This past weekend, the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum kicked off NASCAR’s momentous diamond anniversary in historic fashion with one of the most memorable exhibitions the sport has seen in its 75-year history.

Unlike last year’s inaugural event at the Coliseum, Sunday’s race did not stand out for a fresh concept. Rather, it turned heads and left a lasting impression for the improvements it showed and the unique experience it provided, which instilled critical trust in NASCAR’s newfound willingness to think outside of the box.

Read more at SI.com.

For the first time in 10 years, Hard Summer Music Festival is coming home to Los Angeles.

The 15th installment of the dance-focused festival, scheduled for Aug. 5-6, will position Hard Summer’s to-be-announced acts across stages at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Exposition Park and BMO Stadium. This is the first time that all three venues will be used simultaneously for a live event, increasing the sense of novelty that surrounds Hard Summer’s return to downtown L.A. while catering to diverse tastes within the dance space.

While the Coliseum will welcome booming sets from bass mavens, BMO Stadium will host marquee main stage artists at the Hard Stage, with live performances to take place at the Purple Stage. Meanwhile, at Exposition Park, house and techno figureheads can be found at the Pink Stage and multi-genre talents at the Harder Stage.

Read more on Variety.com.

The inaugural SuperMotocross World Championship Playoffs final dates have changed, creating a more compact schedule for the three-race finale.

Playoff Race 1 will still kick off Saturday, September 9 at zMax Dragway, but Round 2 at Chicagoland Speedway has been moved to September 16 and the series finale will now be run on September 23.

The move was made to accommodate the newly released Pac-12 Conference college football schedule to avoid conflict with USC Trojans’ home games which are played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The season finale was initially set for October 14, which created some concern among riders and teams because of the extended length of the season – extending from early January through mid-October. The new combined season features 17 Supercross races and 11 rounds in the Motocross series and three playoff races for a total of 31 events.

Read more on NBCSports.com.

When Kaskade and deadmau5 joined forces to create Kx5, dance music fans knew they were witnessing something monumental. On Dec. 10, the two brought Kx5 to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the historic performance breaking records and becoming the largest single-day concert headlined by an electronic music artist in North America.

Last weekend witnessed 50,000 fans as Kaskade and deadmau5 took the stage to celebrate the venue’s 100th anniversary.

Read more on Pollstar.com.

ServiceTitan’s Customer Conference—Pantheon 2022

The event—which drew the likes of Magic Johnson and Brad Paisley—was held fully outdoors on the grounds of an iconic Los Angeles stadium.

ServiceTitan—an all-in-one software solution for home and commercial contractors—last hosted its in-person customer conference in 2019. So as COVID rates were once again climbing during the planning process for the 2022 event, the team knew they had a big decision to make: Cancel, go virtual, or host a fully outdoor conference, where the virus’ transmission rates would arguably be lower.

Ultimately, they opted for the third option, marking the first time the event had been held fully outdoors—and the first time the venue had ever hosted an outdoor conference.

The conference, known as Pantheon, ultimately drew more than 2,000 attendees to the famed Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on April 20, 2022. Produced by CDE Productions, the gathering featured 30 breakout sessions, six keynotes, and even a concert from country star Brad Paisley.

Read more about ServiceTitan’s award-winning event on BizBash.

A fan sat grinning in the first row at the Coliseum, Roosevelt High red and yellow paint across his cheeks, holding up a small sheet of cardstock with six words scrawled in pen.

“I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL!!” it read.

You really didn’t need to Friday night. You just needed to be there to soak in the grandest East L.A. Classic in its centuries-long history.

To see the stands light up with the twinkle of thousands of cellphone lights.

To hear the booming chants of “East L-A” or “Boy-le Heights” not cheering on just a team, but a group of young men representing the heart of a storied community.

To feel the bass of a Black Eyed Peas halftime performance merging with the triumphant trumpets of the school bands, thumping through your toes, rattling your ribcage and shivering your soul.

The teams, the bands, the Peas, the fans — they painted a beautiful tapestry together, elevating a timeless tradition of Chicano pride and cultural history to a never-before-seen scale in a 16-8 Garfield win over Roosevelt. It was the most incredible game I’ve covered in my young career, leaving me and plenty others awestruck.

“That was one of the greatest athletic events I’ve ever attended,” said CIF executive director Ron Nocetti, who has seen quite a few in his day.

Even an hour before the varsity game kicked off, any sight of a red-and-gold or red-white-and-blue helmet was met with raucous cheers and corresponding boos. The stands bounced to Bad Bunny’s “Tití Me Preguntó” and Nio García’s “Te Boté,” a Garfield DJ urging the visiting-side crowd to get louder than Roosevelt’s.

Sure, those were sights typical of the Classic when played at East Los Angeles College. But the Coliseum brought a different atmosphere.

