Backers of the effort to bring pro football back to a rebuilt Memorial Coliseum have turned their attentions to Sacramento.

The group operating under New Coliseum Partners LLC and New Coliseum Venture LLC has spent more than $125,000 on lobbyists and campaign contributions in the last year.

While most of that money has gone for three Sacramento lobbying firms, City of Industry-based Majestic Realty Co. which is helping lead the Coliseum effort has donated $5,000 to each of the campaign coffers of Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon and former Assemblyman Richard Katz. Both are running for the Democratic nomination for a state Senate seat representing the northeast San Fernando Valley.

Majestic Realty also donated $1,200 to Assemblyman Roderick Wright, D-Los Angeles, who represents the Coliseum’s district. Majestic is headed by Edward P. Roski Jr., who, along with Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, have committed at least $500 million to rebuilding the Coliseum and bringing a National Football League expansion team there.

In addition to campaign contributions, Majestic spent $24,185.04 for the services of lobbying firm Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller and Naylor in the third quarter of last year; $31,920.34 for Richard Robinson & Associates in the second and third quarters of last year; and $57,202 for The Advocacy Group in the first quarter of this year, according to papers filed with the secretary of state’s office.

One avenue for state involvement could be the creation of a “sports facility zone” under which additional tax revenues would be generated for a defined redevelopment area. Those revenues would be used to pay off the development costs.

Other possible state assistance could come in the form of shoe-horning the Coliseum project into pre-existing state financial assistance.

Coliseum lobbyists declined to specify their specific goals.

Some form of public-sector investment in the project is crucial to obtaining NFL approval. The league requires government participation as insurance against an owner going bankrupt.

The amount being spent in Sacramento, $125,007.38 as of the end of March, is relatively modest compared to the hundreds of millions needed to bring a team to the Coliseum or the hundreds of millions Anschutz, Roski and their partners are investing to build the Staples Center sports arena. But the money is being spent without any commitment to the Coliseum by the NFL.

In fact, NFL officials are talking not only with the Coliseum group but with Michael Ovitz, who is proposing to develop an NFL stadium in Carson, and with Hollywood Park, which wants to build a stadium near its racetrack in Inglewood.

Four NFL officials Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, President Neil Austrian, Executive Vice President Roger Goodell and Jerry Richardson, chairman of the league’s stadium committee are scheduled to be in Los Angeles this week to meet with the various groups.

“It’s another in a series of meetings and conversations that we’ve had on the L.A. situation,” said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. “We’re meeting with a variety of people who have the same interest as we do in seeing a new stadium built, and seeing an NFL team in Los Angeles.”

Katz, who received campaign funds from Coliseum proponents, said he has known John Semcken, vice president of Majestic Realty, for years, but that the two have never had an in-depth discussion about bringing a new NFL team to the Coliseum.

“The conversations he and I have had over the years have been more general than that how to revitalize L.A.,” he said.

Katz added, though, that he likely would not support spending state tax dollars to rebuild the Coliseum. “I’m skeptical of legislation like that,” he said, adding that sports teams do little for the long-term economic health of cities. “I’m very skeptical of using tax dollars to build any kind of sports venues.”

Alarcon, Katz’s opponent in the June primary, said he has not been approached by the Coliseum group, nor has he spent much time considering the issue, other than to support Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas’ efforts to bring a new NFL team there.

He, too, is skeptical about the use of state funds.

“I do believe that a city like Los Angeles ought to have a professional football team, but I also realize that there is a fiduciary responsibility to do it in a way to make sure the burden isn’t on the taxpayers,” he said.

Majestic Realty also gave $500 to the campaign of freshman Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles. Cedillo, who last week said he has not yet been contacted by any of Majestic’s lobbyists, is willing to consider using state funds to rebuild the core of the Coliseum, which he says is an important L.A. cultural and historical landmark.