The report cites "multiple sources" and comes on the heels of a T.J. Simers column in the L.A. Times on Tuesday morning that said the San Diego Chargers may call the stadium its home for the 2012 season. As per its lease, USC would have to approve the Chargers as a fellow tenant.

The L.A. Memorial Coliseum Commission controls both the stadium and the adjacent sports arena and is made up of three vote-holding representatives each from the state, county and city. Neither facility is funded by taxpayer money.

The land on which the stadium sits is owned by the state, so the commission pays $1 million rent to the state every year. To get that money and pay operating expenses, the commission relies on rent, sponsorships and concessions for income. The commission has received more attention than usual during the past six months because of a 15-year-old girl's death at an electronic music festival at the Coliseum in June.

The commission also released a draft environmental impact report for a plan to redevelop the Sports Arena into either a soccer stadium or an amphitheater. The arena is need of several upgrades--some of the ventilation ducts are made from wood, for instance--and is no longer financially self-sufficient.

Destruction of the arena and the building of something else on top of the land would have to be financed by private developers, commission officials said recently. If the commission approves the draft report in January, the group could officially begin soliciting proposals from developers. Some commission board members said they've been told commission staff that there's already been some interest.

USC sports information officials acknowledged that the athletics department has been in contact with the commission about playing in the possible new soccer stadium. USC assistant athletic directors could not be reached immediately last month, and I haven't had a chance to follow-up with them this month if they have renewed interest in a purchase or if they would rather have a third-party finance upgrades.

But the power-sharing agreement that binds together the state, city and county in control of the arena and Coliseum has thwarted previous attempts to sell the Coliseum, including to USC. Right off the bat, here's why even if the rumored interest is true, there's a lot that needs to be done before a sale can be finalized. Basically, USC has to bully either the state or the city and county into pushing for a deal to be accepted.

• In each of the last two state legislative sessions, Central Valley senator Jeff Denham introduced bills trying to compel the commission to sell the two facilities. Revenue generated by the sale would have gone to the state general fund. The L.A. County argued that such a deal would trample upon the City of Los Angeles. Of course, both groups wanted their share of the sale proceeds, Denham wrote in a 2009 editoral. Denham's bills to force a sale never gained any traction in the Legislature. He was elected to the U.S. Congress in November.
• When he was in the state Legislature, county supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas tried to dissolve the commission altogether and replace it with an "Expo Park Authority" but his bill didn't go anywhere. Ridley-Thomas now serves on the Coliseum Commission. So the state isn't going to give the county any power and the county doesn't want the state to have power.
• For the past few years, outgoing Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggar has been looking to sell state properties such as the Coliseum to generate much needed income for the state. Some of his sale proposals have been met with general resistance. It's unclear at this point what incoming Gov. Jerry Brown thinks about selling state properties. He holds his first public budget briefing in Sacramento on Wednesday.
• In 2008, the Commission rejected a $100 million offer from USC to take greater control of the property. Instead, the parties compromised on a new master lease. The commission was supposed to work to get sell the naming rights to the stadium to pay for improvements. That still hasn't happened. USC pays 8 percent of ticket sales as rent.
• Commission members such as Zev Yaroslavsky, Barry Sanders, Rick Caruso and David Israel could also raise objections to selling the property.
• Another potential roadblock is USC trustee Ed Roski, who's trying to build his own football stadium about 20 miles away in Industry. He'd hate to see USC make the Coliseum so attractive that an NFL team would rather play there than at his own venue.
• Selling to USC could run afoul of state and federal laws since the Coliseum is a National Historic Landmark and Exposition Park land is meant to serve public purposes. We'll have to dig into that more later.

A 2004 state report said the commission-controlled properties were worth $240 million. With renovations, they would be worth $400 million, the report said. In 2001, an independent real estate firm pegged the value at $16 million.

Reach executive producer Paresh Dave here. Follow him on Twitter: @peard33.