California’s White Elephant

As the University of Southern California continues negotiating a long-term lease deal with the state and Los Angeles Coliseum Commission to keep its football team there, two Republican legislators are floating a proposal that the state should sell the historic venue.

With California facing a $14.5 billion budget shortfall, Assembly Member Chuck DeVore and Sen. Jeff Denham are running the idea up the flagpole – but it’s doubtful if they’re going to get many salutes. With its age and status as a national historic landmark by virtue of having hosted two Summer Olympic Games, it’s hard to imagine where a buyer is going to be found.

"Selling a partially state-owned landmark would be a difficult chore and to get any value would be even more difficult," Pat Lynch, GM of the Coliseum and L.A. Sports Arena, told the Sacramento Bee. "This isn’t the first time this has been talked about."

The bills each propose to sell the portion of Exposition Park land the state owns underneath the Coliseum and Sports Arena and use the proceeds to pay deficit bonds, according to the Bee. Once the properties are sold, the state would dismantle the Coliseum Commission.

USC spokesman James Grant told the paper the university "doesn’t have a position" on the bills. However, DeVore’s predecessor in the Assembly and USC alumnus John Campbell made a similar proposal during the 2002-03 term and claims USC administrators were interested in purchasing the 84-year-old stadium.