You knew this was coming.
Some Coliseum Commission members have reportedly received death threats in regards to the handling of this whole mess. Now I'm not naive but with USC going on the offensive it would not surprise that some stories would come out alleging that there have been death threats. The coliseum Commission is in a bad spot here and they know it. Their insistence on retaining control of the Coliseum in the hopes of the NFL bringing a team there shows just how out of touch and behind the times they are.
Like it or not Mike Garrett was right to go on the offensive, he is in a position of strength and he wants to get a deal done. The Commission members are nothing but professional politicians who, regardless of party affiliation, would say or do anything in order to keep control of the Coliseum. You can't prove a negative so you will understand if I am a little bit skeptical of the alleged threats.
Some of the commission's nine members said they had been harassed too, and at least one has canceled plans to attend the regular-season finale against UCLA on Saturday.
"I've gotten many, many calls along the following lines: 'Hey, Mr. Chadwick, hope our paths don't cross. Understand you're married, you've got three little girls,' " Commissioner Bill Chadwick said.
"That's taking it to a low, low level," he said. "When you send something out to your entire alumni, don't expect every response to be rational."
I am sure that there have been some disparaging comments made, I would agree that every fan base has its loon's so it wouldn't surprise me if a few nasty things were said but I doubt it was "scores" of threats made.
This deal needs to get done and the longer it takes the nastier it will get. The mayor understands the urgency, as does the governor. Its money in the kitty, today, so they should get the deal done.
USC, after all, is the oldest tenant of the Coliseum; indeed their agreement to play football there was one of the contributing reasons for the construction of the stadium. It is also appropriate that USC - the main tenant and a private entity - pick up the tab for renovations, rather than holding hostage the taxpayers of Los Angeles or indeed the state of California.
The aforementioned article also points out that the Commission has been making promises that it fulfill, essentially Writing check their body can't cash.
As recently as last fall, USC administrators said they were happy with the stadium. But then they commissioned a private study that determined the Coliseum needed extensive renovations.
Commissioners say they have already done some work and have plans for more upgrades, including an overhaul of the giant video board.
Dickey said: "We've been hearing that for 10 years. 'We're going to build this, we're going to build that.' The problem is, they just don't have the money."
The commission hopes to fund additional improvements by selling naming rights to the stadium, but that has led to yet another dispute.
Not surprising. Again these are professional political operatives and they spend money faster than they can get it. SC is not interested in putting its own money up for nickel and dime upgrades and not have a say in how the place is run.
The other interesting thing here is the naming right's. I am not a big fan of it especially when it comes to removing the names of historic figures or historic places. Being a closet Washington Redskins fan I wan never more disappointed when little Danny Snyder changed the name of Jack Kent Cooke Stadium to Fed Ex Field. Say what you want about The Squire but he did more for DC and the NFL than little Danny ever will.
University administrators say that estimate was dependent on allowing the sponsor to use USC's name and mark, which the school does not want. Lynch disagreed with this assessment.
Changing the name of the Coliseum for some two-bit corporate sponsor that will attempt to latch on to USC's name just cheapens the whole process.
These are so out of touch its just ridiculous. I have hard time seeing how the commission comes out on top when they can't even live up to the basic promises that they have made.
And they wonder why the fans go nuts.