(Rosa Trieu/Neon Tommy)

The agreement, which ensures that USC will play its home games in the Coliseum for the next 98 years, passed on a five to three vote. The deal also calls for USC to commit over $70 million to repairs for the 90-year-old stadium, as well as giving the university control over the adjacent LA Sports Arena.

"We've worked hard to preserve this incredible institution," said Don Knabe, the president of the Coliseum Commission, told the Science Center board on Wednesday according to the LA Times. "It's a big day for all of us." 

The deal has not come without controversy, however. The agreement has been in dispute for over a year, with detractors expressing concerns over the deal’s profitability and balking over a provision that gives USC control of the Science Center’s parking lots up to 10 times per year, which could greatly affect the revenue potential of the area’s other properties at crucial weekend days. The university’s efforts to gain full control of the building date back well before that, with the school and the Coliseum commission almost reaching an impasse in 2008 that had USC threatening to play their home games in the Rose Bowl. Now, five years later, such disagreements figure to be over once and for all.

"We get to control our own destiny (at the Coliseum), which we didn't before," USC athletic director Pat Haden told ESPN Los Angeles’ Arash Markazi. "But we are going to have to pay for the renovations that were supposed to be paid for by somebody else. So in some ways it's like picking up somebody else's responsibility but we do finally have control."

On Saturday, USC will return to the Coliseum to conduct a different kind of business. The Trojans take on the Washington State Cougars at 7:30 p.m.

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