Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a sports in Los Angeles, California. It was built in 1923. It has hosted many different sporting events. In and, it hosted the track events and ceremonies of the.

In football, it used to be the stadium of the, and  before they moved to other cities. The, which is across the street, has played in the Coliseum for many years, and played there for several years as well. The Coliseum hosted two s and 20 s, or NFL All-Star Games. On January 13, 2016, the Rams relocated back to Los Angeles. They will play at the Coliseum until their new stadium is built for the 2020 season.

The played in the Coliseum for four years before  was built. While there, they won a and set records for most people at a baseball game.

History
The Los Angeles Coliseum opened in June 1923; about 5 months later, on October 6, the first football game was played at the stadium, with the duel between the and ; winning the first with a score of 23-7 before a crowd of 12,836 spectators. It was a modest start for a place that would later play a prominent role in and professional football; and become one of the largest stadiums in US history.

1932 Olympic Games


In 1919, William M. Garland presided over as main promoter, an organizing committee that would seek to obtain the corresponding venue for the ; having as a base of support the guarantee of financial success that the nascent prosperity of Los Angeles meant at that time. Prosperity reflected in the construction of one of the greatest sports venues of the time: the "Memorial Coliseum", which was to be inaugurated in 1923. However, the city lost its seat to. Four years later, in April 1923 at the twenty-first session of the in, the Californian city was unanimously chosen as the venue for the , largely Measured by already owning, most of the facilities planned for the 1928 edition.

Despite the height of, Americans were willing to show their "dream factory", that is to say the economic strength of the city, and symbol of the so-called "style of American life", The same that had achieved the construction of a stadium similar to the Roman coliseums.

From the inauguration the Americans erased the ghost of the and presented a spectacle designed by the filmmaker, director of. On July 30, 1932, in front of 105,000 spectators, 1408 athletes from 37 countries paraded. From a stadium seat, actors such as, and  witnessed the exciting opening ceremony, which, like the entire organizational structure, was transformed into a blockbuster film. More than 3000 singers and musicians, 100 trumpets, thousands of doves, dancers, allegorical paintings, shared with the ceremonial acts, to give birth to the future grandiose opening ceremonies.

The stage would also witness for the first time in history the famous winner's podium, the automatic watch to measure track competitions and the first African-American winner of the 100-meter sprint: Eddie Tolan.

It took 40 years for the to become  champions again. And their rival in turn, would be the champions of the, who played the first  in their new home: Los Angeles, California, after moving from the district of Brooklyn, New York in 1958.

The White Sox were favorites, being one of the fastest teams in baseball history, called the Go-Go Sox. The World Series ran from October 1-8, 1959, as follows: games one, two, and six in the of the White Sox. Games three, four and five at the Memorial Coliseum. The World Series was won by the Dodgers 4-2.

In this World Series, the record, still in force, of the total number of tickets sold in a series, which was 420 784 and also the record of most tickets sold for a game of the world series; 92 706 in the fifth game, staged in the Los Angeles building.

Super Bowl I


In 1966, as part of an agreement between the and the other then existing championship, the  (AFL), it was established that the winners of each competition would play a match on a previously chosen neutral court, which would decide the American football champion in the United States. The first protagonists of the so-called were the  of the NFL and the  of the AFL. While the "Memorial Coliseum" would be chosen for the first party headquarters.

The Packers won 35-10 on January 15, 1967, thanks to an outstanding performance by quarterback, who scored two touchdowns with the catcher. Max McGee. The other two touchdowns were from running back Elijah Pitts. For the only time in history, the stage where the game was played was not filled, reaching just 61,946 occupied seats, out of the one hundred thousand available.

Super Bowl VII
On January 14, 1973 the seventh edition of the was held, for the second time at the "Memorial Coliseum" and this time producing the full in the stands of 90 182 spectators. The contenders were the of the AFC (they won the game 14-7) and the  of the NFC.

The Dolphins did not accept points in the first three quarters and limited the Redskins to just seven points. Jake Scott chipped in with two interceptions to be named "Most Valuable Player." The meeting was historic for being the crowning of the first team (in the Super Bowl era) that ended the regular season with a perfect record; the Dolphins led by had finished 17-0. It was the last time that the Super Bowl was staged in the Los Angeles Coliseum.

