LAFC hold ribbon cutting ceremony for Banc of California Stadium

Los Angeles Football Club hosted their ribboncutting ceremony to open Banc of California Stadium on Wednesday. The event, which brought together a number of LAFC’s 30-member ownership group, local politicians including Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, MLS Commissioner Don Garber, LAFC’s first team and head coach Bob Bradley, was the symbolic opening of the new home for the first-year team.

Speeches were made by stakeholders from all of those groups, followed by a pyrotechnic display and rope-pulling gesture that caused a giant gold ribbon on the front of the building to fall off.

President Tom Penn noted at the end of the event that the club will be hosting an Open House of Banc of California Stadium on Saturday morning, as a “watch party” event of sorts connected to the team’s road game against the Montreal Impact.

Among the speeches, perhaps the most poignant one came from co-owner and former baseball star Nomar Garciaparra, who as a local of the area spoke of the awe and the memories created from his first experience at Dodger Stadium as a boy, and how he hoped the experience would be similar for kids who come to Banc of California Stadium.

LAFC’s first team is training on the field for the first time this afternoon, immediately following the ceremony, and Penn said the LAFC players would be seeing their new locker room for the first time ahead of the session.

The ribbon cutting is a culmination of a project years in the making and $350 million in investment. Now, just 11 days until the stadium opens for the first honest-to-god match.

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