Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Historic home of the Rams, Trojans, and Olympic glory.
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the Los Angeles Coliseum or L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. The Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 and completed in 1923 as a memorial to Los Angeles veterans of World War I. The stadium currently serves as the home of the University of Southern California Trojans football team, and is located directly adjacent to the school's main University Park campus. For most of its history the Coliseum was among the largest stadiums in the United States, seating over 100,000 for several decades. As of 2016 the facility had a permanent seating capacity of 93,607 for USC football and Rams games, making it the largest football stadium in the Pac-12 Conference and the NFL.
Quick Facts
- Nfl tenure (rams)
- 2016–2019
Lore & Background
The Coliseum was the home of the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1979 and again from 2016 to 2019. It was the site of the first AFL–NFL World Championship Game (later called Super Bowl I) and Super Bowl VII. The stadium has also been the temporary home of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1958 to 1961, and was the host venue for games three, four, and five of the 1959 World Series. Additionally, it has served as a home field for a number of other teams, including the 1960 inaugural season for the Los Angeles Chargers, the Los Angeles Raiders of the NFL from 1982 to 1994, and UCLA Bruins football.
The Coliseum is jointly owned by the State of California's Sixth District Agricultural Association, Los Angeles County, and the City of Los Angeles. It is managed and operated by the University of Southern California (USC). The Coliseum was designated a National Historic Landmark on July 27, 1984, a day before the opening ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympics. It will become the first stadium to have hosted the Summer Olympics three times when it hosts the 2028 Summer Olympics, previously hosting in 1932 and 1984.
Reader's Guide
The field runs east to west with the press box on the south side of the stadium. The Coliseum opened in 1923 with a capacity of 75,144. Ahead of the 1932 Olympics the stadium was extended upward to 79 rows of seats with two tiers of tunnels, expanding the seating capacity to 101,574. The signature Olympic cauldron was added and the Coliseum was briefly known as Olympic Stadium.
The cauldron and the Olympic rings remain above the peristyle at the east end of the stadium. In 1964, the stadium underwent its first major renovation in over three decades, reducing the seating capacity to approximately 93,000. Additional seating increased the Coliseum's seating capacity to 93,607 in September 2008. After assuming the Coliseum master lease in 2013, USC unveiled an estimated $270 million project for a massive renovation and restoration the Coliseum in October 2015.
Construction began in January 2018 and was completed in time for the 2019 football season, using only university funds. The project budget increased from the initial estimate of $270 million to $315 million mainly due to the tight construction schedule.
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