2028 seems just around the corner. I realize it’s more than three years from now, which is a long time, especially in the sense of life. But with the 2024 Paris Olympics over, 2028 is next, and it is here in Los Angeles. And this amazing structure I’m standing in front of is going to play a part in that Olympiad, its third time doing so. Iconic, important, and record-setting, this is the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

On Mondays and Tuesdays, the Coliseum offers tours, and I’m here on a Monday morning, lucky enough to be their guest on the 10am version. (1pm is also an option.) The tour promises to not only show me around the place during its duration of just over an hour, but also to talk about the history of the famed stadium.

I arrive early – those who know me will know that I’m basically always early for things – and am pleasantly surprised to find that the gate in front of the Olympic torch is open for passers-by (and tour groups; I witness a few) to enter the courtyard and even peek inside the bowl of the stadium itself. This area pays homage to some of Los Angeles’ sports legends, people ranging from John Wooden to Vin Scully, as well as some of the famous events that have taken place here.

Of course, the main focuses are on the two Olympics that Los Angeles has hosted thus far, in 1932 and 1984, with walls dedicated to the medal winners and Olympic committees. I snap a few photos, read some of the plaques, and then head to the visitor’s center to meet my tour guide.

My tour group is small, consisting only of myself and a family group from Brazil. (I’m not sure why they chose to come to the Coliseum, but they seem incredibly excited.) Our guide goes over some of the basics, and then we are off.

Our first stop is at the tip top of the new “tower” constructed during a 2018 renovation. Here, a private club for donors to the University of Southern California athletics department (USC is the lone full-time tenant of the Coliseum, with the campus being just down the street) doubles as a viewing platform, with vistas of downtown Los Angeles over the stadium. Looking down onto the bright green field, our guide walks us through some history.

Plans for the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum were completed in 1921, a monumental building meant to honor the area’s World War One veterans. The architects chosen to lead the project were the Parkinsons, whose local catalog also includes LA City Hall and Union Station. Construction took about two years, and the Coliseum opened in 1923.

A mere nine years later, Los Angeles hosted the 1932 Summer Olympics, and the Coliseum was at its center, hosting opening and closing ceremonies as well as track and field events. (The iconic torch was added for the event; it was not part of the original design.)

Over the subsequent decades, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was home to what seems like the majority of Los Angeles sporting events, and as our tour makes its way down the tower and into one of the interior lounges (again for major donors), some of the iconic moments in Coliseum history are displayed. Of course, USC has played football here from the get-go, but the Coliseum was also rival UCLA’s home until they moved to the Rose Bowl. Two NFL teams have played here, and even the MLB Los Angeles Dodgers somehow got a baseball diamond to fit into the stadium when they first moved to Los Angeles, from 1958 to 1962. The Coliseum has hosted Super Bowls, soccer games, and more.

And these are only the sports events. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke here. Pope John Paul II conducted a mass for 100,000 Los Angeles Catholics. John F. Kennedy accepted the Democratic nomination here. The list is dizzying.

And of course, in 1984, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum became the first stadium to host a second Olympics. (It is the re-use of the Coliseum and other venues around the city that actually made the 1984 games the first ever to turn a profit.) Once again, the torch was lit, the opening and closing ceremonies were celebrated, and track and field events took place here.

Our tour makes its way into the stadium bowl itself now, and our guide explains some of the more modern history of today’s Coliseum. Prior to the aforementioned 2018 renovations, the seating capacity here was right around 100,000. The renovations, which added the tower, redid plumbing and electrical systems, and shored up earthquake safety standards, also reduced that to roughly 76,000 in brand new red seats. (One area right below the torch that looks like bleachers is not used for seating.)

New locker rooms were added, and we make our way to those. Today, only USC football is a full tenant (they largely funded the renovation but the building is publicly owned), and the home locker room is much nicer than that for the visitors. We are shown where last year’s number one overall pick in the NFL, quarterback Caleb Williams, had his locker, but he is no longer at USC and I haven’t heard of any of the current players.

The tour moves to the field itself, although we are only allowed on a small patch of synthetic turf behind one of the goalposts, as the Bermuda grass playing surface itself is off limits as the crew goes through their weekly maintenance. Here, we learn a bit about what is coming for the Coliseum, especially as it relates to the Olympics of 2028.

In a mere few years, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will host its record-setting third Olympics. It will not, however, be the home for the opening and closing ceremonies, which will instead be held at the newer multi-billion dollar SoFi Stadium. The reason for this is multifold. First, SoFi is newer and fancier. Second, it is covered, although open air. Finally, the Coliseum only has one tunnel, while SoFi has two, and with the number of foreign heads of state and other dignitaries who travel to modern Olympiads, the ability to get them securely in and out faster is of the utmost importance.

The Coliseum will, however, play a part. The torch will be used. And track and field events will also be here, although that’s a bit of a fun story. The playing surface here is not large enough to put the full track in (with it becoming a football-only stadium in recent decades, the field area was reduced and more up-close seating added) so there will be a platform constructed roughly fourteen feet above today’s field, covering some of the lower rows of seats, to get that surface area necessary.

The tour ends under the torch itself. A last look up at a restored mural underneath, and I make my way out of the Coliseum grounds. After coming today, all I can say is that I am proud that such a stadium exists in my hometown, and I am excited to try to get tickets to see an event here in 2028!

Thank you so much to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for hosting me for a wonderful and informative morning!

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