A longtime USC donor is taking the university to court after the removal of the Brian Kennedy Field became part of the construction of the new Bloom Football Performance Center.
On July 22, Brian Kennedy filed a lawsuit alleging USC breached its contract and left him with “reputational harm,” “embarrassment” and “humiliation,” according to the complaint. Kennedy, who owns Regency Outdoor Advertising, says the practice field that carried his name was taken out as the new facility went up.
USC had not commented on the dispute, but the split fits a relationship that had been building toward a breaking point for years.
Kennedy’s connection to the Trojans started as a fan. He grew up rooting for USC and had been attending football games since 1949, according to The Los Angeles Times’ Ryan Kartje.
By 1998, the school came to him looking for help with a new practice field for the football program. Kennedy had already made smaller donations to USC athletics, mostly to hockey and golf.
The lawsuit says Kennedy agreed to pay $400,000 for the turf field with one major condition: he “controls all aspects of the field.” The agreement also said the field’s naming rights, along with any expansions, would remain in “for the life of the field.” Kennedy later added turf and an electronic scoreboard to the practice field.
His involvement with USC football did not stop there. In 2023, Kennedy used his business to back former running back Reggie Bush.
Two years earlier, the NCAA altered its lifetime disassociation ban rules, allowing Bush back on campus. With Bush’s return and the rise of NIL, Kennedy put up 15 billboards calling on the NCAA and Heisman Trust to reinstate Bush’s Heisman season, per The Times.
Kennedy and his wife Susan have donated between $1 million and $5 million to the university, according to USC’s public records.
He also built a close relationship with former defensive line coach and recruiter Ed Orgeron. When Lane Kiffin was fired during the 2013 season, Orgeron took over as interim head coach and finished 6-2, including an upset of No.
5 Stanford, but also losses to Notre Dame and UCLA. Kennedy pushed for Orgeron and said former USC athletic director Pat Haden “promised to heavily consider” him, according to Kartje.
USC instead hired Steve Sarkisian.
Now, in 2026, the Trojans are under coach Lincoln Riley and general manager Chad Bowden, with the program leaning into a college football landscape reshaped by NIL and the transfer portal. The Bloom Football Performance Center is the latest sign of USC investing in a roster-building future built for the new era.
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