1984 Olympics


After four unsuccessful attempts to obtain the Olympic headquarters of the editions of 1952, 1956, 1976 and 1980; finally on May 18, 1978 at the eightieth session of the in, Los Angeles was chosen to host the , again, as happened in the 1923 election, unanimously in the absence of contenders. With this, the summer sports event returned to the Californian city 52 years later, becoming the third city to host the games twice, an honor that it now shared with Paris and London. At the same time, the "Memorial Coliseum" became the only stadium in history to be the main venue for two Olympic editions.

Without the presence of the Soviet bloc countries, who corresponded to the boycott of four years ago by the western bloc in the ; on July 28, 1984 6,829 athletes from 141 countries paraded along the track of the Los Angeles coliseum. Again, as in 1932, the style of film production became the main element of the opening ceremony, which had as its central theme the conquest of the west in the 19th century. A gigantic mosaic with the flags of the participating nations stood out in the opening event, made with the participation of more than ninety thousand attendees.

In 1984, Los Angeles was characterized as the first edition that was financed absolutely with the sponsorship of private companies, thereby guaranteeing the solvency of the organization and allowing, thanks to advertising and television revenues, earnings of $232.5 million. On the sporting side, the games represented the Olympic debut and consecration of his athletic career for, a gold medal winner in the long jump and the 4x100, 100 and 200 meter relay sprint events.



Soccer
Various factors allowed the city of Los Angeles and its metropolitan area to become the soccer hub of United States, both for local and international soccer. Among them the common demographic factor of the area, which since the middle of the 20th century began to host thousands and later millions of Latin American immigrants, especially Mexicans; bringing to the Californian city the love for so-called "soccer". Added to this is the incipient soccer tradition of the city dating back to 1902. At first, football was host to small stadiums in the area such as "Wrigley Field" (homonym of in Chicago) and "Veterans Memorial Stadium", However, the growth of football fans moved the dispute of the matches to the largest stage in the city, the "Memorial Coliseum".

The first official competition match that took place in the building would be on March 7, 1965, corresponding to the between United States and  that ended with a two-point tie. Although the stadium represents the second most active venue in the history of the US national team (after ), they have only played 22 games there, the last of them in the year. 2000. Of these, eleven were in official competition (three from, seven from the and one from the ) and eleven friendlies, all category "A". In this scenario, the team won their first absolute title by finishing as champion of the, beating their counterpart from Honduras in kicks from the penalty spot.

However, the most active national team at the Memorial Coliseum is, which has played 86 matches in the building: 14 in official competition (3 in the World Cup qualifying round, 9 in the and two from the ), including the  finals from   and , in which they won 2-0 against  and 1-0 against United States respectively; and 72 friendlies (50 from  - against other senior teams -, 6 from the so-called "B" team and 16 against both Mexican and foreign clubs. Los Angeles is the second stadium where the Mexican representative has played the most matches, only after its official headquarters in , surpassing any other venue both in his country and in the United States.  It was in the mid-1980s that the Mexican national team began to adopt it as the headquarters for tual of its friendly games in the neighboring country, largely due to the unique population of Los Angeles, which places it as the second city with the most Mexicans in the world (only after Mexico City).

Given its capacity and the importance of the area in which it is located, it has been striking for different club and national matches, both friendly and official. Although it highlights the fact that it was not considered as the venue for the, a distinction awarded to its neighbor the.

Although the stadium has never hosted the (final game for the  title), nor the final of the  (the oldest soccer tournament in the country); It was the site of the first final of a professional soccer tournament in the country, when it served as the setting for the  in 1967, organized by the.

1991 Gold Cup
In October 1990, the decided to reissue its national team tournament, converting it from hexagonal to octagonal, separating it from the elimination process for the World Cup, and holding it every two years in the United States. The new tournament was named. The was held from June 28-July 7, 1991 with the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles and the. Therefore, for the only time in history, all of the games (16) were held in a single venue (considering Pasadena part of the ). Twelve of the encounters occurred at the Colosseum; Of course this including the final, in which United States was crowned champion by beating 4-3 on penalty kicks (after drawing 0-0) to his counterpart from.

