NFL Talks Bridge Gap

After a breakthrough negotiation session last week in New York, the Coliseum and NFL appear to be on the verge of completing a term sheet, the framework of a potential deal.

“We have made significant progress in the last few weeks,” said Neil Glat, NFL vice president for strategic planning. “We have really focused on the key open issues, and hopefully we’re close to an agreement.”

The meeting took place at league headquarters Wednesday and apparently bridged an impasse between the parties on key issues. For almost a year, the Coliseum and NFL had moved forward on many fronts but had held their ground on others. In the past, the biggest issue had been rent.

The Coliseum negotiators were Bill Chadwick, president of the nine-member Coliseum Commission; Pat Lynch, general manager of the stadium; and lobbyist Richard Lichtenstein. Neither Chadwick nor Lynch could be reached Monday for comment.

Although first reported as a routine progress update, the meeting evidently was more significant.

“It was a negotiation,” Glat confirmed in an e-mail. “We would not have made real progress by only exchanging information.”

Just because a nonbinding term sheet appears imminent does not mean that a full-fledged deal is around the corner. Glat said the league also is negotiating the fine points of a term sheet with Anaheim. The next step after a term sheet is to complete a long-form agreement, which is far more specific.

Glat said the league would like to have at least two completed term sheets to present team owners in the fall.

He did not rule out the possibility that the Rose Bowl could crop up again as a contender, even though last month there were not enough Pasadena City Council votes to move forward with a potential renovation of that stadium.

“We haven’t eliminated them,” Glat said, “and they haven’t eliminated themselves, as far as we know.”