Local sports franchises still pack fans in, but profits are less certain.

Despite a recession and a war, Los Angeles' sports fans have proved once again that they are true to their teams -- at least some of their teams.

Attendance at most of the area's professional sports events improved during the latest season over the previous year, even though Southern California has been in the grips of a national recession and the United States was at war in the Persian Gulf last winter.

But whether the attendance figures translated into financially successful franchises is another question. Because they are private companies, the teams do not release financial results, but they acknowledge that the past year has been a difficult one with rising player salaries and some recession-generated declines in revenues.

Home attendance for Los Angeles-area professional sports teams
(including regular season and playoff games)
                                    1990-91          1989-90
Team                                 Season           Season
Angels                            2,416,236        2,555,688
Clippers                            522,104          486,621
Dodgers                           3,348,170        3,002,396
Kings                               626,957          628,274
Lakers                              889,740          800,023
Raiders                             476,581          423,641
Rams                                479,356          470,770

But none of the teams said it is in financial trouble and they assert that is due to the owners' deep pockets and Los Angeles' continued support for its sports franchises, even though some clubs get considerably more fan attention than others.

For instance, the Lakers drew at least 50 percent more fans than the Clippers, another National Basketball Association team. And the Los Angeles Dodgers drew close to a million more patrons than the Anaheim-based California Angels during the just-concluded baseball season.

The area's two professional football teams, the Raiders and Rams, drew about the same number of fans for their eight home games. The 1990 football season was the first time in several years that there had not been speculation about whether the Raiders would remain in Los Angeles. Just prior to the start of the season, Raider president Al Davis announced the team would stay in Los Angeles and attendance jumped from 423,541 to 476,581.

Los Angeles County's only professional hockey team, the Kings, drew just under 627,000 during the 1990-91 season, a slight decline from the previous season.

Only the Kings and the Angels had fewer patrons during the latest completed seasons than they did during the previous year.

The attendance figures show that Los Angeles sports fans like basketball and support their teams more than most other cities with National Basketball Association franchises. In the NBA last year, overall attendance dropped by more than 500,000 for all regular season and playoff games to just over 18 million.

Attendance at both the Clippers and Lakers home games increased last year, even though the per-game average decreased for the Lakers.

If there are any teams that may be having financial problems, it's probably the Kings and Clippers, two of the area's newest professional sports franchises that cannot yet demand high advertising revenues like the more established Dodgers, Rams or Lakers.

Roy Mlaker, executive vice president of the Kings, said the team had 41 consecutive sellout games, but the NHL recently lost a $55 million, four-year television contract and now has a one-year contract worth just $4 million that has to be divided among the 22 teams.

"If it hadn't been for the playoffs, we would have been lucky to show a profit last year. But because we went so far (in the playoffs) we did show a profit," he said.

Mlaker would not say for sure that the recession and the Persian Gulf War have affected the bottom lines of professional sports teams, but rising costs, including player salaries, have made it more difficult.

"Our salary requirements are up over $3 million from last year so our problem, like other sports teams, is to contain our costs. Like all businesses, we have probably been hurt by the state of the economy so we have to look for new revenues," he said.

Clippers' Vice President Mike Williams said advertising revenues are "moderate."

"We are not having a big year but we are not in trouble," Williams said. "We have been in the black for the last four years and anticipate that we will be this year, too. The fan enthusiasm for the team is on the upswing and it's getting easier for us."

The Clippers, originally a San Diego franchise, have been in Los Angeles since 1984.

One of the most successful professional sports teams in Los Angeles and in the country for many years is the baseball Dodgers. But it hasn't been all smooth sailing for that team, either.

Bob Graziano, vice president of finance for the Los Angeles Dodgers Inc., said long-term television contracts have protected broadcast advertising revenues, but sales from print advertising have been affected by the recession.

"Selling advertising in our programs and other print mediums has been more difficult, but I can't say whether there has been any loss of revenues," he said.

"Player salaries are our main concern. Our player payroll went up from $20 million to $33 million from one season over another so we, like all professional sports teams, are concerned about our costs," he said.

Graziano said he knew of no professional team in Los Angeles that is in financial trouble. "But my sense is that on the national level there are some franchises that are having problems. But I don't think that with the (high players') salaries, any team is getting rich."

The basketball Lakers are also considered one of the more successful professional sports franchises, due in large part to an enviable record of winning seasons and championships. But the Lakers per-game average attendance dropped last season by 373 fans to 17,005.

"It's not a significant amount in terms of revenues but it still concerns us, even though the three previous years set attendance records," said Bob Steiner, a Lakers spokesman.