Sport Franchises

Sabrina Sexton and Janelle Frese are on opposite ends of the spectrum, but fighting the same fight for women's professional sports. Sexton, 19, is a year out of Capistrano Valley High School and second-guessing her lack of attention to her studies. Frese, 31, teaches special education in Anaheim and not only won a Southern Section title at Kennedy High in 1984 as a player, but also coached Cypress to a section title eight years ago.

At 71, Dennis Murphy doesn't need the aggravation any longer. But there was the Fullerton businessman last weekend at a hotel in Los Angeles, trying to persuade a group of wary executives to grant a second chance to a professional sport he had dreamed up one day after watching a couple kids on in-line skates swat a rubber ball around their driveway with a stick.

Echoing the sentiment of the vast majority of whatever percentage of Los Angeles residents really care, the Los Angeles City Council took an unusually unequivocal stand on a pretty simple issue Friday: The city will not seek the return of the Raiders--or of their owner, Al Davis--to the Coliseum. "I don't think the welcome mat should ever be out," said Councilman Hal Bernson, who wrote the motion. "We have to be cognizant of what transpired when Mr. Davis was here before."

After shoring up its financial protections, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission approved an agreement Wednesday granting a group led by real estate developer Ed Roski the exclusive right to seek a new professional football team to play in a modernized Coliseum. Although it approved the contract 8-0 at a special open session, the commission's vote was the culmination of last-minute, behind-the-scenes negotiations between its members and Roski's group, New Coliseum Venture.

A key panel of city lawmakers on Thursday raised serious questions about the proposal to build a sports and entertainment complex at the Los Angeles Convention Center, but decided anyway to send the offer by professional sports team owners to the full City Council. All five members of the city's ad hoc arena proposal panel voiced concerns about details of a plan to spend up to $70.