days, believe he can be an asset to the process, particularly if guided by Bowlen, a key member on the league’s expansion committee.

“Elway sounds very passionate about the prospects of becoming involved in this,” an NFL official said. “And that’s something the Los Angeles process needs.”

Los Angeles’ bid for an expansion team, while bolstered by the NFL’s announcement that the league’s 32nd team is the city’s to lose, has done little to generate much excitement in recent weeks. The NFL has given Los Angeles a deadline of Sept. 15 to produce a doable stadium plan, leaving open the possibility that it still might direct its attention to Houston.

Broad and Ovitz failed to capitalize on Commissioner Paul Tagliabue’s public announcement recently that the Coliseum had been selected as the league’s site of choice, stepping back into the shadows since then to make plans for the NFL owners meetings in Atlanta May 25-26, while working just as hard to keep their work from each other as well as the public.

The NFL met with Disney’s Michael Eisner this past week and left encouraged with further discussions expected. At the same time Broad met with director Steven Spielberg in an effort to broaden his ownership group through the entertainment skills of Spielberg and his DreamWorks studio.

Ovitz, meanwhile, intends to wow the NFL with a new-look Coliseum and claims that he can solve a serious parking problem with an underground garage that will also feature grass-like levels above ground to allow for tailgating.

The NFL is hoping that Elway’s potential involvement, or a decision by former Dodger owner Peter O’Malley to join the process soon as either prospective owner or NFL-appointed leader to oversee stadium design and plans, will kick start the L.A. effort into a higher gear.

“We’re just not seeing all that much happening so far,” an NFL official said. “We’re moving closer and closer to Sept. 15, and we’re nowhere near to getting something resolved.”