LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM
3911 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, California 90037
Telephone: (213) 748-6136
Football Stadium (opened 1923)
Seats 92,000
About The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Is there a more recognizable facade than the peristyle end of the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles? Adorned by Robert Graham's monumental bronze statues, created in honor of the 1984 Olympic Games, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a memorial to veterans of World War I and rededicated to veterans of all wars in 1968. It also supported a future Olympic Games in Los Angeles. It opened in May 1923 and became home to USC football and later, UCLA football. The opening ceremonies and track & field competitions of the 1932 Olympic Games put the Coliseum into the ranks of the world's elite stadia.
Designed by John and Donald Parkinson, the original bowl seated 76,000 on benches at a cost of $954,873. It was enlarged to hold 101,574 for the 1932 Games and set a football-game-record 105,236 for the 1947 USC-Notre Dame clash. UCLA used the Coliseum as its home field from 1929-81, the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL played in the Coliseum from 1946-79 and the NFL Raiders played there from 1982-94. The first NFL Pro Bowl was played in the Coliseum in 1951, two Super Bowls (the first in 1967 and the seventh in 1973) were held there and it was even the home field for the Los Angeles Dodgers when they moved from Brooklyn, from 1958-61 (the 1959 World Series was played in the Coliseum). The enormous crowd of 92,706 during the '59 Series still stands as a record for the most fans ever to see a single World Series game. The largest crowd for any event was 134,254 for a Billy Graham religious assembly in 1963.
In 1984, the Coliseum became the first stadium to ever be used for the opening ceremonies and track & field competitions of two Olympic Games. The venue was designated a California State and National Historic Landmark in 1984 as well. Prior to the 1993 season, a major renovation was undertaken, removing the running track and lowering the field level by 11 ½ feet. About 8,000 new seats (14 rows) were added at the floor level. However, the facility is also proposed to host track & field and the ceremonies for the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in 2016.
Earthquake damage in January 1994 turned into $96 million worth of repairs and improvements with a new press box added in 1995.
Today, it continues as the home field of the USC Trojans football team and the NFL's Los Angeles Rams. It has a capacity for football of 92,000. The Coliseum is also a popular site for international soccer matches and local film studios.
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Quick Facts
•The basics:
The Coliseum seats 92,000 in a bowl shape, rising up from the field level in a continuous curve. There are about 25,000 seats between the goal lines for football.
•Location and parking:
The historic venue is located in Exposition Park in the southern end of downtown Los Angeles. It is accessed from the Vermont Street exit off the Santa Monica (10) Freeway (with turns at Jefferson onto Figueroa from Hoover, or at Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard from Vermont). It is also just a quarter-mile west of the Harbor (110) Freeway; use the Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard exit.
•Management:
The Coliseum is owned by the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission and managed by the University of Southern California under the direction of General Manager Joe Furin. For information about facility rental, please contact Anastasia Johnson at (213) 765-6357 or by fax at (213) 746-9346.
•Technical information:
The natural-grass field measures 324 feet wide by 680 feet long. There is excellent lighting for evening events, sufficient for television use. There are 92,000 permanent seats in the bowl, but USC places bleachers just east of the end zone and reduces the capacity to 75,000 for most home games.
There are three locker rooms, all under the west (closed) end: home (8,160 sq.ft.), visitors (3,320 sq.ft.) and a smaller room for officials (2,200 sq.ft.).
The Coliseum is part of the 17-acre Exposition Park complex, which includes numerous museums and gardens in addition to the Coliseum. The Coliseum offers a large conference room in the peristyle end for meetings and there is ample space to erect temporary hospitality facilities.
There is a 1995-installed, two-level press box atop the southern sideline, with facilities for both print and broadcast media.
Spectator amenities include about 20,000 parking spaces in and around Exposition Park, including lots on the USC campus and the Shrine Auditorium; a main box office with eight windows and seven portable booths; 62 permanent concession lines and up to 26 additional, portable concession stands; a first aid station and two giant scoreboards above the peristyle end, one for text (an 89 millimeter LED board measuring 37 by 19 feet) and one capable of video replay (34 by 44 feet).