Sport on display

This dissertation examines the roles of sporting statuary in cultivating memory and cultural identity, shaping how we understand space and place through four Los Angeles sports stadiums: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Dodger Stadium, Rose Bowl Stadium, and Staples Center. I investigate the artistic designs and representations of these athletes, how the politics of these depictions shape commemorative landscapes, and how these statues ultimately reflect the identities and aims of the corporations, stadiums, and cities they represent. I scrutinize the various forces involved in how these statues are built, how the decisions of design and placement are made, who funds these commemorative works, and who stands to benefit from these bronzed representations. This project includes interviews that I conducted with three sculptors who sculpted many of the statues at the Staples Center and Dodger Stadium to better understand the role of the artists and their visions in these commemorative works. I unpack the myriad ways that these decisions ultimately help shape the cultures of these stadiums as well as the sporting culture of Los Angeles as a whole. I argue that these statues tell more complex stories about the people and sports they depict, the locations where they are situated, and about Los Angeles more generally. These statues are crafted to tell definitive stories, ones that often favor simplified narratives of sport, uncomplicated views of stadium spaces, and reinforce dominant ideologies of race and gender in sport. This project cultivates new explorations into sport commemoration by examining the broader cultural roles and impacts of sport statues in the larger place-making projects at sport stadiums throughout Los Angeles.