CITY MAY STUDY NFL STADIUM SITES.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

With revived talk of a National Football League team possibly returning to Los Angeles, city officials moved Tuesday to look for potential stadium sites while blocking the use of taxpayer funds for a facility.

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who two years ago fought to preserve the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as the home of professional football, asked the City Council to revive his Ad Hoc Sports Franchise Committee to study any proposals that might be developed.

``If the city of Los Angeles does indeed want to bring the NFL back, we must ensure that concerns are properly addressed,'' Ridley-Thomas said.

The councilman also asked that the Community Redevelopment Agency begin looking at sites that would be appropriate for a stadium.

There has been talk that up to a 55-acre site within a proposed new CRA project in the South Park area of downtown would be a potential site - something CRA officials and others have said denied is their plan.

Regardless of where a stadium is located, two other council members said they want a measure passed to ban the use of any city money to build or operate an NFL stadium.

Councilmen Dennis Zine and Nick Pacheco introduced a proposal - to be considered next week along with Ridley-Thomas' resolution - to prohibit the uses of any city or CRA funds for a stadium.

``Mr. Zine and myself disagree on the City Center Redevelopment project area,'' Pacheco said. ``But we agree on one thing: that a stadium, as part of the city of Los Angeles, should not come on the backs of the taxpayers.''