The Home Depot Center is a multiple-use sports complex located on the campus of
California State University, Dominguez HillsCalifornia State University, Dominguez Hills is a public university located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County and was founded in 1960...
in
Carson, CaliforniaCarson is a city in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, Carson had a total population of 91,714. Located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately 14 miles away from the Los Angeles International Airport, it is known as a suburb of the city....
. It is located approximately 10 miles south of
Downtown Los AngelesDowntown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...
. Its title sponsor is hardware retailer
The Home DepotThe Home Depot is an American retailer of home improvement and construction products and services.The Home Depot operates 2,248 big-box format stores across the United States , Canada , Mexico and China, with a 12-store chain...
. The $150 million complex was developed and is operated by the
Anschutz Entertainment GroupThe Anschutz Entertainment Group is a sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation. It is the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports events, the owner of the world’s most profitable sports and entertainment venues, and under AEG Live the world's...
. With a set capacity of 27,000, it is currently the largest
soccer-specific stadiumSoccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States, Canada, Australia and South Korea coined by Lamar Hunt, to refer to a sports stadium either purpose built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multipurpose...
in
Major League SoccerMajor League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
.
History
The 27,000 seat main stadium was designed specifically for soccer. It is home to both the
Los Angeles GalaxyThe Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional soccer team, based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, and the league's second...
and Chivas USA of
Major League SoccerMajor League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
. It was also home to the defunct Los Angeles Sol of
Women's Professional SoccerWomen's Professional Soccer is the top level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded 6 teams for the 2011 season, with continued plans for future expansion...
. The Home Depot Center was the second stadium
designed specificallySoccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States, Canada, Australia and South Korea coined by Lamar Hunt, to refer to a sports stadium either purpose built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multipurpose...
for soccer in the MLS era. When the venue opened in June 2003 as the new home of the Galaxy, a number of special events took place in celebration.
PeléHowever, Pelé has always maintained that those are mistakes, that he was actually named Edson and that he was born on 23 October 1940.), best known by his nickname Pelé , is a retired Brazilian footballer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time...
was in attendance at the opening match along with many dignitaries from the soccer world, and celebrities.
Both the United States
women'sThe United States women's national soccer team represents the United States in international soccer competition and is controlled by U.S. Soccer. The U.S. team won the first ever Women's World Cup in 1991, and has since been a superpower in women's soccer. It is currently ranked first in the world...
and
men'sThe United States men's national soccer team represents the United States in international association football competitions. It is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF...
national soccer teams often use the facility for training camps and select home matches. It was the site of the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup final. It hosted the 2003 MLS All-Star Game and the
MLS CupThe MLS Cup is the championship match of Major League Soccer, the highest tier of professional soccer in the United States and Canada. As the final match of the MLS Cup playoffs, the winner is crowned the season champion in the same manner as other North American sports leagues...
in
2003The 2003 MLS Cup was a soccer match that took place on November 23, 2003 at the The Home Depot Center in Carson, California to determine the champion of the 2003 Major League Soccer season. The San Jose Earthquakes defeated the Chicago Fire 4 - 2 with a goal from Richard Mulrooney in the 50th...
,
2004The 2004 MLS Cup was a soccer match that took place at 12:30 EST on November 14, 2004 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California to determine the champion of the 2004 Major League Soccer season. D.C. United defeated the Kansas City Wizards 3-2. The winning goal for United came from an own goal...
,
2008The 2008 MLS Cup was the championship match of the 2008 Major League Soccer season. The final was played at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California on November 23, 2008. The match was contested by the Columbus Crew and the New York Red Bulls, marking the debut of both teams in the final after...
and
2011The 2011 MLS Cup Final was the sixteenth edition of the MLS Cup championship match held in the United States and Canada. The match was played on Sunday, November 20, 2011 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California...
. It also hosted the 2004 Mens College Cup, with Duke, Indiana, Maryland, and UC Santa Barbara qualifying.
The Home Depot Center hosted the first three editions (2004–06) of the
USA SevensThe USA Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament held in the United States. A part of the IRB Sevens World Series, it currently takes place on Saturday and Sunday during the second weekend of February...
, an annual competition in the
SevensRugby sevens, also known as seven-a-side or VIIs, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players, instead of the usual 15, with shorter matches. Rugby sevens is administered by the International Rugby Board , the body responsible for rugby union worldwide...
version of
rugby unionRugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
that is part of the
IRB Sevens World SeriesThe IRB Sevens World Series, known officially as the HSBC Sevens World Series as of the 2010-11 season, through sponsorship from banking group HSBC, and also sometimes called the World Sevens Series, is a series of international rugby union sevens tournaments organised for the first time in the...
. It also is the location for the State Championship Bowl Games for high school football in the state of California. It also served as the host facility for the first two seasons of
Spike TVSpike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...
's
Pros vs JoesPros vs. Joes is an American physical reality game show that airs on Spike TV. The show features male amateur contestants matching themselves against professional athletes in a series of athletic feats related to the expertise sport of the Pro they are facing...
reality sports contests.
In addition to the soccer stadium, The Home Depot Center features a 2,500-seat
velodromeThe ADT Event Center is a velodrome in Carson, California, the United States as part of the Home Depot Center sports complex. It was opened in 2004 as the United States's only indoor velodrome. It hosted the 2005 UCI Track Cycling World Championships....
, an 8,000-seat
tennis stadiumThe Home Depot Center is a tennis center in Carson, California, Los Angeles. Built in 2003, it currently holds 7,443 spectators.-External links:* * * * * *...
and an outdoor track and field facility that has 20,000 permanent seats and has seated up to 22,000. The
Los Angeles RiptideThe Los Angeles Riptide were a lacrosse team based in Carson, California. From 2006 to 2008, they played in Major League Lacrosse. They ceased operations before the 2009 season due to the economic situation in the United States.-Franchise history:...
of
Major League LacrosseMajor League Lacrosse, or MLL, is a professional men's field lacrosse league that is made up of five teams in the United States and one team in Canada.- History :...
played their home games at the track and field stadium. It is also the home of the
adidasAdidas AG is a German sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of the Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-Adidas golf company , and Rockport...
Running Club, a member of the USA Elite Running Circuit, and the
Adidas Track ClassicThe Adidas Track Classic is an American track and field athletics meeting which has taken place annually in Carson, California since 2005. The meeting forms part of the USA Track & Field Visa Championship Series and is also one of the few area meetings where athletes can earn points to qualify for...
. The Home Depot Center is also home to
Athletes' PerformanceAthletes' Performance is an American company that provides integrated performance services for the top athletes in the world. Founded by Mark Verstegen in 1999 and based in Norwell, Massachusetts, it has private training facilities in Tempe, Arizona; at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California;...
which trains athletes in a variety of sports. The soccer and tennis stadiums of the Center have also served as the main venues for
ESPNEntertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
's Summer
X GamesThe X Games is a commercial annual sports event, controlled and arranged by US sports broadcaster ESPN, which focuses on action sports. The inaugural X Games was held in the summer of 1995 in Rhode Island....
. The Vans Warped Tour is held annually in the stadium parking lot.
Soccer stadium building costs within the 150 million complex were around 87 million.
External links