Veterans Memorial Stadium has hosted its final football game.
And soon, it will be gone — though Long Beach City College has plans to resurrect it.
After more than three-quarters of a century as a local landmark, Veterans Memorial Stadium is set to be torn down and replaced with a newer athletic complex. The LBCC Vikings took on Riverside City College on Saturday, Aug. 29, playing their last time home game at the historic stadium a day after Poly High took the field there for the final time.
Long Beach City College’s defense brings down the opposing player during the Vikings’ home game against Riverside on August 29th, 2026. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach City College’s defense brings down the opposing player during the Vikings’ home game against Riverside on August 29th, 2026. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach City College’s Ijezie Anopueme rushes with the ball during the Vikings’ home game against Riverside on August 29th, 2026. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach City College’s Ijezie Anopueme rushes with the ball during the Vikings’ home game against Riverside on August 29th, 2026. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach City College’s Ijezie Anopueme rushes with the ball during the Vikings’ home game against Riverside on August 29th, 2026. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach City College quarterback Savelio Niumata passes the ball during the Vikings’ home game against Riverside on August 29th, 2026. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach City College quarterback Savelio Niumata passes the ball during the Vikings’ home game against Riverside on August 29th, 2026. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach City College squares off against Riverside on August 29th, 2026. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach City College’s defense brings down the opposing player during the Vikings’ home game against Riverside on August 29th, 2026. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)
LBCC’s final home game also provided the community a change to say farewell to the iconic stadium. Fans not only got into the game for free, but could also sign the stadium’s walls. The goal is to incorporate the signature-bearing concrete into the new stadium, though details about how that’d be done are not yet finalized, said LBCC athletic department spokesperson Justin Ramirez. LBCC also held a halftime ceremony to honor the stadium’s legacy, and had special giveaways throughout the game.
“Vets Memorial Stadium is more than a football stadium,” LBCC Associate Dean of Athletics Kal Stewart said earlier this month. “For more than 75 years, it’s been part of the fabric of Long Beach.”
Veterans Memorial Stadium opened in 1950 — and since then, Stewart said, it has “served generations of Long Beach City College and LBUSD students, student athletes, coaches, families, alumni, community members.” It has been in commercials and films, and hosted myriad community events, including graduations, motorcycle races, roller derby, rugby matches, swap meets and antique markets, LBCC said in a recent press release.
“For more than 75 years,” Stewart added, “it’s been part of the fabric of Long Beach.”
But not for much longer.
LBCC, which bought the stadium from the city in 1987 for $1, will soon demolish the current structure and then begin construction on a $250 million stadium and sports complex, which is scheduled for completion in summer 2029. The project, at LBCC’s Liberal Arts Campus, will cover 18 acres will include building a new football field, soccer field, track and team facilities, as well as a separate 2,500-seat gymnasium.
While the new football stadium will be state-of-the-art, LBCC said, it will also pay homage to its historic predecessor.
The project, which LBCC will pay for with money from a 2016, voter-approved bond measure, is intended to centralize the campus’ athletic fields “to provide exceptional competition spaces for student-athletes and the wider community,” LBCC said in its recent press release.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the construction project is scheduled for Sept. 9. That even will also honor the history of Veterans Memorial Stadium.