Before the Galaxy moved into its soccer-specific home at the now-named Dignity Health Sports Park, there were the glory days of the Rose Bowl, which included having to pick up glass outside in order to hold a training session.

“My first six years when we played there, certainly won a lot more games than we lost, crowd was amazing,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “The excitement really of the first year, was off the charts. Those of us who were coming out of college, like myself, just drafted, professional soccer, for my age group, hadn’t really hit in the U.S.

“The first game, we drove up to the Rose Bowl against New York and the crowd … the amount of people who met the bus on the way in and then the amount of people who just kept arriving to the stadium over the course of the game was just so impressive and you will never forget it.”

That April 13, 1996 debut game against the New York/New Jersey MetroStars drew a crowd of 69,225 in what was a 2-1 Galaxy win.

“Just the excitement of that first year, the league was here and the players who had come in,” Vanney said of that first MLS season. “Just to think how far it’s come since that first game is really amazing.

“We trained right outside the Rose Bowl in the parking lot. We would all get in a line together and walk across the grass and pick up the glass and anything that was there from the tailgating, so we could train. They would draw out a field and that was our training facility. It didn’t matter how it looked, we were so excited to be playing professional soccer in our country.”

Tuesday night, the Galaxy will make a return to its first home, hosting rival LAFC (7:30 p.m., Apple TV+). Galaxy officials announced the game is a sellout, bringing in a crowd of 80,000-plus, which will break the all-time MLS single-game attendance record set last year by Charlotte FC (74,479).

“I’m super-excited,” Galaxy forward Preston Judd said. “Playing in front of 80,000 people, gets everybody excited.

“I was at the U.S-Mexico (2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup final) 4-2 game. Where U.S. was up 2-0. I remember there wasn’t as much American fans. We were not the majority, but it was a great atmosphere, so I’m just looking forward to playing there.”

Current Galaxy goalkeeping coach Kevin Hartman was in attendance for the 1996 home opener. He joined the team the following season in 1997.

“I went to that first game, sat through the traffic and a lot of the inherent difficulties that it takes getting in and out of the Arroyo,” he remembered. “It was really a celebration of soccer. I was picked up by the Galaxy as a player, I remembered coming down into the Arroyo and really feeling like it was going to be tough to beat us.

“We were familiar with the environment. We were playing golf in the afternoon at Brookside, training over at Jackie Robinson Stadium, having runs up Arbor Street. I always felt like there was a likelihood that you would run into fans away from the stadium and I think that helped us build a legacy from a fan support culture.”

Since Vanney has arrived, the Galaxy has returned to those runs in the streets around the Rose Bowl.

The club has played a pair of exhibition matches at the Rose Bowl since leaving. In 2014, the Galaxy faced Manchester United in front of a crowd of 84,362 and in 2015, a game against FC Barcelona drew 93,226.

Galaxy midfielder Riqui Puig was a member of the Barcelona team, which played to a 2-2 draw against Tottenham in an International Champions Cup game in front of 66,805.

“It’s a game we’ve been waiting to play, my family is here and it’s an important game,” Puig said. “For me, it’s super important to have my family there. It’s an important game to try and get the win. When the Rose Bowl is full, it’s going to be amazing.”

This is the third meeting of the season between the rivals. LAFC won the first regular-season meeting (3-2 at Dignity Health Sports Park). The teams also met in the U.S. Open Cup’s Round of 16 with the Galaxy winning, 2-0, at BMO Stadium against a depleted LAFC squad.

“It’s going to be a spectacle,” Galaxy defender Raheem Edwards said. “Doesn’t matter if it’s at Dignity (Health Sports Park) or the Banc (now BMO Stadium), wins are special. It will be even more special now at the Rose Bowl and 80K. It’s going to be a battle.”

The Galaxy’s last competitive game at the Rose Bowl was a 4-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids in the 2002 Western Conference finals. The team began playing in Carson in 2003.

“The Rose Bowl is a historical venue,” Hartman said. “It’s a place where anytime you go there you respect the events that have taken place there, whether it’s big-time soccer matches or big-time football games, the longstanding tradition of the Rose Bowl parade there is just something, I think within that, that allows you to be excited on gameday. I feel like we’ve been really fortunate to play at two unbelievable venues throughout our career.”

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