PRO FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : Plan Would Add Luxury Suites Atop New Press Box at Coliseum

Forty-two luxury suites would be built this year in two rows atop a new press box at the Coliseum, according to a $17-million plan unveiled Wednesday at a meeting of the Coliseum Commission.

A decision on going ahead with the project--whether or not the Raiders are signed to a long-term contract at the stadium--would have to be made by March, officials said. They said design plans are under way, and the deadline would allow enough time to finish the press box and private luxury suites by the beginning of the fall football season.

Donald C. Webb, who supervised what he estimated will end up as a $94-95-million government-financed Coliseum earthquake repair, said building the luxury suites this year is imperative, if the boxes are to be built in conjunction with the new press box. Otherwise, he said, a second press box would have to be built when the boxes eventually did go in.

The new repair estimate is slightly above the $92.7 million estimated last month. Webb also disclosed that NFL officials recently toured the Coliseum and went over the plans.

Steven L. Soboroff, a Coliseum commissioner who has also been involved in the planning, said he hoped that after obtaining funds from a new concessions contract at the Coliseum and grants to build the new press box from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, loans of only about $5 million would be necessary to finance the luxury suites.