If you want decent seats for USC football, you’re going to have to come up with some big bucks “gifts” to the Trojans.
About one-third of USC football season ticket holders will have to make a one-time gift of $200 to $6,000 per seat and become members of the Trojan Athletic Fund to keep their seat locations, USC Athletics announced.
The gift and membership in the Trojan Athletic Fund, which begins at $200 annually, will help fund restoration of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the home field of the USC football team since it opened in 1923.
The restoration gift amounts are tax deductible and payable over four years. They were determined by construction costs associated with seating enhancements throughout the stadium excluding the Scholarship Club Tower, according to USC sports information director Tim Tessalone.
Approximately two-thirds of the seating in the renovated Coliseum will not require any Coliseum restoration gift, Tessalone said..
The restoration will begin following the 2017 season and is scheduled to be completed before USC’s 2019 home opener. There will be limited impact in the 2018 season and some season ticket holders will be moved to temporary locations, Tessalone said Thursday.
The $270 million renovation was announced in 2015 and includes reduction of the Coliseum’s capacity from 93,607 to 77,500 due to such improvements as added aisles, widened seats and increased leg room in many sections and the construction of a new Scholarship Club Tower on the stadium’s south side that will include suites, loge boxes, club seats, a new concourse and a new press box.
USC Athletics representatives will contact Trojan Athletic Fund members during the next 15 months and invite them to visit the Coliseum Renovation Preview Center to consider available seating options.
Priority for seat selection will be determined by TAF membership level followed by lifetime giving to USC Athletics. Remaining season ticketholders will be contacted in the summer of 2018 about their seating options.
Every effort will be made to accommodate those who wish to continue to sit together, Tessalone said.
The renovation is being funded entirely by USC Athletics from Coliseum restoration gifts, sponsorship revenue, non-USC events at the Coliseum and donor naming opportunities.
No student fees or general university, local, state or federal funds will be used, Tessalone said.
USC is obligated under its long-term lease agreement to make significant improvements to the Coliseum
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New field and stadium lighting was installed for the 2016 season. New videoboards and scoreboards throughout the stadium will be in place for the 2017 season, replacing the boards that sat atop the peristyle.
Other previously-announced Coliseum renovations by 2019 will include replacing every seat in the stadium and installing handrails throughout the stadium; updating Wi-Fi technology throughout the stadium; adding concession stands and improving existing ones; upgrading entry concourses; and replacing the electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems to meet current standards.
More information on the Coliseum renovation is available online at coliseumrenovation.com.
—City News Service