MLS Cup Final and Trojan football collide in Expo Park


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In a bizarre sequence of events, the Exposition Park area will witness two sporting events with varying degrees of importance, depending on who you are asking. This Saturday, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will be home to the Pac-12 football match between USC and the University of California, Berkeley, just a few hours after the adjacent Banc of California Stadium hosts the Major League Soccer Cup Final bout between Los Angeles Football Club and Philadelphia Union. 

Both matches provide crucial implications for respective fanbases — the Trojans seek a second consecutive victory upon their return to the Coliseum, and LAFC hopes to earn their first-ever MLS Cup. 

The unprecedented combination of adjacent sporting events will unequivocally introduce traffic complications near Exposition Park. Senior Vice President of Administration David Wright issued a news release Wednesday and alerted students, faculty and staff regarding the anticipated increased traffic. Wright expects that LAFC fans will “impact” the Exposition Park area from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., approximately two hours before the Trojans’ bout against the Golden Bears.

 LAFC encourages fans to avoid parking and use other forms of transportation to attend the game, even going so far as to provide free shuttles from Dodger Stadium. Additionally, LAFC will open their stadium gates at 10:30 a.m., approximately two and a half hours before kick-off, to encourage fans to arrive at the stadium and area earlier. LAFC has formally partnered and collaborated with the LA Metro, as the transit system encourages fans to use a series of buses or subways to attend the MLS Cup final. 

“In one of the greatest sports cities in the world, it’s not surprising that we find ourselves in a unique and challenging situation with same-day events in Expo Park,” said LAFC co-president Larry Freedman in an interview with the L.A. Times. 

Although the two teams interact with different types of footballs, LAFC and the Trojans have experienced identically exceptional seasons in their respective leagues. Lincoln Riley’s camp currently boasts a 7-1 record, experiencing their first-season loss against Utah last Saturday. LAFC finished the 2022 MLS season as the first seed in the Western Conference and eliminated cross-town rivals Los Angeles Galaxy in the Conference Semifinals en route to their first-ever MLS Cup Final appearance. 

LAFC continues its marauding run since its relatively recent inception in 2018, as the MLS outfit won the Supporters Shield in 2019 and hopes to find their crowning achievement on Saturday just four years after entering the league. 

Interestingly, the MLS Cup’s venue designation arises from LAFC’s strong regular season. Unlike other professional soccer leagues, Major League Soccer holds its domestic tournament final in the home stadium of the finalist with the most regular season points. Although both finalists, LAFC and Philadelphia Union, found themselves tied with 67 points apiece, LAFC’s 21 regular season victories overshadow Philadelphia’s 19, thus providing L.A. the home advantage in the final along with the Supporters’ Shield. 

Previously, LAFC and USC Football avoided same-day encounters with a comfortable schedule: the Trojans would generally play football matches on Saturdays, whereas the MLS outfit would host bouts at the Banc of California on Sundays. 

LAFC and USC Football will unite in the Exposition Park area this Saturday, only a few hours apart, for different motivations. LAFC seeks their first MLS cup in franchise history, and the Trojans expect a victory on their return home to the Coliseum. Although traffic and condensed commotion might cause complications, the neighborhood may witness successive glory in a matter of hours. The MLS Cup Final’s kick-off is between LAFC and Philadelphia Union at 1 p.m. and the football match between USC and Berkeley will start only a few yards away at 7:30 p.m.