Galen Center

Galen Center
Location	3400 South Figueroa Street Los Angeles, California 90007 U.S.
Coordinates	34.02125°N 118.28032°W / 34.02125; -118.28032
Broke ground	October 31, 2004
Opened	October 12, 2006
Owner	University of Southern California
Operator	Global Spectrum
Construction cost	$147 million ($167 million in 2013 dollars)
Architect	HNTB
Structural engineer	John A. Martin & Associates
Services engineer	M-E Engineers, Inc.
General contractor	Clark Construction Group
Capacity	Basketball: 10,258
Tenants
USC Trojans (NCAA) (2006–present)

The Galen Center is a multipurpose indoor arena and athletic facility owned and operated by the University of Southern California. Located at the southeast corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Figueroa Street in the Exposition Park area of Los Angeles, California, United States, it is right across the street from the campus and near the Shrine Auditorium and is the home of the USC Trojans basketball and USC volleyball teams. The architectural firm behind the design of the Galen Center is HNTB. In addition to basketball and volleyball events, the Galen Center hosts concerts, pageants and theatrical performances. Local high school graduation ceremonies as well as CIF championships and the Academic Decathlon are held at the Galen Center. The annual Kids' Choice Awards are being held there.

History

Interior during an exhibition basketball game against Cal Poly Pomona

USC had planned to build an on-campus indoor arena for more than 100 years. Before the Galen Center, USC basketball had been played at a variety of locations, including the neighboring Shrine Auditorium stage, the old Pan-Pacific Auditorium in the Fairfax District, and since 1959 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

The final push to build the new facility began in 2002, when Louis Galen, a successful banker and longtime Trojan fan, and his wife Helene donated $10 million to the new center immediately after USC football quarterback Carson Palmer won the 2002 Heisman Trophy. The Galens donated an additional $25 million to the project to have the building named after them and later upped their donation an additional $15 million to make sure that a connected practice facility would also bear their name, bringing the total donation to $50 million. Previously, the USC men's and women's basketball teams practiced at the smaller, on-campus North Gym. The Galen Center replaced the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena as the home for USC men's and women's basketball.

Galen Center construction cost an estimated $147 million, which includes the arena, team offices, and a state-of-the-art practice facility. The largest tax revenue would be generated by the city of Los Angeles' 10 percent parking tax. Other sources of tax revenue will include sales tax, utility users tax, business license tax, and income from advertising. In addition, two new parking structures were built: a 1,200-space structure located between the Radisson Hotel and the arena, with access from Flower Street, and a second structure at the southeast corner of Figueroa Street and Exposition Boulevard. The additional parking structures also increased the available parking for both the USC campus and the nearby Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

View of Downtown Los Angeles from the Galen Center's unique window

Building exterior

Construction officially began on October 31, 2004, with a groundbreaking ceremony including Los Angeles City Council members Bernard Parks and Jan Perry along with Helene and Louis Galen, longtime USC fans for whom the facility is named.

The first event, a women's volleyball game between USC and Stanford University, took place on October 12, 2006. The first concert at the center was October 21, 2006 and featured Al Green. The first men's basketball was held on November 16 against the University of South Carolina. The first sellout crowd was the men's basketball game against the UCLA Bruins on January 12, 2007 with an attendance of 9,682. The highest attendance in the first year was for the Cal Bears men's basketball game on February 24, 2007 at 10,027.

On January 31, 2008 the USC men's basketball game against the Arizona Wildcats set the arena's attendance record with crowd of 10,258 in attendance.

Jim Sterkel Court

Interior, with premium seating on third Level

The Galen Center's basketball court was named after former USC basketball player Jim Sterkel, who played for the Trojans for two seasons in the 1950s, averaging 10 points a game. Two unique factors in the naming rights were the obscurity of the name choice and that the Sterkel family was not aware that the court was named after the late Jim Sterkel until after the facility had already opened.^{[citation needed]} A longtime friend of Sterkel's made the $5 million donation under the agreement that his name never be revealed. In an interview with Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke, who tracked down the person, 'Anonymous' said that he grew up with Sterkel: both attended Mark Keppel High School, both began at USC in 1955 and were roommates. 'Anonymous' later hired Sterkel and helped pay for his treatment when Sterkel was diagnosed with cancer. When the son of the anonymous donor contracted leukemia, Sterkel wrote a poem and sealed it to be read only when the son had died. Sterkel later died in 1997, with the son dying two years later. Inspired by the poem and his friendship with Sterkel, 'Anonmyous' made the donation and named the court after his friend, saying, "Some people don't deserve to be forgotten."

Facility information

The facility is 255,000 square feet (23,700 m²), with a 45,000 square feet (4,200 m²) pavilion, and has three practice courts and offices. The seating capacity is 10,258, and there are 22 private suites. The rights to purchase tickets for approximately one-third of the seats are being sold through lifetime personal seat licenses, ranging from $2500–$10,000 per seat.

Events

• Taiwanese Mega Star Jay Chou held his first concert on December 24, 2007 for his World Tour 2007.
• Nickelodeon's 2011 Kids' Choice Awards were held at the arena on April 2, 2011.
• LAPD Cadets of Class 1-11 was held in May 2011.
• A Los Angeles Lakers practice game was held on December 16, 2011.
• Nickelodeon's 25th Annual Kids' Choice Awards were held at the arena on March 31, 2012.
• Microsoft's E3 2012 press conference was held at the arena on June 4, 2012.
• Riot Games's League of Legends Season Two World Finals were held at the arena on October 13, 2012
• Preliminary auditions for season 3 of The X-Factor were held at the arena on March 6, 2013.
• Nickelodeon's 2013 Kids' Choice Awards were held on March 23, 2013
• Auditions held for The X Factor (U.S. Season 3) on July 10-12, 2013

Bibliography

• Robyn Norwood, Galen Center Time Flies When They Have Funds, The Los Angeles Times, October 12, 2006.
• Bill Plaschke, Floored, The Los Angeles Times, November 5, 2006.

The full arena in concert configuration

External links

• Galen Center facilities page