Memorial Coliseum
Over the years, many sports teams have taken up residence at this famous stadium, which will become an Olympic venue for a third time in 2028.
Extensively refurbished in 2019, Los Angeles Olympic Stadium has provided the setting for a host of sporting events, concerts, religious gatherings and political rallies, and again staged the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and track and field events when the city welcomed the Olympic Games for a second time in 1984. It will do so once more when the Games return to Los Angeles in 2028.
The University of Southern California’s sports teams have used the venue since 1932, among them the Trojans, its American football team. The stadium has provided the setting for two Super Bowls, a World Series, and four US Olympic track and field trials. The Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Raiders and Los Angeles Dodgers are just some of the many sports teams that have called the stadium home at some time or other in its history. In 2022, the stadium even hosted a 150-lap NASCAR stock car race.
Figures such as John F. Kennedy, Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II and Billy Graham have all addressed large crowds at the stadium, which has also played host to the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen and Prince, among other major acts.
The stadium first opened in 1923. Built on the site of an abandoned racecourse at the city’s Exposition Park, it had a capacity of 105,000 in 1932. It is known as the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, in honour of local World War One veterans.