LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles FC’s home stadium is changing its name from Banc of California Stadium to BMO Stadium, officials announced Thursday.
The Los Angeles Football Club announced the new naming rights deal for the five-year-old arena in the Exposition Park neighborhood, which was built by the expansion Major League Soccer Club. The stadium also is the home of the National Women’s Soccer League’s Angel City Football Club.
BMO, also known as the Bank of Montreal, is a Canadian financial firm that also owns the naming rights to Toronto FC’s home arena, BMO Field.
BMO Stadium will also host numerous concerts and other events.
“BMO is thrilled to forge this partnership with LAFC, which reinforces our bank’s commitment to growing the game of soccer across North America,” said Cameron Fowler, chief strategy and operations officer, BMO.
The name change has been expected since 2020 when Banc of California backed out of a reported 15-year naming rights deal. The stadium continued to use its old name for the past 2 1/2 seasons while searching for a new sponsor.
The stadium opened in 2018 with the debut of LAFC. Since its founding, LAFC has won the MLS Cup, two Supporter’s Shields and recorded the most wins, points, and goals scored in MLS. LAFC has sold out every MLS regular season and playoff match.
BMO Stadium has a capacity of 22,000 for soccer matches and was the first open-air stadium built in Los Angeles since 1962. It has hosted major events such as the 2022 MLS All-Star Game, the 2023 MLS Cup, and numerous high- profile sold-out concerts and festivals featuring the Killers, Imagine Dragons, Black Pink, Twice, Santana, Guns N’ Roses, Armin Van Buren, Rufus Du Sol, Kygo, Maroon 5 and others.
