Los Angeles Football Club is an American professional soccer franchise based Los Angeles, California. The team will begin play in Major League Soccer (MLS) starting in 2018, as a member of the Western Conference. The team was established in 2014. LAFC will play their home games at the Banc of California Stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood. The team shares the Los Angeles area with the LA Galaxy.
The ownership group is headed by venture capitalist Henry Nguyen, entrepreneur Peter Guber, and former National Basketball Association executive Tom Penn. The ownership group also includes businessmen Ruben Gnanalingam and Vincent Tan. In addition, the club has a further 21 named investors including Magic Johnson, Nomar and Mia Hamm-Garciaparra, Chad Hurley, Tony Robbins and Will Ferrell.
John Thorrington was hired as executive vice president of soccer operations.
Banc of California Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium under construction in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California for Los Angeles FC, a Major League Soccer expansion team. It is the first open-air stadium built in the City of Los Angeles since 1962. Being constructed on the site of the former Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, it is located next to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and just south of the main campus of the University of Southern California. Los Angeles FC subleases the site from the University which has a master lease with the LA Memorial Coliseum Commission for operating and managing the Coliseum and Sports Arena properties. The stadium is anticipated to open on April 29, 2018.