page_title: Galen Center
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Galen Center / History
caption_attribution_description: Inside of USC's en:Galen Center during a pre-season game against en:Cal Poly Pomona. Note the view of en:Downtown Los Angeles through the architecturally distinguishing window. Photo taken by Bobak Ha'Eri, on November 11, 2006. Please observe license and properly cite in use outside Wikipedia.
context_page_description: 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. The Galen Center is the home of the USC Trojans basketball and USC volleyball; in addition it hosts concerts, pageants, theatrical performances, high school graduation ceremonies, CIF championships and the Academic Decathlon. The annual Kids' Choice Awards were held here from 2011 to 2014, and returned in 2017.
context_section_description: 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 from 1959 onward 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% 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.
  The architectural firm behind the design of the Galen Center is HNTB. 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.
  On May 10, 2014, the arena hosted a heavyweight title boxing fight between Chris Arreola and Bermane Stiverne for the vacant World Boxing Council Heavyweight Title. Stiverne won the title after a sixth-round knockout of Arreola, becoming the first Haitian-born boxer to win a world heavyweight championship, as well as the first out of the province of Quebec, to win the WBC world heavyweight championship.
caption: Interior during an exhibition basketball game against Cal Poly Pomona
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