Coliseum Officials Say It Will Endure : Sports: Even if Raiders move on, Trojans may renew contract. Baseball, soccer also are mentioned.

By RICHARD SIMON

May 24, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

After more than $100 million in repairs and improvements to the Coliseum, stadium officials had their backs against the goal line Tuesday, left without a professional football team and--at this point--even their most loyal tenant, the USC football team.

On Monday, National Football League officials indicated that they would approve a plan to allow the Raiders and a second, undetermined team to move into a new $200-million state-of-the-art stadium in Inglewood.

But Los Angeles officials did not seem alarmed, first privately expressing skepticism that a new Hollywood Park stadium will be built and then shrugging their shoulders as if to say, so what if the Raiders play there, they still expect USC to be back.

“How are they going to run the blimp over there?” one official scoffed, citing the proposed stadium’s proximity to the flight path into Los Angeles International Airport. “Are they going to reroute traffic to accommodate Al Davis?”

(The answer is no, according to a Federal Aviation Administration official who said the blimp would not be allowed to hover over Hollywood Park.)

Coliseum officials expressed confidence that the 72-year-old stadium--which lost the Rams after the 1979 season but gained the Raiders in 1982--would endure, even if it has no NFL team.

There’s soccer, officials said, noting that some soccer games have drawn bigger crowds than some Raiders games.

“Of course, SC is still there,” said county Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, a Coliseum commissioner. Officials expressed confidence that the Trojans would renew their contract to play at the Coliseum.

There is also the possibility of baseball returning to the Coliseum in the form of a new baseball league. (The Dodgers played there from 1958 to 1961.) There is talk of a Canadian Football League franchise. Or rock concerts.

“The important thing is that there is a professional football team in Los Angeles,” said Los Angeles City Council President John Ferraro, who is also president of the Coliseum Commission.

Mayor Richard Riordan agreed, but said he has not yet thrown in the towel on the Raiders’ move, asserting that the Coliseum neighborhood is safer than Inglewood. “Anything within the area of Los Angeles will benefit the city of Los Angeles,” the mayor said. “If you have Super Bowls, it’s going to help our economy tremendously.”

“Like it or not, the glory days of the Coliseum are behind it,” said county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, a Coliseum commissioner who predicted that the historic stadium will draw a mix of tenants “that will probably reflect the demographic changes that have taken place in Los Angeles.”

Coliseum officials said they hope that the Raiders will consent to stay in the financially strapped facility for a few more years, until the Hollywood Park stadium is built. But one official said, in reference to Raiders owner Al Davis, “We’re not interested in paying him to play” at the Coliseum.

Officials said they hope to move forward with plans to build long-promised luxury boxes, even if the Raiders move on. Coliseum general manager Pat Lynch said it would be easier to obtain financing for the suites, however, if the Coliseum has an NFL team.

Nearly $95 million, mostly federal disaster aid, was spent to make earthquake repairs to the Coliseum. Another $15 million was spent lowering the field and reconfiguring the seats to create a more intimate football setting.

“I don’t think we did that for Al Davis,” Burke said, adding that the improvements were needed for the Coliseum to remain competitive with other stadiums.

Riordan added that the Coliseum was “well worth preserving.”

Morrie Goodman of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provided the bulk of funds to repair the Coliseum, said: “It was well spent because it was part of the process of getting the earthquake-stricken area back on the road to recovery.”

“The real question is can we get the boxes built and attract another team,” said Sheldon Sloan, a Coliseum commissioner.

Officials say they did not make any money off the Raiders last year, although the loss of an NFL team carries a cost in terms of civic pride and untold future revenues, including lost business opportunities in the USC neighborhood, where the stadium is located.

Coliseum officials insisted that they have been doing the best they can to hold on to the Raiders, but some have grown weary of playing a seemingly no-win political game of monkey in the middle between Davis and suitors in other cities.

“There is only so much you can do,” sighed Sloan.

Burke expressed optimism that the Coliseum neighborhood, which she represents, would still be revitalized if the Coliseum and Sports Arena complex line up other tenants to replace the Raiders.

“The only difference with soccer people is that they don’t get up as much to eat,” Burke said. “We make a lot of money off of what you eat. We have to figure out a way for them to eat sitting down.”

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