The L.A. Coliseum's bid for an NFL franchise "increasingly
looks like a contender" as a group of business leaders with a
competing proposal agreed on Thursday to "keep their plans under
wrap" until after the Coliseum's fate is determined, according to
Jodi Wilgoren in the L.A. TIMES. Attorney Alan Morelli of South
Park Sports said he will "ask the group's board to agree to stay
mum about its site [for a new stadium] until Coliseum backers"
give their plans to NFL owners in New Orleans, October 30-31.
L.A. Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas met Thursday with Dodgers
Owner Peter O'Malley and asked him, on the request of several
city officials, to "drop any plans for a stadium in Chavez Ravine
and instead throw support to Exposition Park, site of the
Coliseum." O'Malley declined comment regarding Ridley-Thomas'
request, but Wilgoren sources note O'Malley "is likely to join
the Coliseum team." Earlier this week, Ridley-Thomas met with
NFL President Neil Austrian, VP/League Development Roger Goodell
and Stadium Committee Chair Jerry Richardson to discuss prospects
of a new NFL team for the Coliseum. Goodell said O'Malley's
decision "could be crucial to the outcome" (L.A. TIMES, 9/13).
