Michigan Stadium is hosting 109,000 fans today as Manchester United plays Real Madrid. USC officials have met with Michigan officials for ideas on running a stadium and bringing in events. This is the type of thing USC should go for instead of having fans run on to the field for $1,500.
Here’s ONE idea the Michigan folks did NOT give to Southern Cal: putting up a shanty town in the end zone!!
i still doubt i’ll ever see such a a travesty, but if so, it will be….Sublime.
More dumpsters to troll….you’re loving it!
I agree. Not sure what genius pays the seven-figure salaries to the university/athletic department clowns who did the leasing equivalent of George Tirebiter: chase the Coliseum (car in George’s case) and then be at a loss of what to do with it 359 days a year once they “catch” it. Nix that: they had a great idea: charge season ticket holders PSLs and cheapen the brand by selling runs down the tunnel (that should be reserved for the people who earned the honor) at $1,500 a pop.
USC has always been about money, but they never really seemed to know about how to go about getting it, other than gouging the fans
You’re wrong Scott Wolf – smart institutions know it is in appealing to ALL levels for donations that the biggest most continuous return can be found i.e. each ‘niche’ has potential for revenue.
If USC can demonstrate the gain by accepting $1,500 to run on the field game after game then watch as MI and all the rest do so – it is the same logic that has USC examining MI’s rental of their stadium to two of the most legend inspired major league soccer franchises – Real Madrid and Manchester United.
What matters is that the revenue is continuous and the venue is in constant use – that minimizes red ink and maximizes publicity of the stadium all over the world.
Major league soccer matches followed by USC football games and concerts – an area that has been pilloried for decades is suddenly the ‘in place’ to be nt just during football season and best for all the most ‘still intact’ famous stadium in the USA is maintained for decades to come.
Learn to embrace why USC is so rich in tradition – many of the alumni are
and choose to show their affection for the betterment of all.
Hmm, $1500 from 100 people to run down the tunnel or 90,000 paying $30 or more to see a soccer match, you’re very bright are you?
Still think Brian Jones played the sitar on an LP before George Harrison ?
Yeah I do – it isn’t just the 100 that run the ramp there are a number of other sources for fundraising – it all flows to the same place.
BTW I’m sure the (assuming a full 100 per game 6 games total) $900K will be earmarked for a specific cost and unlike the horde at a major event, there are no additional charges for day of game/event: general labor, clean up, parking, food, facilities – the ramp run is pure gravy as are all the other items of funds that so many here mock.
and yes he did – BTW back in the day there was that little soiree that night but London’s finest made darn sure Georgie had exited before they busted Mick and the lads.
“Paint it black you devil!”
Just admit you were wrong Nikita
Cribro aquam haurire
This is not really a new idea at all. I was at a sold out Coliseum for a match between FC Barcelona and Chivas Guadalajara. Obviously, the Chivas team is not legendary. However, given the number of Mexican soccer fans in Los Angeles, the interest in the Chivas team was high. I realize that USC was not managing the Coliseum at that time, but I am sure they are very aware of it.
Probe they’re getting in on the ground floor of the growing generational interest in soccer. The Rose Bowl has hosted many game there in the past. If USC’s success in any of these mocked fund raising schemes shows promise why wouldn’t the rest of the college football world mimic the trend – they’d be foolish not to.
USC’s biggest worry is going to be security – the tragic shootings and other felonies are usually non-football related. The recent homicide of that Chinese student north of the campus on 29th and Orchard is another notice of the reality of the area – change is occurring but the campaign to push back ‘the hood’ is ongoing especially when it is aimed southward towards Santa Barbara opps my bad I meant MLK!
I remember Santa Barbara as well. It has not been a good neighborhood for most of my life. However, if SC manages and develops to Coliseum properly, it is better situated than the Rose Bowl as far as accessibility. The Exposition rail line to the Westside/Santa Monica should be complete prior to any Coliseum renovations and that will help as well.
I am not a fan of the little fundraising things but Wolf is making way too big a deal out of it. For me, it’s just a little cheesy thinking of a 55 year old alumnus running out of the tunnel. I always like the thought of some young kids running out, similar to the young kids walking out of the tunnel during the World Cup. It’s also a way of reaching out to some of the kids in the area. But then, you know me….one of those Westside Limousine Libtards! 🙂
SC does have to address even stronger the crime concerns in the neighborhood. 3 murders in 2 years has the potential to stain what has been a pretty good story for the school over the last decade. I am not sure what the answer is, but they simply may need to hire more officers to patrol the surrounding neighborhood. I know they work closely with LAPD and are taking this seriously as they should.
Areas around Stadiums have very low crime on game days. Normally with the masses of crowds and sets of eyes it deters crime. Actuall 2 incidents in 2 years is very minor. Its is highlgithed by it being the Chinese Foreign Students.. Crime is dramatically down otherwise in the area.
