Rawlinson Stadium teeth to USC women’s sports

Article posted by Coliseum, February 1^st, 2024

Image: Coliseum GSVA

The Rawlinson Stadium in Los Angeles is the pet project of Jeff Fucci who is the Athletic Director of the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, California (US). The exuberant Fucci states that the stadium will come to fruition in 2025 and “there are a lot of projects we could be talking about in USC but this one is really important to us and really special”.

Full presentation available exclusively for Coliseum members

Apply for membership

He affirms that the avant-garde stadium will be the place where the USC women’s soccer and lacrosse programs will dazzle and prove their athletic prowess.

The USC Trojans women’s is a US soccer team that represents the University of Southern California in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I women’s soccer. The team competes in the Pac-12 Conference.

The USC Trojans women’s lacrosse team is an NCAA Division I college lacrosse team representing the University of Southern California as part of the Pac-12 Conference (a collegiate athletic Conference that operates in the Western United States).

Jeff Fucci is presently holding the designation of Senior Associate Athletic Director at the University of Southern California (USC). With a diverse range of responsibilities, he plays a crucial role in overseeing various aspects of the USC’s Athletic Department.

In an interesting interaction exclusively with ‘Coliseum’, Jeff Fucci, SA Athletic Director, USC, US, tells that humongous crowd turning up to watch women’s soccer and women’s sports viewership on the rise is a “critical mass” and will help chart a course to touch dizzying heights of success in the future. Fucci also states that the soon-to-open Rawlinson Stadium is a “moonshot” when compared to the Soni McAlister Field where the USC women’s soccer and lacrosse teams presently play.

Rawlinson Stadium

The University of Southern California (USC – a private research university in Los Angeles, California) women’s soccer and lacrosse programs will have their own state-of-the-art stadium starting in 2025. The $38 million project will replace and expand upon the current site of play for the women’s teams. The Rawlinson Stadium will feature: 2,200 fixed seats – with a total capacity of 2,500 for gamedays.

Shot off Jeff Fucci, “Our sports program is really a proud heritage of the USC. We like to think of ourselves as the most student-athlete centered program in the United States. We are very proud of our history at the USC. However, the 1,000-capacity Soni McAlister Field boasts no locker rooms, no concession stands and no permanent bleachers and essentially the zone is a park in the City of Los Angeles. When we think about the student-athlete center, this site doesn’t represent that.”

He added, “We developed a preliminary concept and that is how the Rawlinson Stadium came about. This was a way of showing our commitment to the more than 550 sportspersons in the USC who play 21 different sports. The Rawlinson Stadium will feature an elite natural grass playing surface with a total capacity of 2,500 – including the spectator viewing decks and the social spaces, a state-of-the-art press box, spectator restrooms, a box office, concession stands, and a formal entry plaza. We will also have a standing room-only deck and premium spaces. The state-of-the-art facility will enjoy all the features which one expects in league college athletics. We are thinking not just about equity but looking around the corner of the economics of this.”

Reaffirming his commitment towards women’s sports, Fucci asserted that “We really want to grow women’s soccer. With this venue the more we sit within the community in downtown Los Angeles we will have a lot of outreach for camps that help grow the sport and will also open up floodgates of opportunities for young women. We will be joining the Big Ten Conference (the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States) in August 2024 and pretty excited about the same.”

Added Fucci, “The Rawlinson Stadium will have amenities that we expect to have against our elite competitors and it is really an exciting thing to have going forward.”

The USC will be leaving the Pac-12 to realign with the Big Ten Conference.

Sum-Up

Concluded Fucci, “It will be a new stadium experience altogether with the Rawlinson Stadium also boasting locker rooms, restrooms, player lounges, athlete-only spaces and we will do our best to leverage the food culture in Los Angeles. We are hugely committed to our women’s program and many people have come together to help us realize the vision of Rawlinson Stadium in the last four years.”

Continue to follow Coliseum for latest updates on venues business news. Coliseum is dedicated towards building the best global community of sports and entertainment venue executives and professionals creating better and more profitable venues.

Become a member of the only Global Sports Venue Alliance and connect with stadiums, arenas and experts from around the world. Apply for membership at coliseum-online.com/alliance and make use of the 365Coliseum Business.