Teams Could Be Orphans : Coliseum: Raiders, USC await engineers’ reports to see if they will have to find someplace to play next fall.

With the final gun of the Super Bowl, 12 Raiders became free agents. Now, you might be able to add the franchise to that list.

The Raiders and USC are closely watching engineers’ efforts to determine the damage to the Coliseum caused by the Jan. 17 earthquake, because of the possibility that both might have to play games elsewhere next season.

“Both the Raiders and USC have been made aware of the damage,” said Jay Hagerman, the Coliseum’s general manager. “I received a phone call from Mike Garrett’s office Monday, asking if USC should be considering an alternative stadium for next season. I told him that it was premature at this time, until we get an idea of damage and costs to repair from the engineers. That will be in 10 days to two weeks.”

Garrett, USC’s athletic director, has remained mum about the subject throughout the past two weeks, since learning of the damage to the Coliseum, where the Trojans have played home games for 70 years.

“At this point, we feel we will be back in the Coliseum,” said Tim Tessalone, USC’s spokesman. “Until we hear about engineering reports of structural damage, it’s probably premature to talk to anyone about moving games.”

That’s more than the Raiders are saying. They are referring all inquiries to the Coliseum managers.

USC’s schedule is set, though there is limited flexibility. The NFL schedule is not made until May, which gives the Raiders time to consider alternatives.

“I don’t think either team has talked to anybody about moving games yet,” said Cindy Rubin, public relations director for Sports Arena and Coliseum complex. “They’ve both been made aware, and I think they’ve both walked through the Coliseum. But to be honest, most of our efforts have been made to get the Sports Arena up and functioning. We don’t have any events in the Coliseum for a while.”

If ever.

A preliminary estimate of damage at the Coliseum was $35 million, but after viewing additional damage from Saturday’s 5.0 aftershock, some regard that as too low, and the possibility has been raised that the facility is irreparable.

“Repairs will take six months to a year,” said Nahih Youssef, head of Nahih Youssef and Associates of Los Angeles, the principal engineering firm retained by the Coliseum Commission to do the structural engineering report.

The facility has been red-tagged (closed to people) by the city.

If the Coliseum is not available to the Raiders and USC, there are alternatives, each carrying potential conflicts.

“Obviously, if they tell us there is no way that we can play there, we have to look elsewhere, and I think there are obvious sites in Southern California,” Tessalone said. “This is a unique situation, and one thing to consider is that there aren’t 20 teams competing for those sites.”

One of those sites is the Rose Bowl, where UCLA has six games scheduled this fall, one of them against USC. Schedules of the two schools show two home-game conflicts--on Sept. 3, when UCLA plays Tennessee and USC plays Washington, and Sept. 24, when UCLA plays Washington State and USC plays Baylor.

Otherwise, the Rose Bowl would be vacant for USC and Raider home games. But there is the added difficulty of dealing with the Arroyo Seco Ordinance, which prohibits more than 12 events with more than 20,000 spectators at the Rose Bowl in a calendar year.

With the World Cup playing eight games there, there are 15 such events already scheduled in 1994, including the Rose Bowl game.

Still, “it might be available,” said Ann Erdman, a spokesman for the city of Pasadena. “We certainly would welcome conversations with the two teams, if the need arises.”

Either team playing games at the Rose Bowl would need the acquiescence of the Pasadena City Council and neighborhood groups in the Arroyo Seco.

Dodger Stadium is another possibility. Dodger President Peter O’Malley said Tuesday that neither team has made an overture.

“Several years ago, when the Coliseum was remodeled, it was the Dodgers’ position that if the city and county officials asked us to accommodate a football team on a short-term basis, we would consider having them, providing it would not disrupt the baseball season,” said Dodger spokesman Jay Lucas. “The Dodgers’ position remains the same today.”

USC would have two conflicts at Dodger Stadium, barring complications posed by the baseball postseason--on Sept. 3, with the Washington game, when the Dodgers play the St. Louis Cardinals; and on Oct. 1, when the Trojans face Oregon at home and the Dodgers play the San Francisco Giants.

A third possibility is Anaheim Stadium, which also suffered earthquake damage, though minor in comparison to that of the Coliseum.

“I know that there have been discussions (with USC) in the past, when they were talking about renovations to the Coliseum taking perhaps a year,” said Bret Colson of the city of Anaheim. “But I don’t think that there have been any discussions yet on this.”

The Trojans would conflict with the Angels only on Sept. 24, with the Baylor game, when the Angels play the Oakland A’s.

Conflicts with the Rams at Anaheim would not seem to pose a problem for the NFL. The New York Giants and the New York Jets both play at Giants Stadium without difficulty.

Coliseum officials are more concerned about their building than the tenants at this time.

“Our first priority is to get things repaired and to make the Coliseum safe,” Rubin said.

After a damage assessment is made, funding must be secured, presumably from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Coliseum is likely to fall behind hospitals and roadways in importance when federal funds are disbursed.

That may be one of the reasons for a delay in securing alternative sites--to allow pressure to be brought on FEMA to award funding. The Coliseum and Sports Arena employ 8,000 full- and part-time personnel, making the buildings the second-largest employer--behind USC--in South Central Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, in another development, Russell Lane, the city’s chief building inspector, said his agency had yellow-tagged the 1932 Olympic swim stadium next to the Coliseum. A yellow tag allows operators of a facility to go inside with proper safeguards, but keeps the public out.

Lane questioned whether it is legal for the Coliseum Commission to meet today inside the gates of the red-tagged Coliseum in its regular meeting rooms.

“I won’t send the police down there to arrest them, but if they are inside even the administrative offices, they should certainly be wearing hard hats and safety shoes,” he said.

Margaret Farnum, the commission’s administrative officer, said, however, that the meeting would take place in the regular place, regardless. Participants will not be allowed to go into the stadium proper, she said.

Times staff writer Kenneth Reich contributed to this report.