DRAGONS HOPE FANS CATCH FIRE.

Byline: Fred J. Robledo Staff Writer

With season tickets cheaper than parking at Staples Center, the Los Angeles Dragons, the city's newest professional football team, is hoping to bring families into the fold when the inaugural Spring Football League opens April 29 at the Coliseum.

The SFL is a four-team league with a four-game schedule that concludes with a championship May 27 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

NFL Hall of Famers have ownership ties, including former Rams standout Eric Dickerson, who owns a part of the Dragons. Each team has a two-game home schedule, packaging football with a unique entertainment package of concerts and an array of former NFL standouts who will meet fans and sign autographs.

The Dragons open the season with the Houston Marshals and finish May 20 with the Miami Tropics. Tickets prices are $5, $12, $18 and $25.

``This is a festival of football and entertainment and retired football players, many of whom made their careers famous in Los Angeles,'' said Bill Flutter, the executive officer of the SFL. ``And when you come to a game in Los Angeles and pay $5 a ticket, you better provide great entertainment, and that's what we've done.''

In addition to the football game April 29, Kool and the Gang and Pacific Breeze will perform concerts. Afterward, former NFL standouts Rod Martin, Lawrence McCutcheon, Jerry Robinson, Napoleon McCallum and Dickerson will interact with fans and sign autographs.

Former Dallas Cowboy Doug Cosbie will coach the team.

``The quality of players will be very similar to what you've seen in other leagues such as the World League or Arena Football,'' Cosbie said. ``We have a number of players on our 60-man roster who were starters in the Pac-10 and have been to NFL training camps, on NFL active rosters and in the CFL.''

Each player earns roughly $1,250 per game with a $2,000 bonus for winning the championship.

There is no television package, but games are available on the Internet. Flutter said the reason the season is so short is to offer a package fans can't resist. But the league plans on expanding next season.

``We're already set for expansion next year to eight teams,'' Flutter said. ``We've already made the commitment to eight teams and a season of at least eight games, which is truly a spring season with a championship in mid-June.''