L.A. ISSUE MIGHT BE ON BACK BURNER OTHER THINGS COULD DELAY STADIUM DECISION.

Byline: BILLY WITZ Staff Writer

Some of the $10 million the NFL authorized last spring toward narrowing cost estimates of stadiums at the Coliseum and Anaheim has been put to use this summer, as architects, engineers and market researchers get to work on establishing what it would cost the league to return to Los Angeles.

The NFL is hoping to have more concrete numbers available for owners when they convene their annual fall meeting in late October, said NFL executive vice president for strategic planning Neil Glat.

Just when the league's owners are ready to look at them is really the multi-million dollar question.

Rarely in this 3 1/2-year process has the NFL followed any timelines it has laid out. In the past 12 months, decisions on a stadium site in LosAngeles have been delayed by labor issues, TV contract negotiations and the retirement of commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

That could be the case again.

While new commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters at his first news conference last week that Los Angeles remains a priority -- and those in Anaheim and the Coliseum are pleased they don't have to start from scratch with an outsider -- there are other issues that could keep L.A. in the background.

The NFL is under increasing pressure to strengthen its drug-testing program after recent media reports of players who have been prescribed steroids without testing positive and the prevalence of human-growth hormone, for which the league does not test.

Also, the increasing disparity in revenues might be cause for debate -- the Washington Redskins' revenue of $303 million last year nearly doubled that of last-place Arizona at $158 million, according to recent estimates by Forbes magazine. Some owners, unhappy with the current revenue-sharing agreement, might want to reopen the labor deal when they have that option next November.

``Staff has been responsive in advancing the issue, but it's up to ownership,'' Glat said. ``Could the ownership make a site selection (in October)? They'll have additional information if they're so inclined.''

While the announcement of a stadium site could serve as leverage in places like SanDiego, Minnesota, New Orleans, Jacksonville and Buffalo, which could be relocation candidates, some observers wonder how much Goodell, while he is settling into his new role, would push for action on an issue that carries no sense of urgency to many owners.

In a survey of 400 sports industry executives by the Sports Business Journal, only 16 percent said striking a deal in Los Angeles should be Goodell's top priority in his first year.

If there is no action on a site this fall, the NFL could risk having the start-up date for a new stadium pushed back another year, to 2011.

``At this point, if it's October or shortly after, 2010 is a reasonable goal,'' Glat said. ``If it gets to March or May (when the NFL's other annual meetings are held), it gets tighter and tighter.''

It also could risk losing Anaheim. When the NFL didn't choose a site in May -- a stated objective of Tagliabue when he visited Los Angeles six months earlier -- Anaheim requested proposals from developers for the 50-acre parcel the NFL is interested in acquiring.

Anaheim spokesman John Nicoletti declined to say how many bids the city received by its Aug. 31 deadline, but the city council planned to consider them by late October -- so if the NFL did make a decision, it would know what its options are.

In the meantime, the league is taking conceptual plans for the Coliseum that were developed by the architecture firm RTKL, and accounting for details such as the number of bathrooms and stairwells, according to Coliseum general manager Pat Lynch. The league's engineering consultants, Hammes Co., also is working with the architecture firm HOK, which the league has retained to design a stadium in Anaheim.

When Hammes provided the NFL cost estimates for the stadiums of $800 million apiece in March, it was with a 20 percent margin of error. Glat said they're hoping to reduce that to 5 to 10 percent.

``When you're in the very early stage of design, construction managers tell you how many square feet and in the California labor market it costs this much per square foot,'' Glat said. ``It's a very educated estimate, but you get a much better estimate when you know how much steel and concrete needs to be poured.''

While the league has continued to discuss lease and purchase terms with the Coliseum and Anaheim, one party it hasn't spoken with during the summer has been USC. The two parties are expected to resume discussions on a sub-lease agreement next month, when the NFL has completed its cost estimates.

USC president Steven Sample sparked a tempest in May when he wrote a letter to the Coliseum Commission and the NFL, fearing that the university was being sold out.

USC general counsel Todd Dickey said the relationship has improved, and that Sample met with Commission president Yvonne Burke, and attended a dinner in June with Tagliabue, several owners and Los Angeles business and political leaders.

``There's a better understanding and we'll definitely work together,'' Dickey said.

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