Anaheim Group Considering New Strategy to Satisfy Rams

ANAHEIM — The Orange County group trying to keep the Rams in Southern California will consider revising its strategy following a Tuesday meeting in which club President John Shaw re-emphasized the team’s desire for a new stadium.

The centerpiece of a proposal by the Save the Rams task force has been a $60 million renovation of Anaheim Stadium, converting it from multipurpose to a football-only facility. But a remodeled Big A might not be enough to keep the Rams.

“We still view Anaheim as one of our alternatives, but a new facility is a high priority for us, and we’re still striving to accomplish that,” said Shaw, who met for 2 1/2 hours with Save the Rams co-chairman Leigh Steinberg at Rams Park.

Steinberg said he stressed to Shaw that a remodeled stadium would include many of the revenue-producing perks that St. Louis and Baltimore are offering with new facilities--upgraded luxury suites that would command a higher price, the conversion of the view level into an exclusive club level and the lowering of the field to improve sight lines and create more premium, lower-level seats.

“But we’ll have to take another look at this issue,” Steinberg said. “John emphasized that (a new stadium) is really important.”

Steinberg said he will continue to press NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue about the league’s possible investment in a Los Angeles-area stadium project, an idea Tagliabue floated in October. Hollywood Park and Long Beach have been mentioned as potential sites, and Steinberg has been promoting Anaheim and its plan to create a sports/entertainment corridor around the existing stadium.

But a new, football-only stadium might not fit into Anaheim’s master sports plan. When the Angels last summer made overtures of exploring other options unless a new baseball stadium was built, Save the Rams came up with a plan it believed would appease both franchises.

Its recommendation: Build the baseball stadium, at a cost of about $100 million, and transform Anaheim Stadium into a football-only facility for $60 million.

A new football stadium could cost between $160 million and $200 million. Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly said the city would consider building one as long as the project would not require ongoing public funding.

“If there’s no annual public subsidy, if there was enough private-sector interest in trying to pay for it, I think it could be possible,” he said.

In addition to the stadium renovation, Save the Rams has promised the Rams a $50-million infusion of cash through the purchase of a minority interest in the team, a new $12-million practice facility, sales of 45,000 season tickets and the income from approximately 100 luxury boxes.

When the question of how the group will back its proposal arose Tuesday, Steinberg said he told Shaw that if the Rams stay, he will give the team a check for the amount of 45,000 season tickets and all the luxury boxes--an estimated $18 million to $20 million--before the start of training camp next year.

Steinberg said area businesses will be heavily involved in such guarantees, but he would not elaborate.

Shaw said he has taken the view “that anything they are offering could ultimately be supported,” but guarantees weren’t a major part of Tuesday’s discussion.

Steinberg, who said his long-standing request to meet with Ram owner Georgia Frontiere “was taken under advisement” by Shaw Tuesday, said he remains encouraged that Orange County has a chance to keep the Rams, despite rumors that a deal already has been struck with St. Louis.

“The longer this process continues, the stronger we grow in Orange County,” he said. “We’re still in the ballgame.”

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Times staff writer Greg Hernandez contributed to this story.