Galaxy Considering Move to Coliseum
There is a possibility that the Galaxy will be moving not once but twice within the next three years.
Plans are on the drawing board for a 25,000-seat stadium to be built in Carson, but while the necessary environmental-
impact reports are being prepared, the team has to consider where it will play during the 2001 and 2002 Major League Soccer seasons.
Will it be at the Rose Bowl, the Galaxy’s home for the last five years?
Or will it be at the Coliseum, which would be a sort of halfway house between Pasadena and Carson, at least for a couple of MLS seasons?
The preference, apparently, is to remain in the Arroyo Seco, but Rose Bowl officials, knowing an eventual move is unavoidable, are not bending over backward to help a tenant who will be leaving.
“Everyone at the Galaxy is committed to the Rose Bowl--they feel that’s the place they would like to play,” said Bill Peterson, the new senior vice president for soccer operations for Anschutz Entertainment and the person who oversees owner Philip Anschutz’s three MLS teams.
“Unfortunately, the offer we have [from the Rose Bowl] right now is somewhat high, and that forces us to go back and look at our options. Obviously, the option in Los Angeles right now is the Coliseum.”
“We’re looking at a minimum of two seasons no matter where we go,” Peterson added, saying that even if the new stadium is approved and built, it is unlikely the Galaxy will occupy it until the spring of 2003.
After that, the team still wants to maintain a close relationship with a larger facility.
“The projected stadium in Carson probably is going to settle in at somewhere around 25,000 or 30,000 seats, and we would hope that by that time--the 2003 season--the Galaxy will be capable of filling it up on a regular basis and that we’ll have to arrange some other games in bigger stadiums--international games, playoff games,” Peterson said. “So we’re really looking for a long-term relationship.”
Were such an agreement to be made, it seems likely that Anschutz would become even more heavily involved in soccer, not only with the Galaxy, the Colorado Rapids and the Chicago Fire, but also in staging international matches.
“If we want to make this really the crossroads for international soccer, we’re going to have to have relationships, probably, with all the stadiums,” Peterson said.
“And that’s where we’re at in the process right now, but at the same time trying to find something that makes sense for the Galaxy.”
There are risks involved in leaving a stadium where the Galaxy has averaged more than 20,000 fans a game for five years. Will the fans follow?
“Personally, I don’t think there will be as big of an [attendance] impact as some of the marketing people fear,” Peterson said. “As big as this area is, it doesn’t matter where you’re playing, there are people who are traveling quite some distance.
“The fact is, the Galaxy draws fans from throughout the whole region. People are traveling to Pasadena, so how significantly is [moving a relatively short distance to the Coliseum] going to affect attendance? I’m not sure.
“I don’t think we’ve developed a fan base in Pasadena in the sense that you’d call it a home crowd.”
Fans have voiced concerns about going to night games at the Coliseum, which they perceive as being in a less safe neighborhood than the Rose Bowl.
“I’m still evaluating that,” said Peterson, the former president of NFL Europe who assumed his post two weeks ago. “I have to rely on local advice. I’ve heard the concern, we’ll just have to wait and see.”
It might all be academic, of course, assuming the Rose Bowl takes the long-term view and recognizes the financial gain to be realized from maintaining a relationship with an organization that could fill the stadium several times a year with select international matches.
If the Rose Bowl doesn’t, the Coliseum certainly will.
“Everyone’s initial reaction [within the Galaxy organization] is that we would love to stay at the Rose Bowl,” Peterson said. “[Rose Bowl officials] would love to have us stay there, I think that is the case, but sometimes it boils down to finances as well.”
LUIS, COBI AND ALEXI
A trio of Galaxy players is in the news--well, OK, two Galaxy players and one possible Galaxy player.
First, Luis Hernandez, the Mexican national team striker now playing in the Mexican league during the MLS off-season.
“Luis will be back,” Peterson said. “We’re still trying to determine what agreements have been made and when he’s going to show up. It seems like he’s going to miss part of the front end of the [2001] season.”
It is unknown, however, whether the forward will return to play for the Galaxy in the CONCACAF Champions Cup in January.
“That’s still being negotiated,” Peterson said.
Also being negotiated is the MLS contract of winger Cobi Jones, who during the summer was seeking a $1-million annual deal and voicing the desire to play in Europe.
Peterson said talks between Jones and the league are “probably reaching the 11th hour.
“I hope he’s going to be back with the team and I know Sigi [Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid] does as well,” Peterson said. “I think there’s been a good offer extended toward him.”
Finally, there is defender Alexi Lalas, who retired last season but recently has been training informally with the Galaxy with an eye toward possibly resuming his playing career.
“Sigi is thinking very seriously about him,” Peterson said. “I know there have been some conversations about Alexi’s desire to return to MLS and he’s been very open and up front [in saying] he would like to do that in Los Angeles.”
DIR TO COLORADO?
One of Peterson’s first--and least pleasant--duties in his new job was approving the firing of Rapids’ Coach Glenn Myernick, who was dismissed by General Manager Dan Counce after taking Colorado to the playoffs in each of his four seasons.
Peterson said he had a list of half a dozen possible replacements, but declined to identify them before he had contacted the candidates.
One name that should be near the top of the list is former Dallas Burn coach Dave Dir, who did well in Denver when he coached the Colorado Foxes to the A-League title and who is too valuable a resource for MLS to ignore.
QUICK PASSES
MLS will hold a news conference in New York on Tuesday morning at which “a future professional soccer franchise and the building of stadiums in the metropolitan area” will be revealed. New York/New Jersey MetroStar owner John Kluge is expected to exercise his option of purchasing a second MLS team and putting it on Long Island. . . . The Olympic gold medal-winning Norwegian women’s national team will be visiting Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in February and will play an all-star team from the new Women’s United Soccer Assn. (WUSA), the pro league that will be launched in April.
