Raiders May End Up in Dodger Stadium : Pro football: Davis considers options, including temporary move. Colts trade Jeff George to Falcons.

By BILL PLASCHKE

March 25, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

ORLANDO, Fla. — Raider owner Al Davis said Thursday that uncertainty over Coliseum repairs has prevented the team from mailing 1994 season-ticket invoices, a task that should have been completed nearly two months ago.

Davis said that he hopes to keep the Raiders in the Coliseum but that recent earthquake damage there has forced him to consider other options.

One of those options is to temporarily move home games to Dodger Stadium.

Another would be to listen to offers from other cities once Davis is convinced that the Coliseum will not be ready.

Davis said he will not issue an ultimatum or disclose a timetable for his decision.

“We are still in Los Angeles, and we want to stay in Los Angeles,” Davis said during his annual interview session at the owners’ meetings here. “But there is a tremendous cloud of uncertainty relative to the Coliseum, and whether it can be fixed.

“What’s more scary is that you don’t know what will happen if there is another big aftershock.”

Davis said he has refused to mail season-ticket invoices for two reasons.

“It wouldn’t be fair to the fans, not knowing if the Coliseum is ready,” he said. “And when it is repaired, we’re not sure how many seats there will be.”

Coliseum officials have said they are unsure whether the $33 million in repairs will be completed in time for the opening of the Raider and USC seasons in September.

But Davis said he wonders if simple repairs will be enough to turn the facility into the first-class facility he once envisioned.

It is one of only two stadiums in the league without luxury boxes. Until the capacity was reduced to 68,000 last year, it’s 90,000-plus seats were rarely sold out.

“Sometimes the environment forces you to act--in 1980, it forced us to act,” Davis said, referring to the first steps in a move from Oakland that was completed in 1982. “We have been unfair to our team and our organization for the last six or seven years.”

Davis intimated that Dodger Stadium would be ideal because of its clean environment, which is missing around the Coliseum.

“A while ago we recommended that they turn the area around the Coliseum into a nice park environment, lots of lights and fences and kiosks, make it a real nice place to bring your family,” Davis said. “But you know, that ‘Rebuild LA’ group, they could have done that but they didn’t.”

According to Bob Graziano, Dodger vice president for finance, the team has not been contacted by Davis or city officials about a possible Raider move.

“Our position has been that if city or county officials ask us to accommodate a football team on a short-term basis, we would consider having them, providing it would not disrupt our baseball season,” Graziano said. “But there have been no discussions at this point.”

Davis said that he will decide in the next few weeks whether to pursue a lease with Dodger Stadium or phone officials in other cities who have contacted him, seeking the team.

He is already holding an offer from officials in Oakland to allow the Raiders to play there until the Coliseum is repaired.

Davis said that for reasons he would not discuss, the Rose Bowl is not an acceptable option.

The meetings ended with nearly as much important player movement in one day as there had been in the entire previous month.

--Quarterback Jeff George was finally traded, as expected, by the Indianapolis Colts to the Atlanta Falcons for first- and third-round draft picks this year, and a conditional second-round pick in 1996.

George didn’t do his image much good after being asked about his problems playing for his hometown Colts. “Jesus went back to his hometown and he was not well received (either),” George said.

--Wide receiver Anthony Miller became a Denver Bronco when the San Diego Chargers chose not to match a four-year, $10.5-million contract.

The Chargers also lost veteran linebacker Gary Plummer, who signed with the San Francisco 49ers for $750,000.

The Chargers apparently did not think Miller was worth the problems his contract would cause under the salary cap, and were worried about Plummer’s age, 34.

Bobby Beathard, Charger general manager, countered by acquiring backup receiver Tony Martin from the Miami Dolphins for a fourth-round pick. “Anthony Miller did some awfully good things for us,” Beathard said. “But if you have a chance to get better at a couple of other positions, you have to take that chance.”