1996 Gold Cup
After having no activity in the, the stadium returned to the CONCACAF area fair maximum to host five games, including the final on January 21, 1996 in which the won the double championship by defeating , 2-0, who had attended as a guest.

1998 Gold Cup
Held at three different venues (Los Angeles, Oakland and Miami, Florida), the took place half of the sixteen duels, in the Los Angeles Coliseum; that it could serve as the venue for one more edition of the growing rivalry between the United States and Mexico teams, facing each other in the final, settled in favor of the "tricolor" team with a score of 1-0; thus reaching the three-time championship of the tournament.

2000 Gold Cup
The Memorial Coliseum was the scene of one of the most important football successes for the ; since in this building "the maple leaf team" won the area championship on February 27, 2000, by beating Colombia 2-0 in the final, who had come as a guest. This time the stadium hosted only six games.

2005 Gold Cup
The group stage matches Mexico-Guatemala (4-0) and South Africa-Jamaica (3-3) are so far the last at the Memorial Coliseum within this competition. The preparation of the Rose Bowl for international games, coupled with the emergence of a stadium specially designed for soccer in the Carson area (the ), would be a factor for the displacement of the second stadium with the most games in the history of the Gold Cup (only after the ).

Concacaf Champions Cup
The first match of the highest club competition in the confederation, staged here, corresponded to the first leg of the round of 16 phase of the between  and  (both Mexican teams) on April 9, 1985, which ended with a 3-1 victory for the American team. This was the first Mexican Soccer Classic in international competition. Only two of the local teams in the stadium had the opportunity to participate in the ; The in  and, qualified by being champion of the , however both times he withdrew. Los Angeles Wolves, and Los Angeles Toros were never able to participate in the contest. Meanwhile the who was home to the, before moving to the , used it three times in this tournament: the  by defeating  4-2; in the  by losing 4-3 on penalties against  after drawing one; In the  in which he was crowned champion, he played the semifinal and final here, as the tournament format was a neutral venue finals. The only final of the tournament, played in this stadium.

Interamerican Cup
In the it was determined to define the title between  champion of the  and  champion of the  in a third tiebreaker match on a neutral court, after both teams had won their respective home games by the same score of 3-1. The chosen venue was the "Memorial Coliseum".

CONCACAF Giants Cup
The was a tournament organized by the, its finalists would qualify for a new competition called "CONCACAF Club Cup", which has never been made. For the final phase of the event was chosen the Colise or angelino. was crowned champion by defeating.

Recopa Sudamericana
In an attempt to promote South American soccer globally, began moving one of its championship games to venues outside of South America, specifically  and the United States. The was played in a single match on July 12, 2003 at the Memorial Coliseum, between the Paraguayan club  (champion of the ) and the Argentine club  (Champion of the ). The match ended with a 2-0 victory for the Paraguayan team.

Other events
On March 29, 2008, the and the  set the Guinness World Record for the highest attendance at a baseball game with a crowd of 115,300. viewers. Other historical events are, in 1990 Nelson Mandela's speech in the United States, the Mass for  in 1987, and in 1976 the spectacle of the

The Colosseum has hosted dozens of concerts including: Roger Waters performing "The Wall" in its entirety (May 19, 2012), LA Rising (June 2011), the "Summer sanitarium tour" (led by Metallica - August 2003), Bruce Springsteen in 1985, four of the sold-out Rolling Stones,, , , , , , , among others.

A new milestone for the highest paid attendance (63 101) for a Latin music concert in the United States was set on March 18, 2006, when took the Coliseum stage.

The was held there between 1951 and 1972, and then in 1979. On the other hand, the Super Bowl was held at the Coliseum between 1972 and 1998. The were performed in part at that stadium in 2003 and 2010.

Olympic Flame
The Olympic Flame (also known as The Olympic Torch) is lit when the team of the  plays, and on various special occasions such as:
 * In the winter of 1963 they lit the flame for the passing of.
 * In 2004 it was illuminated by the passing of  for a week.
 * The same the year after 2005 when  passed away.
 * In commemoration of the deaths of the, the torch was lit for a week.

NASCAR
On September 14, 2021, the NASCAR Cup Series would announce the annual Busch Clash would take place at the Coliseum, at a purpose-made quarter-mile track.

Other websites

 * Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum's Official website