THE NFL / T.J. SIMERS : Owners Huddle With Roski

SAN DIEGO —  There was no coronation, no red carpet, not even an invitation to make a presentation to the NFL’s 30 owners.

The NFL’s fraternity is a tough one to crack, even if you are Edward Roski Jr., one of the Kings’ owners, millionaire, partner to billionaire Philip Anschutz and wannabe football team owner representing Los Angeles, the No. 2 media market in the country.

NFL officials, befuddled and even irritated with Roski’s “presumptuous” attempt to crash their party at the Loews Coronado Resort on Monday bearing luxury suite commitments for a new Coliseum, opted to huddle privately with him and brief him on league etiquette after introducing him to the stadium and finance committees.

The NFL brass, already upset with Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas and other city officials who are defying advice not to organize an ownership group for a team to play in a new Coliseum, interpreted the luxury suite commitments of $10,000 each as a publicity move to apply pressure on them.

“If you’re talking a full year’s lease on $150,000 luxury suites, that’s something else,” a league representative said.

At the same time the league’s owners walk a gantlet of new Coliseum propaganda and smiling city officials on their way to meetings, another nuisance of sorts, but a reminder that Los Angeles is becoming more pushy in its effort to gain NFL attention.

The game has begun, even if the NFL wants more time to lay out the rules, and if Los Angeles intends to make a serious bid for a football team, it rests now on the credibility and determination of Roski and Anschutz.

And what do we know about Roski and Anschutz, two guys with a lot of money who are threatening to take over the Los Angeles sports scene?

They took the Kings out of bankruptcy, intend to exercise an option to buy 30% of the Lakers next year, are seeking a downtown sports arena and entertainment complex to open in 1999 and want to bring back the NFL in a new Coliseum in 2000.

So what do they do in their spare time?

The purchase of the Kings, successful negotiations with Laker owner Jerry Buss and the arena deal, which is expected to receive City Council approval soon, should legitimize the pair as major league deal-makers in the eyes of the NFL, but as franchise owners, the pathetic performance of their hockey team to date brings back memories of Al Davis and Georgia Frontiere.

To manage a team they must get a team, and discounting the colossal perception problem they will face in selling the new Coliseum to the NFL’s owners, they must first sell themselves.

Perception problem? If the 30 NFL owners had their rental cars or rented limos tuned to XTRA radio upon arriving in San Diego, they would have heard Jim Rome broadcasting live at an NFL rookie photo shoot from the Coliseum on Monday, talking about “the first 100 people in attendance receiving flak jackets” and describing the rats in the stands as big as dogs.

Forget the new Coliseum; if Roski and Anschutz are to make an effective argument with the NFL, they are going to have to win attention on the merits of their arena deal and their own business savvy.

The NFL owners will like Anschutz, because he is a billionaire, and that kind of thing impresses this group. But Anschutz is a Denver billionaire, an absentee owner if he becomes Los Angeles’ champion, and he was absent here Monday for introductions.

That’s not good for Los Angeles, but that’s all right as far as the NFL owners are concerned because they prefer the low-key partner. Anschutz made it abundantly clear in an interview last week he will not be appearing at any “Bring Back Football” rallies in Los Angeles any time soon.

That will be Roski’s assignment. He is the point man in this football partnership. He has the Los Angeles background, including a USC education and a rooting interest in the Rams when they played their football in the Coliseum.

Roski will try to rally local business support, sell the luxury suites, roust apathetic Los Angeles football fans and be responsible for pushing a March, 1998, deadline to win NFL approval for a new team to play in the Coliseum.

And the work has already begun, with Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan writing a letter of endorsement on Anschutz and Roski’s behalf to NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue this week.

Roski has also been writing, and in a May 19 letter to Jerry Richardson, chairman of the NFL’s stadium committee, he wrote: “The NFL should and must have a team in Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the world, and that team should play in the new Coliseum, which will be one of the finest football stadiums in the country.”

The NFL is all for activity in Los Angeles, but on its terms.

That should cause no problem for Roski and Anschutz, who have shown such flexibility in the purchase of the Kings and the arena deal, as long as the NFL meets their October and March deadlines in demonstrating progress in the return of football to Los Angeles.

Anschutz and Roski have a vested interest in trying to make this work to support their political alignment with the city in completing downtown plans for the arena and associated retail development. City officials have already begun aligning themselves behind the Kings’ officials, fighting for the opportunity to attend the NFL owners’ meetings so they can share in the spotlight should Roski and Anschutz be ultimately successful.

However, there are reservations already being expressed among NFL owners about Anschutz’s interest in becoming involved in football because he has had opportunities to pursue baseball and football ownership in Denver and never did so.

Asked last week if he had asked Lamar Hunt, Kansas City Chief owner and fellow Major League Soccer franchise owner, for his advice in trying to land a football team for Los Angeles, Anschutz somewhat surprisingly answered, “No. I’m capable of making my own decisions.”

But in this case, does he know--or care--what he’s doing? He said his involvement has nothing to do with money, because he has plenty, but if he’s not even going to join Roski at the Kings’ owners’ coming-out NFL party, what is his interest?

Anschutz, who has made it clear in discussions that he likes the thrill of the deal, has expressed unabashed admiration in Roski for pulling off the deal to buy the Kings and forging a deal with the city to build the arena. It’s unclear if Anschutz’s interest in football is nothing more than a payback to Roski for a job well done, but as one Los Angeles city official said, “Who cares why he’s doing it, so long as he remains committed to Roski?”

Rupert Murdoch lurks around the corner, a welcome sight for NFL officials who love his money, his influence, his international TV expertise and the competition he provides Anschutz, Roski and anyone else in Los Angeles interested in returning football.

If successful in his bid to buy the Dodgers, Murdoch becomes a player without even expressing an interest. He will be sitting on land many NFL owners believe to be the most attractive in Los Angeles, and his addition to the NFL fraternity would undoubtedly be considered a prestigious proposition.

But until Murdoch gains control of the Dodgers, the playing field will be left to Roski and Anschutz, and everyone will be watching to see how they play the game.