USC considering selling naming rights to Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

USC is weighing the possibility of selling naming rights to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the massive outdoor stadium that the Trojans football team has played in since it was built in the early 1920s, reports Kyle Bonagura of ESPN.

No timeframe has been specified for the sale.

Joe Furin, the stadium's general manager, says it's very unlikely the Memorial Coliseum part of the name would be altered. It's "very important," Furin said, that part of the name remains intact.

Furin said USC is still in an exploratory phase, determining how it would go about selling the rights.

He refused to comment on potential suitors, though he did state that it would have to be a long-term partnership.

"I can say we're not interested in anything short term," Furin said. "We'll only consider long-term, multiyear options."

USC has retained Fox Sports to sell the naming rights.

Although there have been various attempts to sell the naming rights during the Coliseum's legendary tenure, USC only recently removed a major stumbling block in discussions when it took over operations from the state-owned venue in 2013.

The takeover agreement called for the Trojans to stay there for 98 years.

Any rights deal is expected to exceed the University of California Berkeley's 2013 agreement, in which it received $18 million over 15 years when it sold the naming rights to Memorial Stadium to video-game firm Kabam.

"The Sports Business Journal, citing experts, estimated that depending on how a deal is structured, the school could fetch between $3 and $7 million annually," writes Bonagura.