Coliseum Wants to Build 21 Suites : Football: Commission doesn’t know if it can get $10-million loan. Raiders and USC still uncommitted for next season.

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, virtually out of money for capital improvements and without contracts with either the Raiders or USC for next season, decided Wednesday to try to build 21 luxury suites on top of a new press box by next fall.

Acting behind closed doors, commissioners later acknowledged, however, that they are not sure they can obtain a $10-million loan to build the suites. They said that they expect the $6 million for a new press box to come from the federal government as an earthquake repair grant.

The new commission president, L.A. City Councilman John Ferraro, called the action “an indication we want to move ahead.

“If we can get financing, we’ll poll our members and then go ahead.”

Meanwhile, the commission was forced to reopen negotiations for a new concessionaires’ contract after two bidders--present concessionaire Volume Services, Inc. and competitor Service America--declined to make a sizable initial capital commitment to close a deal.

Coliseum General Manager Pat Lynch said the stadium was relying on such a commitment to provide collateral to secure a loan to build the suites.

The Raiders failed to exercise an option by the contractual deadline to play in the stadium next fall. However, a Raider representative, Amy Trask, said the team had not “foreclosed any possibilities.”

Negotiations between the Raiders and Hollywood Park for construction of a new football stadium in Inglewood have hit a snag. But even if an agreement were reached to build such a stadium, it would not be ready for the fall, leading to the possibility that the Raiders might play in the Coliseum for the 1995 season.

Coliseum officials said Wednesday that contacts with the Raiders continue, and one commissioner, Shelly Sloan, suggested that if the Raiders and USC come to terms on long-term playing agreements, the Coliseum might be able to secure a loan to build as many as 108 boxes.

Commissioners have said privately, however, that they will not offer Raider owner Al Davis another rent-free deal to play in the facility like the one he had last season.

Talks with USC reportedly have been hampered by the school’s unwillingness to pay to play in the Coliseum if the Raiders are allowed to play there for free.