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United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Overview
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is one of the greatest and largest stadiums in America. In 2005, Sporting News named it among the nation's 40 best stadiums to experience college football. In 2014, StadiumJourney. com ranked USC football at the Coliseum as the nation's No. 3 stadium experience.
In 2019, the field was named as United Airlines Field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
USC has played football in the Coliseum ever since the grand stadium was built in 1923. The Trojans played in the first varsity football game ever held there (beating Pomona College, 23-7, on Oct. 6, 1923). That game was preceded that day by the USC freshman team's 30-0 win over Santa Ana High.
Construction took less than 2 years, with ground breaking on Dec. 21, 1921, and work completed on May 1, 1923. Construction costs were $800,000.
The Coliseum was the site of the 1932 Olympic Games and hosted the opening and closing ceremonies and track events of the 1984 Olympics. It has been home to many sports teams besides the Trojans, including UCLA football, Los Angeles Rams, Dons, Raiders, Express and Xtreme football, and Los Angeles Dodgers baseball (the Rams returned temporarily in 2016 for 3 seasons). The Coliseum has hosted various other events, from concerts and speeches to track meets and motorcycle races.
Entering the 2022 season, USC’s 633 games played in the Coliseum (including 6 wins vacated by NCAA penalty) are the third most that any school has played in its home stadium, behind Georgia Tech’s 713 in Bobby Dodd Stadium and Tennessee’s 636 in Neyland Stadium.
The Coliseum is located on 17 acres in Exposition Park, which also houses museums, gardens and soccer’s Banc of California Stadium.
There have been 27 seasons--1923 to 1927, 1995 to 2000, 2002 to 2015, 2020 to 2021-- that USC was the stadium’s sole football tenant. USC took control of the management of the Coliseum in the summer of 2013, becoming responsible for the operation, maintenance and upgrading of the facility. USC is required to spend $70 million over a 10-year period for enhancements and improvements to the Coliseum's infrastructure.
In October 2015, USC unveiled plans to renovate and restore the Coliseum, including building a new structure on the south side (with suites, loge boxes, club seats, a new concourse and new press box), replacing every seat with wider ones, increasing leg room, adding aisles and handrails, restoring the iconic peristyle, upgrading Wi-Fi, improving audio and video with two new large screens, adding concession stands and installing new lighting. Work began after the 2017 season and was completed for the 2019 home opener. The $315 million renovation was privately funded by USC and preserved the Coliseum's historic nature. Improvements reduced 2019 seating capacity to 77,500 (it was at 78,467 in 2018 during the renovation).
Prior to the 1993 football season, the Coliseum underwent a $15 million renovation. The floor was lowered 11 feet and the running track was removed to create a more intimate stadium. Fourteen new rows of seats (approximately 8,000 seats) were added down low, bringing fans closer to the playing field (the first rows of seats between the goalposts are no more than 54 feet from the sideline, instead of the previous 120 feet). The lockerrooms and public restrooms were also upgraded.
Southern California’s January 1994 earthquake hit the Coliseum hard, requiring $93 million of repairs. In the summer of 1995, a new $6 million press box was constructed.
