An NFL team spent three seasons as visitors in a soccer stadium
From 2017 to 2019 the Los Angeles Chargers played home games in a soccer ground in Carson, California, while their new stadium in Inglewood rose. It was the smallest venue in the NFL, and supporters of the opposing team often filled much of it. Over those three seasons the Chargers went exactly 12 and 12.
The ground, now called Dignity Health Sports Park, sits on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills, about 14 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. The Anschutz Entertainment Group built and runs the $150 million complex, which opened in June 2003 with Pele in the stands for the first LA Galaxy match. Its 27,000-seat stadium, which cost around $87 million, was only the second venue designed for soccer in the MLS era and remains the second-largest soccer-specific stadium in the country, behind Nashville's Geodis Park.
The name has followed the money. It opened as the Home Depot Center, became the StubHub Center in June 2013, and took its current name on 1 January 2019, with a sponsor's label added to the field during the Chargers' stay. To make the place fit for professional football, the Chargers paid for a $10 million refit: 1,000 extra seats in bleachers and corners, new broadcast and security booths, platforms for the camera positions the league requires, and four small locker rooms merged into two with 60 stalls each for bigger rosters.
Beyond the Galaxy, it has housed the defunct Chivas USA, the XFL's Los Angeles Wildcats in 2020 and San Diego State's football team for two seasons. It staged the 2003 Women's World Cup final and seven MLS Cup finals, and US national teams often train there. Rugby sevens is a regular guest, and the stadium is scheduled to host the sport at the 2028 Olympics.
The campus also holds a tennis stadium, an indoor velodrome and a track that can expand for big meets. It has hosted national track championships, the X Games, the CrossFit Games from 2010 to 2016 and boxing nights whose atmosphere fight fans rave about.
Source: Dignity Health Sports Park
