Coliseum deal: USC to cash in on turnover

About five years ago, County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky denounced USC’s proposal to take control of the taxpayer-owned Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and its revenue. DOCUMENT: Read about the 75-day timetable Renata Simril, a negotiator for the state, which owns the land beneath the Coliseum and nearby properties, defended the lease package as “a deal that we think is balanced.” Stressing that the commission is on the brink of insolvency, she noted that USC would make the renovations that the current lease assigns to the commission. Yaroslavsky had told the homeowners’ group in 2008 that surrendering income from naming rights to USC would be akin to the commission allowing the school to take “that Picasso that’s on your living room wall.” But the commission fumbled its attempts to market the rights, despite interest from potential sponsors — such as Audi. DOCUMENT: Read about the Major League Soccer discussions Robert Stein, a member of the California Science Center board, the agency scheduled to vote on the proposed lease Wednesday, criticized the agreement as “a land grab” but otherwise supports the idea of USC managing the Coliseum. Steve Soboroff, a developer who helped bring the space shuttle Endeavour to the Science Center, said the provision that gives USC 70% of museum parking 25 days a year siphons off the institutions’ “prime lifeblood.” A key piece of the proposal would have the state extend the agreement from 2054, when the charter of the commission expires, to 2111.