The USC Trojans have finally gained full control of the Los Angeles Coliseum, their home stadium since 1923. It took years to get to this point but the Coliseum is now USC’s to manage and the school intends to restore the historic venue.
According to ESPN Los Angeles, the California Science Center’s governing board approved the final details in a lease agreement for the stadium, allowing USC to take control of management and operations of the stadium. The agreement in place grants the control to USC for the next 98 years (2111 if you are making plans) and will have the school move forward on plans to improve the stadium costing up to $100 million.
“We get to control our own destiny [at the Coliseum], which we didn’t before,” USC athletic director Pat Haden told ESPNLosAngeles.com. “But we are going to have to pay for the renovations that were supposed to be paid for by somebody else. So in some ways, it’s like picking up somebody else’s responsibility, but we do finally have control.”
USC will pay rent reported at $1 million per year but the school should start being able to turn a profit in the stadium by having more control of concessions and other sources of income related to the venue. The new changes may not be immediately noticeable, but the plans are there for USC.
“You won’t notice a lot this year because we just got control of it,” Haden said in the ESPN Los Angeles report. “There will be a few cosmetic things. The food will be better and easier to purchase, and it will be cleaner. Over the next year or so, we’ve got to develop a plan and a fundraising plan for what it’s going to look like, but I don’t think anything major is going to be taking place for another two years.”