COLISEUM OFFICIALS MARCH TO NFL BEAT DEAL COULD BE REACHED BY THEN.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

DEARBORN, Mich. - A NFL owners' committee was briefed Wednesday on the progress that four Los Angeles stadium sites are making toward presenting complete, ready-to-build proposals by the league's May deadline. The full membership will get a report today.

Coliseum officials, meanwhile, were busy Wednesday trying to make all that moot.

Coliseum Commission president Bernard Parks and Coliseum general manager Pat Lynch spent more than an hour in a meeting with the league's top two executives involved in Los Angeles, Eric Grubman and Neil Glat, making their case that the Coliseum can have an agreement with the league signed, sealed and delivered by March.

The league's stance: Show us.

``We've told all the groups we can move as fast as they want,'' said Glat, who declined to discuss the substance of the meeting.

Parks said he asked for the meeting to make sure that Glat and Grubman, who have regular contact with officials from the Coliseum, Rose Bowl, Anaheim and Carson, know they're ready to resolve the handful of significant differences with the NFL on terms.

``I want them to know my priorities, which are to have as many meetings as necessary to deal with these issues,'' Parks said. ``We've built a lot of momentum over the last year and we want that to continue, and No. 2, we don't want to have other sites catch up to us.''

Parks says he asked the league for a more expedient response to about eight or nine items the two sides are discussing, and that the Coliseum would hustle to respond to recent information requests from the NFL.

The Coliseum, with its environmental impact report certified last December, has spent six months negotiating a term sheet with the NFL.

However, what was expected to be loosely defined deal points, some 10-15 pages in length, has turned into a detailed document that will be close to 100, looking more like the final lease agreement.

So though the Coliseum missed the league's Oct. 15 ``milestone'' for agreeing on terms - as did the other three sites - a lease agreement should be less complicated than expected.

One of the issues the Coliseum and NFL are grappling over is what to do with the land where the Sports Arena currently sits. With the construction of USC's new on-campus basketball arena rendering the Sports Arena obsolete, it would be leveled, pending approval from the state.

One possibility being discussed for the site is a five-story building that would house retail on the ground floor, two levels of parking and two stories for team offices. Also at issue is the value placed on any project on the Sports Arena site.

The Coliseum would like the league to identify the project it wants to build, then place a dollar value on it - or simply agree to deal with the matter later. The NFL, still considering its alternatives, prefers an option on the land.

Parks believes the term sheet can be wrapped up by the end of the year and the lease agreement can be done before March, when the league owners hold their next meeting.

Parks' aggressiveness is not without risk.

The push to beat the NFL's deadlines, especially during the holiday season, increases expectations and could have some political fallout.

Parks, a mayoral candidate, denied his stance is related to the April election. A hastier process also increases the likelihood that a final agreement won't receive unanimous approval from the Coliseum.

``It may not be unanimous,'' Parks said. ``It would be nice, but all we need is five (of nine) votes.''

One source indicated that if a proposal were put to the commission today, it would have at least six votes with a good possibility of getting eight. There is some concern that a lone dissenter could ``pull a Joel Wachs,'' a reference to the former city councilman whose loud, singular protest forced the city to alter its deal for Staples Center.

If the Coliseum, or any of the other sites, can come to an agreement with the NFL by May, it could mean a Super Bowl would return to Los Angeles in 2009 or 2010. The owners will be discussing potential sites for those games today and Los Angeles will be considered, commissioner Paul Tagliabue said.

While Carson plans to begin its environmental impact report next week - two months behind the NFL's schedule - and developer Steve Hopkins says an NFL stadium probably wouldn't be ready until the 2010 season, three members of the L.A. Working Group committee said Carson remains a viable candidate.

``By no means are they out,'' Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney said.

The committee also go the first look at Anaheim, which the NFL began considering in July. While short on specifics, committee members praised Anaheim - especially Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizinga, who made his fortune in the trash business. He has a contract with the city to haul its garbage.

Billy Witz, [phone]

billy.witz(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue says Los Angeles will be considered for the Super Bowl in 2009 or 2010 during today's meeting of NFL owners.

Paul Sancya/Associated Press