PARKS CHEERED BY NFL STUDY.

Byline: RICK ORLOV Staff Writer

City Councilman Bernard Parks said Wednesday he remains encouraged that Los Angeles may someday get a pro football team at the Memorial Coliseum but is ``confused'' about new concerns that USC has raised about the deal.

National Football League owners decided Tuesday to spend a total of $10 million to study rival plans to locate a team in Los Angeles or Anaheim.

L.A. has approved plans for an $800 million stadium inside the Coliseum, which would be leased to the NFL, while Anaheim has offered to sell the league 53 acres for the below-market price of $50 million as the site for a new stadium.

``What is significant to me is that this is the first time the NFL has given any money to look at the Los Angeles proposal,'' Parks said at a City Hall news conference.

``They have been spending money everywhere else, on the Rose Bowl, in Carson and Anaheim, but this is the first commitment to Los Angeles.''

At the same time, Parks said he will pursue an explanation from the University of Southern California, which has been a tenant at the Coliseum since it opened in 1923. In a letter sent Friday to owners, but made public only on Tuesday, USC officials urged the league not to sign a lease with the Coliseum Commission until the university had signed its own sublease.

``Frankly, I'm confused,'' Parks said. ``Two years ago, when I was chairman of the Coliseum Commission, I went to USC officials and they said they wanted to negotiate on their own with the NFL. We said fine.

``On May 18, I talked with the USC president and asked how things were proceeding in their negotiations and he indicated everything was satisfactory. Then he sent this letter on May 19.''

USC President Steve Sample has been out of the country but Parks said he is trying to set up a meeting with him as soon as possible.

As far as the NFL itself is concerned, Parks said he got what he had hoped for from the owners - an agreement to spend upward of $5 million to examine the Coliseum plans and determine the support among the local business community.

``It will be up to us to show them the value of being in Los Angeles. I don't think it will be a hard argument to make,'' Parks said.

``When it comes to the advertising potential, the logos and the signage, I think Los Angeles will prove to be a better value for the NFL.''

In addition, he said, the owners are interested in the redevelopment of downtown, including the la live and Grand Avenue projects.

The NFL is planning to send representatives to the city over the course of the next six weeks.

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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