The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will remain the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The historic home of USC football just south of downtown will, however, have a jumbled up new official name as a result of a lucrative naming rights deal the school just executed. As announced on Friday afternoon, the venue will henceforth be referred to as ‘United Airlines Field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.’
Try saying that three times fast.
“USC is honored to be the caretaker of this Los Angeles treasure and, together with United, we are ensuring the Coliseum’s future as a world-class venue,” said USC interim President Wanda M. Austin in a statement. “The naming of the field is a significant step in USC’s efforts to usher in a modern era for this historic landmark and preserve its legacy. Through this process, USC was guided by doing the right thing for the community as we continue to honor our veterans. We look forward to the opening of United Airlines Field within the newly renovated Coliseum this summer.”
The Trojans originally inked a deal with the airline for naming rights back in early 2018 for a record $69 million over 15 years. However, local uproar over the proposed name for the historic landmark -- at one time set to change to the ‘United Airlines Memorial Coliseum’ -- caused both school and airline to back to the drawing board.
The result of those discussions is the lengthy name above, which allows United to get its sponsorship, USC to get its money and both to continue to respect for the stadium original purpose of being a tribute to soldiers who fought and died in World War I.
The new name is scheduled to go into effect in August ahead of USC’s season opener against Fresno State at the end of the month. Like everybody in cardinal and gold or any other colors though, we’ll stick with calling the stadium ‘The Coliseum’ like it has been called for decades now.
