(ATR) The Los Angeles 2024 bid will have another professional sports venue to utilize following the relocation of the St. Louis Rams to Los Angeles.
The National Football League team will move to Los Angeles to begin the 2016 season and is expected to play at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum until the new stadium expected completion date in 2019. The Rams are returning home to the city that supported the team from 1946-1994.
The new stadium will be built in Inglewood, California less than 10 miles away from downtown Los Angeles. The venue is expected to seat between 70,000 and 100,000 spectators with changeable seat configurations.
"The best sports city in America just got better," said bid leader Casey Wasserman. "The Rams and their elite facilities will be another asset to LA’s already world-class sports portfolio, and another demonstration that Los Angeles offers compelling sporting and commercial opportunities."
It has been speculated that the new stadium could be used to host the opening and closing ceremonies during the Games, yet LA 2024 has yet to provide official details about how the stadium may be utilized.
"The new NFL stadium represents an opportunity to add to the array of high-quality venues we already have in our Games Plan," says Wasserman.
The bid already plans to use the renowned Staples Center for basketball, Dodger Stadium for baseball if it is once again included on the program and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will be renovated as the Olympic Stadium, the first stadium to potentially host three Olympics.
LA 2024 could not provide comment on whether the renovation schedule for the Coliseum will be altered with the addition of another sports program using the facility. The Coliseum is also used by the University of Southern California football team.
Los Angeles is competing with Budapest, Paris and Rome to host the 2024 Olympics. The IOC will choose the host city in 2017.
Written by KevinNutley
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