Home > Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

Originally built in 1922, the Coliseum served as the primary track and field venue and site of the opening and closing ceremonies of both the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games. The Olympic torch which burned through the Games remains above the peristyle at one end of the stadium as a reminder of this, as do the Olympic rings symbols over one of the main entrances. A pair of life-sized bronze statues of male and female athletes atop a 20,000 pound post-and-lintel frame formed the Olympic Gateway created by Robert Graham for the 1984 games. The statues, modelled on a waterpolo player and a sprinter who participated in the games, were noted for their anatomical accuracy.

Many other events have been held at the Coliseum over the years, and only a few are listed here. For many years, it served as the home football stadium for both the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans, although in 1982 UCLA moved its home games to the Rose Bowl in PasadenaPicture of the Colorado Street Bridge Pasadena is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 133,936. It located at 34°10' North, 118°8' West. Pasadena is the main population. The former Cleveland RamsLouis Rams are a National Football League team based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded 1937 Formerly known as Cleveland Rams ( 1937- 1945), Los Angeles Rams ( 1946- 1994; in Los Angeles 1946- 1978 and Anaheim 1979- 1994). Home stadium Edward Jones Dome (for of the National Football LeagueFor other uses of the abbreviation "NFL," see NFL (disambiguation). The National Football League NFL is the largest and most popular professional American football league in the world, consisting of thirty-two teams from American cities. The league was fo relocated to the Coliseum in 1946See also 1945 in sports, other events of 1946, 1947 in sports and the list of 'years in sports'. Baseball January 23: Hall of Fame election: The writers' vote again fails to select an inductee, despite a newly revamped voting process. Voting again favors, becoming the Los Angeles Rams; but the team later relocated again, first to AnaheimAnaheim is a city in Orange County, south-west California, a part of the greater Los Angeles conurbation to the east of Long Beach. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 328,014. It is a focus city of the Greater Los Angeles Area. in 1979See also 1978 in sports, other events of 1979, 1980 in sports and the list of 'years in sports'. Auto Racing Stock car racing: NASCAR Championship Richard Petty Richard Petty won the Daytona 500 CART Racing (replaced USAC): Rick Mears won the season champ, then to St. Louis, Missouri in 1995See also 1994 in sports, other events of 1995, 1996 in sports and the list of 'years in sports'. Auto Racing Stock car racing: Sterling Marlin won the Daytona 500 NASCAR Championship Jeff Gordon CART racing season championship won by Jacques Villeneuve In. In 1960 the American Football League's Los Angeles Chargers played at the Coliseum before relocating to San Diego the next year. In 1982 the Rams were temporarily replaced as tenants by the former Oakland Raiders, however this team subsequently returned to Oakland in 1995, leaving the Coliseum without a professional football tenant for the first time since the close of World War II. The most recent pro football tenant has been the short-lived Los Angeles Xtreme, the first and only champion of the XFL.

Other sporting events held at the Coliseum over the years have included Major League Baseball, which was held at the Coliseum when the former Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League relocated to Los Angeles in 1958. The Dodgers played here until Dodger Stadium was completed in time for the 1962 season, despite the fact that the Coliseum's one-tier, oval bowl shape was extremely poorly-suited to baseball.

The Coliseum for many years was capable of seating over 100,000 spectators, and the capacity for the 1984 Olympics configuration was approximately 88,000. Subsequently, many seats - and the running track - were removed to appease Raiders owner Al Davis, partially in order to make the venue more easily sold out so that his team's game could appear live on L.A. television, which is forbidden by NFL rules unless a game is already sold out at least 72 hours prior to its scheduled kickoff. Some of the removed seats, which were primarily in the end zone, were replaced with new bleachers far closer to the end lines of the playing field. (The combination of the stadium's large, relatively shallow design, along with the presence of the track between the playing field and the stands, meant that some of the former end zone seats were essentially away from the field by the equivalent in length to another football field.) However, with Davis' Raiders now long gone, recently some of the changes that he had demanded were reversed, and the current configuration is somewhat similar to that used for the 1984 Olympics, with a recent USC football game drawing over 90,000, the largest crowd assembled within the Coliseum for several years.

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a tremendously historical sports venue and probably should be preserved on that basis alone. However, it is no longer regarded as adequate by modern standards to be the home of a major professional sports organization. It is located in what is perceived by many potential fans, accurately or not, as a more unsafe part of the city. The absence of large numbers of club seats, which in newer venues are usually located in between a lower and an upper deck, and the overall age of the facility and many of its amenities, mean that it is very unlikely that any major professional sports team will consider relocating to the Coliseum again except perhaps on a very temporary basis, and even that seems increasingly unlikely. Given the apparent lack of interest among the voters in Los Angeles and Los Angeles County in appropriating any tax revenues toward a new stadium, it seems that the NFL's oft-stated desire to return to the nation's second-largest media market may remain unfulfilled for quite some time, unless arrangements can be made with a suburban jurisdiction; this has been proposed several times, but as of this writing has never come close to fruition.