Home is Where the Heart Is

Someone needs to talk some sense into the Coliseum commission. The Coliseum Commission has remained stubborn in their negotiations with everyone, including NFL executives and now even with their most loyal friend and partner, USC. USC has finally become so fed up with the Commission’s ineffectiveness and their decisions not to fix the aging stadium that they have threatened to move across town to the Rose Bowl. USC who is the only regular user of the Coliseum right now an is in large part the only entity holding the stadium up wants to sign a new lease, since the present expires after the USC versus UCLA football game this weekend. USC is willing to pay for the much needed renovations totaling somewhere around $100 million if the Coliseum is willing to give USC some of the revenue that will come to the Coliseum because of these upgrades. The Coliseum Commission however does not want to give USC control of part of the revenue that will come in. The Coliseum Commission does not have very many other options at this point with the risk of USC leaving. The Commission has already succeeded in driving out UCLA football, both the Rams and Raiders, as well as the Lakers, Clippers, and USC basketball from the Sports Arena which the Commission is also in charge of managing.


If USC follows through on its word and moves to the Rose Bowl after this season the Coliseum will quickly fall into irrelevance as this article from the LA Times explains. Right now the Coliseum stands as both an architectural and historical monument for Los Angeles. It has hosted two Olympics, hosted professional baseball, football, and soccer games, it has been visited by Popes and Presidents so to let this monument fade into obscurity is a terrible decision. The Coliseum has been a part of my life as well as every other USC student and I can not imagine USC football without the Coliseum. Also as this is the week that USC plays UCLA in football I do not like the idea of having to share a stadium with our biggest rival. Many others share this same concern which is shown in this article.


One positive step for keeping USC in the Coliseum is that Mayor Villaraigosa is on our side and has spoken up to try and keep USC at home. He has publicly said that an NFL franchise moving to the Coliseum will not happen. This is a big step in keeping USC in the coliseum since the Commission has no leverage in negotiating with USC now, because if they lose USC then the Coliseum will not have any way of generating revenue.


The Coliseum Commission is a group made of 3 county officials, 3 state officials, and 3 city officials. Each of these groups and members has their own agenda and political aspirations and has their own ideas on what the Coliseum needs to do. As Todd Dickey, who is USC’s senior vice president for administration has said “there is no such thing as the Coliseum Commission, they are nine politicians with their own agenda, so it’s virtually impossible to negotiate with this nine-headed hydra.” The Commission needs to take a step back and look at all that the Coliseum means to the people of Los Angeles, and look at the history that it has in the city. The Commission needs to come together and take this opportunity to renovate and make the Coliseum better so that it can stand for future generations of Los Angelinos, especially for us Trojans. Fight on.