Fletcher Jones, Suzanne Nora Johnson, Terri and Eric Holoman, Lois and Ronald Bloom, Beong-Soo Kim, Jen Cohen, Tamara Hughes Gustavson, Lincoln Riley, Dan Epstein, and Perri and Bob Bishop (left to right) prepare to cut the ribbon at Wednesday’s ceremony. (USC Photo/Steve Cohn)
USC opens ‘amazing’ Bloom Football Performance Center
The new home of USC football doubles the size of the program’s space on campus, building on a championship legacy with an eye toward future success.
More than 400 people gathered Wednesday evening to celebrate the grand opening of the Bloom Football Performance Center on USC’s University Park Campus. The new home of USC football — which doubles the size of the program’s space on campus — represents a major investment in the future of the program and a dedication to fostering a championship culture and developing winning student-athletes on and off the field.
“I wish we could share with you the initial reaction that our kids and coaches and staff have had,” USC Director of Athletics Jen Cohen told the crowd of former USC football players, alumni, donors, campus leaders and current players gathered in front of the building. “They’ve been so grateful and appreciative for the investment that you all have made in them in such a meaningful way.”
The more than 160,000-square-foot complex will support player recruitment, retention and development through three stories of state-of-the-art features, including sports medicine and recovery areas, innovative training equipment, fueling and nutrition spaces, immersive visual training experiences and a creative media suite. It celebrates USC’s tremendous football legacy and the hundreds of Trojans who laid the groundwork for today’s team — and those that will follow.
“What is so amazing about the Bloom Football Performance Center is that it’s going to enable every single one of our athletes, every single one of coaches and all of the staff supporting them to perform at their very highest potential,” USC President Beong-Soo Kim said during opening remarks for the event.
For USC’s current players, the building signals a vote of confidence from donors, university leadership and alumni.
“This building is an investment in every player who walks in these doors,” said Braylan Shelby, the event’s student-athlete speaker and a USC defensive end pursuing his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the USC Marshall School of Business. “As Trojans, my teammates and I are part of the greatest tradition and greatest legacy in college football. It’s our responsibility to honor that investment by going to work each and every day and making the Trojan Family proud.”
A legacy of investment — and victory
Amid the pomp and circumstance of the evening — which included a performance by the USC Trojan Marching Band, a ribbon cutting and a rooftop reception after self-guided tours of the facility — a focus of the night was on the many people who brought the building to fruition.
“This football center is the best football center in the country,” said USC alumnus and prolific philanthropist Ronald H. Bloom, whose family name now graces the complex. “With the great coaches that Coach [Lincoln] Riley has working with him and the extremely talented men on this team and the men to follow, it’ll surely bring us back to those very great football teams.”
Other cornerstone donors to the center are Stephanie Argyros and the Argyros Family Foundation; Bob and Perri Bishop; Tamara Hughes Gustavson; Eric and Terri Holoman; the Fletcher Jones family; Randall R. Kendrick; Cari and Chad Peets and family; and Mark and Mary Stevens.
Designing with purpose
Shaun Cody, a former USC and NFL player who now serves as a Trojan football commentator, kicked off the event with enthusiastic opening remarks that set an upbeat tone for the evening.
“Every square foot feature was designed to develop our student-athletes to win championships,” Cody said.
The first floor of the building caters to player experience and development. It features 30-foot-tall garage doors that open directly onto the practice field; sports medicine and recovery areas filled with natural light; a players’ lounge and locker room that promote recovery; and innovative performance technology.
Level 2 features a massive team room — the first space the program has ever had that can fit the entire team and staff. The second floor also features a walkthrough room with a 45-foot-wide screen and a recovery room.
Level 3, with a rooftop deck that overlooks the downtown L.A. skyline and provides glimpses of USC’s other sports facilities, serves a dual function. The floor provides a more modern workspace for coaches and the team’s football operations with staff amenities and outward-facing office designs while taking advantage of the Southern California climate to promote openness and collaboration.
“There’s nothing like this in college football — there’s nothing like this in college athletics,” said USC head football coach Lincoln Riley, who shared that the first conversations about the possibility of the Bloom Center began more than four years ago. “I think it’s very fitting for the greatest university on the planet to have a football home like this.”
Communicating the ‘Fight On’ spirit
In line with the center’s goal of fostering a championship culture, the building aims to reflect the fusion of USC’s traditions and the future of college football.
The center’s first-floor lobby, which will be open to the public on game days, is designed to immerse visitors in the legacy of USC football. The room houses items from USC football history that have never been stored in one central location before, including the university’s NCAA-record eight Heisman trophies, 11 national championship trophies, displays honoring individual player award winners and a Pro Football Hall of Fame jacket.
Attracting and developing elite talent
Riley emphasized that this new center gives USC an enduring advantage in attracting elite talent, developing those players and helping them succeed.
“This [facility] changes everything for our program,” Riley said. “Everything. This has already impacted the way that we’ve recruited over the last few years knowing that this was coming.”
Former USC football player Scott Galbraith, who was part of USC’s 1990 Rose Bowl-winning team and went on to play about nine seasons in the NFL, believes that the center puts USC ahead of football programs both in and out of the Big Ten Conference.
“I’ve been around a lot of professional facilities opening up in new locations during my time with the Cleveland Browns and the Dallas Cowboys, and this is better than all of those, to provide context,” Galbraith said. “I’m just so incredibly proud and happy that we have taken another step towards being a very superior program.”
In his closing remarks, Kim pointed out that the evening’s celebrations were about more than just one building: “This building represents a legacy of football excellence at USC.”
