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United Air lands deal with USC for LA Coliseum renaming

A new — shorter — deal was reached after last year's fell apart amid controversy

United Airlines California President Janet Lamkin and the LA Coliseum
United Airlines California President Janet Lamkin and the LA Coliseum

Inglewood’s new stadium isn’t the only Los Angeles arena getting a new name.

Starting in August, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will be called United Airlines Field at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.

The University of Southern California, which has controlled the Coliseum since 2013, announced it reached a 10-year naming rights deal with the world’s third largest airline last week, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Proceeds will help offset USC’s $315 million stadium renovation.

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Terms of the deal were not made public, but it is considerably shorter than a previously agreed-to deal. Under that agreement — $69 million over 16 years — the stadium would be named United Airlines Memorial Coliseum.

That deal was scrapped last year amid some controversy. L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn, also president of the body that sold the stadium to USC, wrote in an op-ed that the name “insults the memories of those that the Coliseum was intended to honor,” because the stadium was built as a tribute to L.A. area soldiers who died in World War I.

United said it would pull out of the deal. The parties restarted negotiations earlier this year.

In Inglewood, lending startup SoFi is in talks to pay $20 million per year to put its name on the under-construction Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park, the future home of the L.A. Rams and L.A. Chargers. [LABJ]Dennis Lynch 

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