Coliseum Officials Not Expecting a Quick Deal

Members of the Los Angeles Coliseum Committee said they are encouraged by the NFL’s recent flurry of interest in the stadium, but cautioned that talks between league and stadium officials are in the very early stages.

“This is a long-term negotiation,” said L.A. City Councilman Bernard Parks, president of the committee.

“We want to ensure the process is done in an orderly fashion.”

Parks and the rest of the committee devoted more than an hour of their monthly meeting Wednesday to discussing a 17-page “term sheet” the league presented stadium officials last week. The document represents the framework of a deal -- from the league’s perspective at least -- that could bring the NFL back to the nation’s second-largest market.

The league is weighing the merits of an estimated $400-million renovation of the Coliseum, as well as stadium concepts at the Rose Bowl and on an undeveloped landfill in Carson.

“It’s very positive just to have a term sheet,” said County Supervisor Don Knabe, president of the city’s ad hoc NFL committee. “It was unexpected to me at this point ... [but] there’s a long way to go. We’ve been down this road before.”

Knabe said it’s unlikely the committee will have a response to the term sheet in time for the May 25-26 league meetings in Jacksonville, Fla., but that one probably will be prepared by mid-June.

-- Sam Farmer