CITY MAKES PLAY FOR COLISEUM.

Byline: Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writer

The Los Angeles City Council moved Tuesday to bolster its efforts to gain a professional football team for the renovated, but under used Coliseum.

The council created a special panel to contact NFL officials as well as football team owners. The panel's goal will be to overcome any reluctance they might have toward using the historic stadium.

Included in the Ad Hoc Committee on Football will be City Council members, representatives of the Mayor's Office, the Coliseum Commission and the Visitors and Convention Bureau.

"We need to speak with one voice," said John Ferraro, who is president of the council and also serves on the Coliseum Commission.

The interest in creating the special council committee heightened over the past two weeks with the announcement by Seattle Seahawks owner Ken Behring that he plans to move his team to the Los Angeles area.

Behring has been meeting with Pasadena officials over the temporary use of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, and also has had discussions with Anaheim officials about moving there permanently.

Behring so far has given the Coliseum the cold shoulder.

In fact, professional football organizations in general seem unimpressed by the vintage stadium.

The NFL has opposed placing a team in the Coliseum. A committee of team owners instead has recommended that a new facility be constructed.

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who originally proposed the panel, said the Coliseum has been ignored unfairly.

He noted that $100 million in public funds had been invested in the facility, which was badly damaged in the Northridge Earthquake and required extensive repairs.

Mayor Richard Riordan and Ferraro, who met with Behring to discuss his plans, disputed Ridley-Thomas' charges.