Los Angeles City Council has announced the approval of a project to build a soccer stadium for the new Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise, the Los Angeles Football Club.

The approval allows the new LAFC stadium to be built next to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with a capacity for 22,000 soccer fans. It should be completed in time for the 2018 season.

When the new MLS team takes possession of the new soccer stadium in the downtown area, it will help give L.A. the projection as a major sports city that its municipal government wishes it to be.

Construction will begin once the Sports Arena, currently occupying that location, is demolished, something that will perhaps be done as early as this summer. The stadium is expected to be finished for the LAFC's debut as the new MLS team in the first months of 2018.

Private investment for this project will be over $250 million and will include, besides a stadium with cutting-edge technology, spaces for restaurants, offices, a conference center, a soccer museum and more.