Los Angeles Football Club gave their first and most devoted fans a chance to write their names at the very core – literally – of the 2018 MLS expansion club's future home on Saturday, welcoming season-ticket holders and supporters' groups to a “Foundation Event” at the construction site where Banc of California Stadium will rise in the months ahead.
“Your passion is absolutely inspiring,” LAFC lead managing owner Larry Berg told the gathered masses, whose ranks included “LAFC Originals” – those who placed season-ticket deposits by the end of 2016 – and the club's growing array of organized groups like the Expo Originals and Black Army 1850. (Video of the event can be seen on LAFC's Facebook page.)
Those who attended the invitation-only event in downtown LA had the opportunity to check out the latest status of the stadium's construction, purchase custom merchandise and – perhaps most memorably – sign their names and pen a brief message on a slab that will be placed underneath the center circle of the pitch where the new team will make its debut in just over a year.
With luminaries like Mia Hamm and other members of the LAFC ownership group, along with beloved FOX Sports personalities Alexi Lalas and Rob Stone in attendance, the event had plenty of Southern California starpower on hand. But the sights and sounds of the supporters took center stage.
A $350 million project taking place on the site of the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Banc of California Stadium is scheduled to make its debut when LAFC enter MLS in 2018. Learn more about LAFC's supporters' groups here.