The Expo Line is a major plus. It is bringing thousands of more folks to Expo Park now to the Rose Garden and Museums. Thousands take it now to USC Football games from the West and from Downtown.
Crime being low on game day is fine and it has been that way for a long time. However, if the administration doesn’t get a bit more aggressive regarding off campus incidents, it can become a huge image problem, not only locally but abroad. At times, I think the school may have been too sensitive about the subject and wanting to bury it under the rug. That’s is my impression anyway and I doubt that I am alone. I have a daughter in college currently and safety is a huge issue for parents.
I totally agree. I posted on another blog indepth that sentiment about the security in general surrounding campus.
I think they have been overly aggressive with ON-campus security given that virtually every criminal incident that I recall happening to my friends at SC occurred in the neighborhood OFF campus.
Totally accurate. Given that there are a number of students living off campus, the school needs to come up with a plan to address the situation.
This is a very insightful post. USC has to take late night security much more seriously off campus. In the past DPS lets the LAPD handle off campus security and just has tried to augment it with institutions like campus cruiser to drive students to their homes. The LAPD just doesn’t have the presence in West Adams north of campus that it needs for the number of students who live there.
USCis going to need to extend its security perimeter north to ensure these near campus attacks end. I hope they developed a cooperative effort with the local neighborhood and the LAPD. But in the past, when USC extends the perimeter it antagonizes the local community. I hope it works better this time.
It’s the pains of being in the poorer downtown region. But the impact on the local community can be so much greater if they do this right.
When those two students were killed in the carjacking attempt a couple of years ago, my first thought was amazement that students were now willing to live in that specific area, a few blocks west of Vermont and Adams. When I was at USC (1990s), I only knew one guy who dared to try living west of Vermont, and at some point someone broke into their place and tried to sexually assault his girlfriend, so it served as a cautionary tale to the rest of us.
But this latest attack — at Orchard and 29th?! I walked through that intersection multiple times a day for two years. I know it’s summer and there aren’t as many people around that area, but I’m still shocked that something so brazen and brutal happened at a spot that I consider to be well within the unofficial “student housing zone” directly north of the campus.
The odd thing to me is that, despite these terrible murders, when I go to the USC area today it generally seems nicer than it did twenty years ago, and I think the “lockdown” of the campus at night has been an overreaction. But maybe it’s time to change the attitude that off-campus burglaries and muggings are just part of the USC experience.
I agree with you about the lockdown. That was because one guy pulled a gun on another on campus–neither person involved was a student. But the students were upset that it was apparently that easy to get guns on campus and so the school overreacted to make sure you have to have a campus ID to get on campus with the sun down.
There is a larger issue here as well. Not all students are being targeted. Chinese graduate students appear to be the targets. I don’t know if they are targets of opportunity because they aren’t as knowledgeable about the area or if there is a racial element to it. But USC has so many more Chinese nationals as students. KPCC reported that there are around 2700 Chinese nationals as students–the largest number of international students in an increasingly international student body. These attacks threaten USC’s relationship with this student body as the Chinese government (especially with the number of a Chinese students in Viterbi, almost all of whom pay full tuition and are supported by the Vhinese government financially). These international students are both financially a boon to the university AND significantly contribute to the rise of its stature internationally.
Sorry clearly “Chinese” not “Vhinese.” The IPad is not kind to longer posts.
But to finish–the University’s challenge here is both location AND its increasing international student body. I hope the attacks are not part of a larger trend of locals attacking the Chinese for racial reasons but I fear that is an element. The issue is larger than USC but will have a tremendous impact on the University’s continued success.
I too have wondered if there is a racial element to the attacks, but then again, all these unfortunate people may have been just “targets of opportunity” who were just very, very unlucky. And we’re only talking about two incidents over a few years, so it’s a pretty small sample size, of course. I don’t know if there are other incidents of racial harassment that just don’t get press coverage because they don’t involve murder. Then again, I kind of doubt that these kids had any clue as to whether they were attacking a Chinese grad student as opposed to some guy from Koreatown.
It will be interesting to see the ripple-effects of the massive construction project that’s going to replace University Village, etc. I hope that will be a catalyst for continued change (and by change, I mean gentrification, whether the neighborhood likes it or not).
Areas around Stadiums have very low crime on game days. Normally with the masses of crowds and sets of eyes it deters crime.
Mr Wolf,
It is called “benchmarking” and I’ll bet that USC Coliseum management & operations staff will meet with other schools that run big stadiums (maybe even Notre Dame and some in the SEC).
I also remember that sold out FC Barcelona and Chivas Guadalajara match in 2008 in front of 92,650 fans at the LA Coliseum.
I still believe that the best course of action for USC is to demolish the Sports Arena and build a 24K seat soccer stadium in its place for a MLS team like Chivas LA. Reserving the Coliseum for the occasional huge international club matches like this Man U and Real Madrid event, or MLS playoff and championship games.
