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USC-UCLA game will clash with Elton John Dodger Stadium concert on Nov. 19

Matt Wadleigh
·5 min read
7

USC and UCLA fans still don’t know if their game will be a late-night game or an evening game on Saturday, Nov. 19. They do know, however, that Trojans-Bruins will not be a day game at 12:30 or 1 p.m. in Los Angeles.

That was the outcome everyone hoped for, primarily because USC-UCLA was meant to be played in glorious Southern California sunshine. The bright sun accentuates the double-home uniforms of USC Cardinal and Gold and UCLA’s gorgeous light blue.

The two other really big reasons everyone in Los Angeles wanted a day game for USC-UCLA:

  1. The College Football Playoff committee could see the game, as opposed to having it start late on the East Coast.

  2. There’s an Elton John concert at Dodger Stadium at 8 p.m. in L.A. on Nov. 19.

This is going to be a traffic nightmare.

Let’s talk about this some more and point out that Elton John has a history at Dodger Stadium:

1975

THE BILLIE JEAN KING-BOBBY RIGGS 1973 TENNIS MATCH

MEMORABLE

INTRIGUE

ICONIC IMAGES

SNAPSHOT

PORTRAIT

DODGER UNIFORM

ROYALTY

SWINGING

OUTFIELDER

FOR THE FANS

THERE ARE CONCERTS IN ADDITION TO NOV. 19

THE IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE

Now that you’ve seen some historical photos, let’s talk about the choice USC and UCLA fans have to make: If the game starts at 7:30, there’s no way they can go to both events. If the game starts at 5, they could watch the first half of USC-UCLA and then maybe make a run for the concert which starts at 8, but who goes to one half of a football game? No one. This football schedule has ruined plans of USC and UCLA fans who had hoped to attend the football game and the concert.

If a USC fan had an Elton John ticket for Saturday, that fan is almost surely trying to sell the ticket now.

TRAFFIC NIGHTMARE

If the USC-UCLA game is at 7:30, traffic heading to that game and the Elton John concert will be unbearable.

If the game is at 5 p.m., the traffic won’t be quite as bad, but there are bound to be problems. Oy.

USC-UCLA HISTORY

For a long time — when the rivalry was an important national showcase — USC-UCLA was regularly played in the middle of the day. This was in the era when college football was not widely available on television, and ABC showed a few choice games on Saturdays, before ESPN and other cable networks showed every game in sight.

Michigan-Ohio State would come on at noon Eastern, followed by USC-UCLA at 3:30 or 4 Eastern.

Not having a day game for this huge event really stinks.

USC-UCLA 2022

This will be the biggest USC-UCLA game since 2005. UCLA was 9-1 and USC was unbeaten. This game deserved to be played in the middle of the day in Los Angeles, as that game was. (That game was an early afternoon game.)

IF YOU HAVE AN ELTON JOHN NOV. 19 TICKET AND WANT TO SEE HIM BUT ALSO WATCH USC-UCLA

Elton John is also at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, Nov. 17 and Sunday, Nov. 20. Find a trade if you can, and set aside Saturday for USC-UCLA.

Story originally appeared on Trojans Wire