Deal Not Close on New Stadium : Hollywood Park: There are still big hang-ups for new facility, with Raider owner Al Davis in the middle of things, as usual.

A proposed 65,000-seat football stadium at Hollywood Park that would house the Raiders and perhaps UCLA faces major obstacles before such a deal can be consummated, sources told The Times Tuesday.

Among the problems that have arisen during months of sporadic negotiations are financing,competition from Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, the lack of a commitment from the NFL and difficulty in dealing with Raider owner Al Davis.

The stadium, projected to cost $175 million-$200 million, with at least 100 luxury boxes, would supposedly be ready for play, if built, by the 1997 season at an unspecific Inglewood location on 90th St. near Hollywood Park and the Forum.

According to one source, a proposed agreement has been on Davis’ desk for weeks, butdespite his professed antipathy to the Coliseum, where his team plays now, he hasn’t signed it and is seeking better terms.

Davis and R.D. Hubbard, Hollywood Park chief executive officer, last talked Dec. 3, but nowmatters are on indefinite hold depending on Raider playoff prospects.

Davis has reportedly proven difficult to deal with as his mood fluctuates based on his team winning or losing. About two months ago, Hollywood Park threatened to call off the deal, but the Raiders came back stronger, indicating that Hollywood Park was where they wanted to be. However, no action is expected in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, Greg Aiello, director of communications for the NFL, said: “Discussions have taken place. But (Hollywood Park) is not necessarily the lone way to go. It is one of several opportunities out there. It is far from being a done deal.

“There is nothing concrete yet. We’re interested in working to get new facilities, but that’s not an unusual role for us.”

An NFL source said Commissioner Paul Tagliabue had met with Riordan to discuss possible stadium sites. The NFL has reportedly offered to put Super Bowls, perhaps as often as every other year, at a new stadium if that would ease the financing problems and expedite its completion.

However, Riordan, while interested in the Super Bowls, was not in Hollywood Park’s corner Tuesday.

The mayor, according to press secretary Noelia Rodriguez, wants the Raiders inside the Los Angeles city limits, and very probably at an improved Coliseum.

“We’re supporting the ongoing efforts of the Coliseum Commission to make the Coliseum a world-class stadium,” Rodriguez said.

Riordan said during public appearances Tuesday that he views Hollywood Park as a competitor and is not privy to its negotiations with Davis.

There are serious questions, however, whether the Coliseum is a viable contender for future Raider play. Coliseum negotiators freely concede that they are at complete loggerheads with Davis, and, just as in past years--when the Raiders accepted tentative deals with Irwindale and Oakland--the Coliseum might succeed in retaining Davis only when other deals fall through.

A big question is Hollywood Park’s ability to take on a huge new venture.

The company does not expect to make any profits this year because of the delayed and costly launch of its new card club casino next to the racetrack and because of poor results from the Woodlands, the Kansas racetrack it bought a year ago.

Hollywood Park stock has recently tumbled.

The company shocked Wall Street last Sept. 27 when it announced that instead of earning $7 million to $8 million this year as analysts had predicted, it would barely break even.

The bad news sent Hollywood Park stock plunging from $20.50 to $14 in a single day. It has since slipped even further, closing Tuesday at $11.125 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. That’s a big comedown from a year ago, when it was selling for more than $30 a share.

What most hurt earnings was that the card club opened six months behind schedule and had higher than expected overhead costs when it did open. “They had absolutely incredible cost overruns,” said analyst Kenneth A. Peterson of Red Chip Review in Portland, Ore. “They wereserving complimentary food and beverage to almost anybody with a pulse.”

Another disappointment has been the performance of the Woodlands, which Hollywood Park bought a year ago for $70 million, including debt.

The theory behind the deal was that the Kansas legislature would quickly approve casino-style gambling for the facility so that it could compete with riverboat casinos across the Missouri River in Kansas City, Mo. It didn’t happen this year, and the riverboats took patrons away from the track. Hollywood Park is predicting that the legislature will approve the gambling in 1995.

With those problems, is the company able to take on an expensive stadium project?

Hollywood Park has more than $50 million in cash on hand and virtually no long-term debt, so “they could get it done financially,” said Craig Bibb, an analyst at PaineWebber in New York. He noted, however, that it would be a questionable use of such a large amount of capital, considering that stadium ownership has never been as lucrative as team ownership.

He speculated that the City of Inglewood could help with the financing by providing a guarantee on industrial revenue bonds that could be used to build the stadium.

Such financial backing would lower the interest rate that Hollywood Park would have to pay and would cost the city nothing--unless Hollywood Park defaulted on the bonds.

One expert who endorsed the stadium idea, however, was Michael S. Megna, a Thiensville, Wis.-based consultant on professional sports finance.

“With the Rams 99% sure to be leaving and the location halfway between Downtown L.A. and Anaheim, this is a no-brainer,” he said.

Megna acknowledged that some NFL owners might worry about the proximity of the stadium to a gambling facility, but he pointed out that Davis has successfully sued the league when it tried to block his earlier moves.

Times staff writer Steve Springer contributed to this story.