The most viable option for keeping the L.A. Coliseum financially productive during the absence of a National Football League franchise is crumbling.

Coliseum officials had been counting heavily on international soccer matches (especially those featuring the Mexican national team) as the activity that would sustain the landmark venue.

But a long-simmering dispute between the L.A. Coliseum Commission and the U.S. Soccer Federation is dashing those hopes.

That dispute has already resulted in the cancellation of two major international soccer matches, each of which was expected to draw over 50,000 fans and generate $1 million in revenues for the Coliseum.

Commission officials blame the cancellations on what they call overly restrictive rules of the U.S. Soccer Federation, which controls all international matches played in the United States.

In particular, commission officials singled out a rule that forbids international soccer matches from being played at the Coliseum on the same weekend as a home game of the Los Angeles Galaxy major league soccer franchise. (Galaxy home games are played at the Rose Bowl.)

That rule, they say, caused an April match between reigning European champion Real Madrid and the Mexican national soccer team to be moved from the Coliseum to a stadium in Mexico.

Another major match between the Mexican and Slovakian national teams was scheduled for July 9, but was scrubbed altogether because approval from the U.S. Soccer Federation came too late to make travel arrangements for the Slovakian team.

The Mexican national team has been a popular draw at the Coliseum. Last year’s match against Argentina drew 91,500 fans, selling out the stadium.

“The Coliseum’s future depends on being a venue for first-class soccer matches, where 60,000 to 70,000 people come to each game,” said L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, the new president of the Coliseum Commission. “We know that there is no shortage of teams that want to play here to take advantage of our huge market for soccer. But the fact that people would act to keep the Coliseum from being a venue for quality soccer is outrageous.”

Also at issue is a controversial standing agreement between most major stadiums in this country and the federation that forbids the venues from charging admission to games that aren’t officially sanctioned by the federation.

The U.S. Soccer Federation would not comment specifically on allegations that its rules have prevented soccer matches from being played at the Coliseum. But a spokesman said rules were set up to promote soccer nationwide, not to promote any specific venue.

“The bottom line in sanctioning games is that we do everything we can to try to build up the sport of soccer in the U.S.,” said U.S. Soccer Federation spokesman Jim Moorhouse. “There are a lot of factors that go into our decisions on whether to sanction a specific match. And everything hinges on what is best to grow the game of soccer.”

Yaroslavsky said Coliseum officials are preparing to meet with attorneys and may decide to “dust off” a previously prepared lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation to force that body to change its rules.

That lawsuit was initially prepared three years ago after a similar well-publicized snafu. In January 1997, the Coliseum had scheduled a soccer tournament it dubbed the “Los Angeles Cup.”

Teams from Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador had already arrived in L.A. when word came down that the U.S. Soccer Federation had refused to sanction the games because it did not want any conflicts with U.S. Cup matches to be held two weeks later at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Without an official sanction, the Coliseum could not charge admission. “Because the teams were already here, they played in the Coliseum,” said Coliseum Commission Executive Director Pat Lynch. “But we couldn’t open the gates or sell any tickets. Needless to say, we lost a lot of money.”

The Coliseum Commission later settled the matter out of court with the U.S. Soccer Federation for an undisclosed sum, Lynch said.

Since then, dozens of smaller matches typically involving Mexican club teams have been cancelled due to U.S. Soccer Federation rules, Lynch said. (Club teams are usually from specific locales within a country, as opposed to the national team composed of the country’s best players.) Each of those club team matches would have drawn 10,000 to 20,000 fans, Lynch estimated.

The Coliseum now holds about 15 international soccer matches each year, with about four of those being major contests involving national teams.

Typically, Lynch said, a promoter for one of the teams will approach the L.A. Coliseum Commission about scheduling a match, perhaps even setting up some tentative dates. Then the promoter checks with the U.S. Soccer Federation and often gets denied permission to hold the match.

“We don’t always know the reasons why the U.S. Soccer Federation nixes a potential match, since we never hear from the promoters again,” Lynch said.

In the case of the recently cancelled July 9 match between the Mexican and Slovakian national teams, Lynch said the main problem was that the U.S. Soccer Federation held up its sanction of the match for more than three months. Apparently, he said, the federation was working out a dispute it had with the Mexican Soccer League.

Again, when questioned specifically about this, U.S. Soccer Federation spokesman Moorhead said the organization had no comment.

Approval of the July 9 match finally came on July 3. However, by that time, Lynch said, it was too late to work out suitable travel accommodations for the Slovakian team.

“We managed to book two flights, each with two stops and we even flew someone to Slovakia with the tickets,” Lynch said. “But the Slovakian team said the flight arrangements were too complicated, and they wouldn’t be coming. We found this out on July 6, which left us two days to try to find another opponent. Of course, that didn’t happen and the match was cancelled.”