When Dodger Stadium opened in the hills above Los Angeles in April 1962, it was so spectacular it was called the Taj Mahal of Baseball. And, just as with the original Taj Mahal, it turned out the architects forgot to include drinking fountains.
Fans gather at the Banc of California Stadium in Exposition Park before the inaugural home match of Los Angeles Football Club against the Seattle Sounders on April 29, 2018. (Credit: Harry How/Getty Images)
The oversight followed Dodger owner Walter O’Malley to his grave, earning mention in his obituary 17 years later.
So when Jonathan Emmett started sketching plans for the Los Angeles Football Club’s new home in Exposition Park, the first open-air professional sports venue to be built in Los Angeles since Dodger Stadium, he made sure not to repeat that mistake.
But Emmett, the design director for L.A.-based Gensler Sports, didn’t stop with the water fountains. Banc of California Stadium, where LAFC will play its first Major League Soccer home game Sunday, has the amenities that reflect the hefty price tag.
At $350 million, the privately financed 22,000-seat building is the most expensive soccer-specific stadium in U.S. history. And its completion, a month ahead of schedule, caps a wave of construction that has seen 18 of the 23 MLS teams either build, renovate or begin work on intimate soccer venues in the last 19 years.
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