That is a great idea for use of the old Sports Arena – I even think a multi-use combined with baseball stadium would be a good idea – lease it out for a Single A team as well as Chivas – I may be wrong but I believe they don’t compete season wise.
Turn the baseball stadium into a large campus park
I don’t believe that the Sports Arena site alone is big enough to accommodate a duel sport stadium, you’d have to remove the parking lot to the south of the SA. However, a stadium the size/shape of the StubHub Center in Carson – shared by MLS’s LA Galaxy and Chivas USA – would fix nicely on the Sports Area site without impacting parking lots.
That all said, a multi-sport replacement stadium complex built by USC (using USC provided financing) on the Sports Arean property site (which is much bigger than the physical building) is allowed under the lease without additional approval by the Coliseum Commission. I believe that the big parking lot directly south of the SA boarding MLK belongs to the State and is under the control of the Museum Board. If so, I doubt that’s a public fight USC wants to reengage.
USC gets a year to figure it out leasing the Sports Arena to the Bruins. And make them pay extra for air conditioning and lighting. Then, assuming the Bruins actually are on a path to having non-aquatic facilities again, tear down the Sports Arena and build a parking garage that can hold 30K vehicles. Make the top shelf available at a premium for buses and campers. Put horseshoes and volleyball in the middle of that sun deck. Charge $40 for parking on game days, $100 for buses and campers. Fans will pay for convenience and security. Make the lot available with shuttles to/from Staples Center, just like are currently there for USC game day parking. Once the parking is ample, you can have big events in the Coli.
Why would the Bruins be leasing out the Sports Arena? Pauley Pavilion will be ready for the season.
Not sure spending so much on parking lots to be used for 7 days (7 home games) out of the year is economically feasible. You can use the Soccer fields/Softball complex Stadium fields for parking on game days. They do that now on the soccer field in Expo Park on Menlo ave. Heck the Rose Bowl even use their Golf Course for parking. Grass is very resilant if used for parking only a few times a year.
Scottie why don’t you look up how oftern the stadium is used for a photo , commercial, or movie shoot. A very quiet way to raise revenue.
Manchester United was at the Rose Bowl a week ago before a sell out crowd of 88,000. They would have sold out the Coliseum as well. We just were slow on the draw of booking them. Tipically venues are agressive about booking national or club teams just after the World cup.
It would have been smart to had jumped on Mexico, Argentina, or even Germany teams vs Chivas USA, Galaxy or one or vs a Euro Club team.
Seek to book an increased number of Club and Nation Soccer matches at the Coliseum throughout the year. I believe the timing is right for the sport to really catch on here. However it has to be the elite Latin America and Euro Club teams.
There is more potential events here in So Cal than in Michigan. Trust me. As one person mentioned get rid of the Sports Arena nad build a Pro Soccer/ Softball Stadium complex there. This venue can be used by new USC Mens Soccer and Softball teams. As well as local High Schools. It could also be used for Summer Outdoor Concerts and Summer Outdoor Movies.
The Coliseum could also be used for Summer Outdoor Concerts in the Round by utilizing the West End of The Coliseum.
Heck use the Coliseum for Outdoor Championship Boxing matches.
Lobby with the NFL to schedule a couple of NFL preseason games. Continue to look at the idea of bringing an NFL team to the Venue with the idea of sharing the cost for stadium major improvements.
Things like Outdoor custom car shows, Monster Car Demolishions Derby’s, Outdoor convention trade shows, and Rodeos can fill dates.
Great ideas, all of them…just ask that creepy diSteffano guy….He made a KILLING (yup,,,,I know, poor choice of words “round here”). Don’t forget to get in touch with those “Daisey Wheel” people who put on those Raves for drug fiends….(another benefit is they aren’t afraid to cut a few side deals UNDER The Table!).
Sometimes, the “filler” saturday Torgan cry baby beat downs just aren’t going to be enough.
Great LOCATION….So. Central….Sanford and Son made a pretty good living off of the neighborhood JUNK….How about a good old fashioned “SWAP MEET” where you knuckleheads could sell “VINTAGE” Clothing, furniture, and “Patio Furniture” (50 gallon Drums converted into Bar-B-Q’s?).
Let’s get Nubsie on it…..He’s a deal maker.
fit Un!
#clivenbucketstrikesagain
OCD!
octd!
fit un!
You must be reading my mind. I thought about the Rave concerts such as the Daisy Festival. It slipped my mind and I couldnt think of what I missed after trying to remember for nearly a half hour.
They drew massive crowds. However with the drugs, kids crashing the gates. and the death of the young lady the Colisuem decided to drop the festival.
It maybe possible to bring such a fesitival back however its very difficult to control the drugs that would surround it.
Reading your mind? It’s a Prerequisite for acceptance into CADRE Executive Council.
Congrats…most of you DUMMY’s don’t even know it’s happening!
fit Un!
The guy is straight, nice try!