Veterans Stadium is about to be demolished for a new sports complex. What it meant to Long Beach

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Set us as preferred After 70 years as the epicenter of Long Beach football, the iconic Veterans Memorial Stadium will be demolished later this month to make way for a modern replacement, slated for completion in 2029.The $250-million transformation will have an 18-acre footprint and include a new stadium that pays homage to the original as well as a massive sports complex featuring a 2,500-seat arena, fields for football, soccer and track, basketball and volleyball courts, athletic training and rehab facilities, offices, kinesiology classrooms and a hall of champions.

The project is funded by Measure LB, an $850-million bond measure that finances LBCC construction.The leveling of Veterans Stadium closes a celebrated chapter of Long Beach history.The stadium hosted high-profile local and national sporting events, served as a movie set for Evel Knievel and became woven into the fabric of the city.

It has accommodated countless graduations, and Long Beach City College and numerous area high schools will have to relocate their commencement ceremonies during construction.From its inception, Veterans Stadium was intended to be a monument for the people of Long Beach, living and dead.During World War II, 17 homesick soldiers stationed in the South Pacific wrote a letter home to Long Beach, which appeared on the front page of a 1945 edition of the Press-Telegram.

As alums of Poly and Wilson high schools, the soldiers implored the city to build a stadium and dedicate it to those who “went beyond the final yard marker” — including their own classmates who had died.They enclosed $75 as their contribution to the proposed stadium, and the city took it from there, passing a $550,000 bond measure to fund construction.By 1950, the city had erected a colossal arena (significantly over budget, forcing the city to dip into its special ...