Rose Bowl, Coliseum Stay in Cup Picture : Soccer: They are granted priority status for 1994, but final game is still the goal.

A group bidding on behalf of the Rose Bowl and the Coliseum was among 19 from throughout the United States who learned Thursday that the stadiums they represent have been awarded priority status as prospective venues for soccer’s 1994 World Cup.

“We’re delighted but not surprised,” said Mike Navarro, who provides liaison between the Los Angeles-Pasadena committee and the World Cup organizing committee, which made Thursday’s announcement in a conference call after more than four months of reviewing bids from 26 groups.

Among disappointed groups was the New York City Sports Commission, which represented Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium. The organizing committee preferred two other stadiums in the New York metropolitan area, the Meadowlands at East Rutherford, N.J., and the Yale Bowl at New Haven, Conn.

Others placed on a non-priority list were groups representing Charlotte, N.C.; Honolulu; Houston; Knoxville, Tenn.; Phoenix and Portland-Corvallis, Ore.

Los Angeles lawyer Chuck Cale, chief executive officer and co-chairman of the organizing committee, said a site inspection team from the sport’s international governing body, FIFA, will visit stadiums on the priority list between Oct. 29 and Nov. 7. Tours of the Rose Bowl and Coliseum have been scheduled for Nov. 7.

FIFA will choose between eight and 12 cities as hosts early next year, Cale said, and individual games in the 52-game tournament, scheduled for June 17-July 17, 1994, will be awarded in either late spring or early summer of next year. The Los Angeles-Pasadena group is bidding for 16 games, including the final for the Rose Bowl.

“We’re confident we have a real shot at the final,” Navarro said. “Let’s face it, that’s our goal.”

Although the Coliseum remains in contention, the organizing committee has expressed concern about whether the stadium’s availability can be guaranteed because of a proposed renovation project that is tentatively scheduled to begin in January 1993 and end 16 to 18 months later.

“We’d like to have games in the Coliseum, but you have to be realistic,” Navarro said.