The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, which opened in 1959, has been a privileged part of the City’s athletic, community and pop history for almost six decades. Built as Los Angeles’ first convention center, it was opened by then Vice President of the United States Richard Nixon and a year later hosted the 1960 Democratic National Convention where John F. Kennedy was chosen by his party to run for the presidency. The next 56 years saw the likes of Cassius Clay knock out Archie Moore and the UCLA Bruins win their first championship under John Wooden. The Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers (of the NBA), Kings (NHL), USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins (NCAA), Stars (ABA) and Sharks (WHL) all called the Arena home at various times and the building hosted the 1984 Summer Olympic boxing competition and two NCAA Final Four Championships. For years local residents enjoyed annual productions from Disney On Ice, Ringling Brothers Circus, WWF Wrestling and the Sunkist Invitational Track Meet. Whether it was AC/DC, U2, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, Madonna, Green Day, Los Bukis, Vicente Fernandez, Daft Punk or Bruce Springsteen, rock ‘n roll and other styles practically blew the roof off of the place with electrifying and memorable performances.
But change and opportunity are inevitable in a day, an age, and an industry that must reinvent itself. The University of Southern California, managing the Sports Arena on behalf of the Coliseum Commission, has entered into negotiations with the Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) to have LAFC build a modern, 22,000 seat, state-of-the-art soccer stadium on the Arena site, as the future home of a Major League Soccer franchise.
For more information regarding the LAFC plans for a future soccer stadium, please click on the following link:
Los Angeles Football Club Press Release
In light of the current negotiations, the Sports Arena is currently taking booking inquiries only through February 2016; as the process for developing the LAFC soccer stadium plays out, we will update this date accordingly.
