Now that its busy football season is over, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has become a hub of construction activity as crews work on a major renovation.
The Coliseum is currently undergoing the final phase of a $317-million renovation that will be completed this year. USC football will be the primary beneficiary of that renovation, which will see the venerable stadium modernized to include upgraded technology, premium seating options, a new press box, replaced playing surface and lighting, and much more. The 2019 season is also slated to be the last in which the stadium hosts the NFL’s Rams, who are awaiting the 2020 completion of a new stadium in Inglewood.
A playoff game last month marked the Rams’ last home game at the facility until August, and ever since construction crews have been working at a busy pace to wrap up the renovations. The goal is to conclude the ongoing LA Memorial Coliseum construction by August 1. More from the Los Angeles Daily News:
“We’ve got lots of workers out here, and we’re working six days a week,” said Brian Grant, the coliseum’s associate director of facilities and project management. “We’ve pretty much broken it into two shifts. We’re working from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m.”
The upgrades are extensive. They include replacing every seat, adding aisles and a new seven-story structure on the coliseum’s south side to accommodate suites, loge boxes, club seats, a new concourse and a new press box.
Additional improvements will update the facility’s Wi-Fi technology, increase the number of concession stands, upgrade entry concourses, install new field and stadium lighting, add large video screens and replace the iconic venue’s aging electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems to meet current standards.
The Los Angeles Rams and USC Trojans have both been able to play on the field while work is underway.
This year will also see a new naming-rights partnership go into effect, as the venue will become United Airlines Memorial Coliseum prior to the college football season. That will be the first corporate naming-rights partnership in the history of the facility, which originally opened in 1923.
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