2 ARENAS TO SHARE OWNERSHIP; STAPLES CENTER GROUP OKS FORUM PURCHASE.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer

In a deal that gives one company control over Los Angeles' biggest entertainment venues, the owners of the new downtown Staples Center agreed to buy the Forum in Inglewood, officials said Thursday.

The sale of the Forum - for three decades the home of the NBA's Lakers and NHL's Kings - to the L.A. Arena Co., a partnership that includes Staples Center majority owner Phillip Anschutz and the Fox Group, is expected to close by July 31. At that time the new owners will take over management and operation of the Forum.

Terms were not disclosed. Sources said the purchase price was less than $20 million.

The move by Anschutz, recently named by Forbes magazine as the world's fifth-richest man with a fortune estimated at $16.5 billion, eliminates a rival for events like concerts and ice skating exhibitions.

With the Staples Center becoming home to the Lakers and Kings next year and its key partners hoping to win a National Football League team, rebuild the Coliseum and tear down the Sports Arena, the management group will have tremendous market leverage to attract sports and entertainment events for all its facilities.

Officials said the first big event at the Staples Center, which cost $350 million, will be an Oct. 17 concert by rocker Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. It will be Springsteen's first stop in the Los Angeles area with his old band mates in 14 years.

``Taking advantage of the synergies that will exist between both of our arenas, the Great Western Forum will be an asset to promoters as both a scheduling and cost-effective alternative to other sites,'' said Timothy J. Leiweke, president of both Staples Center and the Los Angeles Kings.

The Forum, built by the late Jack Kent Cooke, former owner of the Daily News, opened at the end of 1967 to serve as home court and home ice for his professional basketball and hockey teams.

Cooke, who insisted the arena be called ``the Fabulous Forum,'' eventually sold the teams and the arena to Jerry Buss for $67.5 million in 1979. It later became the Great Western Forum when a savings and loan attached its name to the venue.

The Forum seats 17,505 for basketball games and can be expanded to more than 19,000 seats for other occasions.

There are no plans to modify the Forum's current schedule or change its name.

``The Forum is one of the great names in sports and entertainment in this country and there certainly will not be a change of that name,'' said Bobby Goldwater, senior vice president of Staples Center and part of the management team that will oversee the Forum.

A decision on staffing will be made in about 30 days.

It is too early to discuss a rental rate structure, which could eventually affect ticket prices. Those prices are set by promoters and the entertainers but could be affected by a change in overhead costs, Goldwater said.

The Los Angeles Clippers basketball team and the Avengers, a new Arena Football League team, also will use the new Staples Center that is nearing completion adjacent to the Los Angeles Convention Center.

``I've spent hundreds of enjoyable hours there, rooting for the Lakers, the Kings and the Sparks as well as attending fights and concerts and so many other events,'' Buss said of the Forum. ``It has been a lot of fun owning this great facility.''

David Carter of the Sports Business Group said the deal is a shrewd move by the Staples Center management.

``It's a defense play in wanting to keep one of their major competitors out of the Los Angeles market and it's an offensive move in giving them a facility to book spill-over acts,'' Carter said.

The Staples Center's main competition for the Forum came from a group known as SFX, a New York-based company which has been buying up rights to various sports venues around the country. Carter said he understood that SFX had bid on the Forum.

He said the relatively low price gives the Staples officials a variety of options for the land, such as razing the Forum and building a new arena or soccer field.

Operators of competing venues do not think that they will see a drop-off in their business because one group will control both the Staples Center, site of next year's Democratic National Convention, and the Forum.

``We really don't see it resulting in any kind of change,'' said Stephanie Vinge, director of sales and marketing at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, a venue that the Clippers sometimes use and the home ice for the Anaheim Mighty Ducks hockey club. ``There is enough room and acts and patrons for every arena.''

David Gordon, general manager of the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center, said his facility is not in direct competition with the Forum.

``Our arena is pretty booked anyway,'' he said.

Jeanie Buss, Jerry Buss' daughter and president of the Forum and California Sports Inc., which operates the facility, said that deal gives the new owners flexibility when it comes to bookings.

For example, venues that house professional basketball or hockey teams cannot make advance bookings for events from the middle of April to the third week of June because of the possibility of being involved in the playoffs.

Now an act that wanted to play L.A. could book either the Staples Center or Forum and be assured of a date.

``The thing that makes sense in this deal is that Staples will be able to maximize their bookings at both buildings,'' she said.

``This is a tough day for me but I have spent the last several months looking for a strategic partner to strengthen the position of this building in the market. This really made the most sense.''

Staff Writer Rick Orlov contributed to this story.