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Site of the Olympic games in 1932
and 1984, the Los Angeles Coliseum has
hosted many great games during its existence. Construction of a
football stadium in the Los Angeles area began in the early
1920s. Completed in under three years, the first football game at
the coliseum was on October 6, 1923. The stadium has a large
seating capacity, as nearly 76,000 bleachers circled the entire field. By 1930, the City of Los Angeles
was awarded the 1932 Olympics. Over $950,000 was spent to enlarge
the stadium to seat nearly 101,000 fans for the Olympics.
Professional football at the Coliseum was first played in 1946,
when owner of the Cleveland Rams, Dan Reeves moved his team to Los
Angeles. The Rams became the first NFL team to move to the west
coast. They played their first game at the coliseum on September 29,
1946 against the Philadelphia Eagles.
In April 1958, the Los Angeles
Dodgers (MLB) temporarily moved to the coliseum while Dodger Stadium was
being constructed. In 1959, a football game between USC and Ohio
State was played at the coliseum. A hour after the game's completion, the
first World Series game in California was also played. The Dodgers
moved out of the coliseum after the 1961 season. However, the Los Angeles
Rams spent more than three decades at the coliseum before moving
to Anaheim Stadium after the 1979 season. The Rams played their
final game at the Los Angeles Coliseum on December 16, 1979
against the New Orleans Saints. After the 1981 season, the Oakland
Raiders moved to Los Angeles and the coliseum. They played their first
game at the L.A. Coliseum on November 22, 1982. Two years later,
the Coliseum hosted the 1984 Olympics.
After its expansion in the 1930s, the Los Angeles
Coliseum underwent very few changes until the 1990s. In February
1993, a $15 million renovation project was completed at the
coliseum. The bleachers were replaced with actual seats and
fourteen rows of new seats were added, increasing the capacity to
92,000, after the field was lowered fourteen feet. A massive
earthquake in 1994, required over $93 million in repairs to the
coliseum. The Raiders decided to move back to the Oakland Coliseum
after the 1994 season, playing their last game at the Los Angeles
Coliseum on December 24, 1994. Today, the Los Angeles Coliseum
continues to serve as the home of the University of Southern
California football team. It
has been the home of two Super Bowls, Super Bowl I matching Green
Bay Packers against the Kansas City Chiefs, and Super Bowl VII,
matching the Miami Dolphins against the Washington Redskins.
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