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The 93-year-old Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will undergo a $270M renovation in 2018.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is ramping up its commercial efforts with a new business development chief a year before the 93-year-old building undergoes a massive renovation.
Joe Furin, the Coliseum’s general manager, has brought on veteran L.A. sports executive Mitch Huberman to be the facility’s chief business development officer. Huberman will be in charge of attracting events, sponsor activations and other types of programming to the stadium, which is managed and operated by the University of Southern California.
USC has managed the Coliseum since 2013 as part of a long-term lease and will oversee the $270 million renovation beginning in January 2018. To this point, the Coliseum has operated at a loss — it’s costing USC more to run the stadium than it’s bringing in.
Huberman, a former executive with Fox Sports, used to run the Pac-12 sports property where he sold traditional multimedia like conference sponsorships, signage and media.
At the Coliseum, Huberman will look to bring in the types of events and programming to make the facility a hub for activity in the ultra-competitive L.A. market. That could be a 1,000-person corporate event outside the iconic peristyle or a 40,000-person sporting event or concert.
“We’re looking for events, programs and activations that bring value and add to the consumer experience.”
MITCH HUBERMAN
CHIEF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM
Separately, Fox Sports, through its multimedia rights agreement with USC, owns the rights to sell sponsorships, signage and naming rights for the Coliseum. Fox’s Andre Riley is general manager of the USC property.
“Mitch’s hiring is indicative of how far we’ve come in the last three years and what our opportunities are moving forward,” Furin said. “It is a new chapter to have him on board now.”
Furin leads a staff of 40, all of whom are employees of USC Auxiliary Services, the arm of the university that’s responsible for the Coliseum, as well as housing, transportation, the bookstore and other aspects of campus.
That staff has shared the traditional booking duties of filling the calendar, working with event promoters and selling tickets. The Coliseum will continue to book those traditional ticketed events, such as international soccer matches, and Huberman will use his corporate contacts to program Coliseum events, which could take place in the bowl, the porch outside the peristyle or the premium spaces that will be constructed in the coming years.
“We’re looking for events, programs and activations that bring value and add to the consumer experience,” Huberman said. “We’re definitely looking at this as more than selling 70,000 tickets to a concert. Part of that will be identifying new assets or underutilized assets that can create more revenue.”
That could mean a month’s worth of events during Black History Month that honor athletes who have performed in the Coliseum or, looking down the road, a celebration of the Coliseum’s 100-year anniversary in 2023.
“This is a huge opportunity to bring the Coliseum into a new era,” Huberman said.
The premium spaces that will be part of the $270 million renovation could have naming rights attached. Former Athletic Director Pat Haden is part of the university’s team that is selling the 24 Founder’s Suites.
Revenue from premium sales is intended to help pay for the renovation. Revenue from other events must be reinvested into the stadium, Furin said.
USC already has spent $7 million on infrastructure — items such as plumbing and electrical.
