Safe standing is coming to Southern California.
Set to debut in MLS next year, expansion side LAFC held their latest Black and Gold Rally on Saturday for club supporters, and several announcements were made. First, the team announced the supporters' section, called the North End, will be a safe-standing section, the third stadium to introduce standing-only areas alongside San Jose's Avaya Stadium and Orlando City's new stadium. Small, foldable seats, called rail seating, will be installed, with supporters able to stand "shoulder-to-shoulder, creating an electric and unified stadium atmosphere on matchdays," according to an LAFC club statement.
In addition, the supporters' section at Banc of California Stadium will include a 75-foot bar behind the section intended for supporters, and tickets for the North End will be priced at $20 per game.
On top of the club announcements on Saturday, LAFC's supporters groups made an announcement of their own at the rally. Six groups have come together to form "The 3252" independent supporters' union, with the new group set to sit together in the North End at Banc of California Stadium.
The significance in the name is that there will be 3,252 seats in the supporters' section at the stadium, and the digits also add up to 12, which is meant to symbolize the 11 players on the field plus the supporters as the metaphorical 12th member of the team.