By Wednesday, 27,000 tickets had been sold, proceeds Coliseum president George Pla said would go in full toward the Roosevelt and Garfield athletic budgets — estimating about $250,000 for each school.

“I think here, since it’s bigger and it’s at a stadium where a lot of legends played, I think it’s going to bring out more people from the community,” Roosevelt senior Jared Andrade said.

He was correct. By halftime, first levels on both sides were nearly full, a crowd Pla estimated was more than 30,000.

That’s when the Coliseum went dark and the strobes went off, the Black Eyed Peas booming from the peristyle. Over the iconic torch at the Coliseum, an assembly of floating drones flashed colored lights that sketched the faces of each member of the group high into the Los Angeles sky as they performed.

Read more at LATimes.com.

Rammstein is a band committed to blunt force. You could hear it and feel it on the final night of the German act’s long-delayed U.S. stadium tour, erupting at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday (Sept. 24) with the heaviest guitars and industrial beats, abrasive electronics and literal fireballs. Rammstein meant to leave a mark and they did, with thousands of fans pummeled into noisy ecstasy and a sky tinged with smoke and fire.

The concert unfolded on a stage built into a towering dystopian cityscape right out of Fritz Lang’s silent classic Metropolis, which blended easily with the old Olympic stadium’s nearly 100-year-old structure. It was all suited to a band with a weakness for big gestures, as Rammstein delivered more than two hours of music and noise from the Neue Deutsche Härte tradition, colliding metal and techno into something distinctly their own: loud and melodic, bleak and often hilarious.

It was their second and final show in L.A. (to be followed by Mexico City and a return run in Europe). Two nights in the city’s oldest stadium is a startling accomplishment for a mostly German-language act, let alone a North American tour, where English is usually a given in rock for the masses. But Rammstein’s appeal is special and intense, crossing all borders like an invading army. Language is no barrier to their sound and raw spectacle.

Read more on SPIN.com.

One of the great feelings shared by the public of Los Bukis is the sincere affection and strong admiration they feel for each of the members of the famous group made up of its 7 musketeers: Roberto Guadarrama, Joel Solís, Javier Solís, Pedro Sánchez, Eusebio “Chivo” Cortés, José Guadarrama and their vocal leader, Marco Antonio Solís.

Some of the fans present could not attend either of the two concerts that the group offered last year at SoFi Stadium, others did have the opportunity and wanted to return to this second round to continue enjoying the “Bukimanía” that awoke with the return of the group 25 years later.

However, what could have been a perfect night ended up being a perfectly unforgettable and emotional evening, even with the detail of an unfortunate incident that worried the more than 50,000 souls who were present on Thursday night at the legendary stadium of Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Read more on LATimes.com.

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the University of Southern California and United Airlines will grant $25,000 to four Southern California military veteran entrepreneurs as part of newly developed small business program

LOS ANGELES, CALIF. (Aug 16, 2022) — The historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the University of Southern California and United Airlines today announced an all-new initiative, the United Airlines – LA Memorial Coliseum Veteran Small Business Grant Program. This community-driven effort will award a total of $100,000 in grants to four veteran-owned small businesses in Southern California, with each receiving $25,000.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, nearly 10% of small businesses in the U.S. are veteran-owned. They generate $1 trillion in annual receipts and employ nearly six million.

Following the 2019 partnership announcement naming the home of the USC Trojans United Airlines Field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the two organizations have continued to support and honor local veterans.

“We are so proud of this continued partnership and what this new initiative will mean to our community,” says Dan Stimmler, Vice President, USC Auxiliary Services and COO of the Los Angeles Coliseum. “We always strive to serve those who do so much to serve us, and our goal with this opportunity is to give back to our heroic U.S. veterans because a community cannot thrive unless everyone thrives.”

“At United, thousands of our team members across the system are veterans or in the active reserve so this partnership not only deepens our commitment to the LA community but is a tribute to all the men and women who have served in the armed forces and are now pursuing a second career,” said Janet Lamkin, Senior Vice President of Market and Community Innovation at United. “United has always stood by our veteran community and the creation of the United Airlines – LA Memorial Coliseum Veteran Small Business Grant Program will set the recipient organizations up for success in years to come.”

The application process for the United Airlines – LA Memorial Coliseum Veteran Small Business Grant Program is open through Sept. 30. Applicants can be a U.S. veteran submitting their local small business or a supporter nominating their favorite local veteran-owned small business. Applicants can visit United.com/VSBG to begin the process.

The four recipients will be recognized on Friday, Nov. 11 during the USC Trojans’ home game against the Colorado Buffaloes. Additionally, as a part of the initiative, the program will also cover costs for qualified nominees and applicants to become certified as a veteran-owned business.

For more information, please visit United.com/VSBG.