Total development around the Inglewood stadium could end up costing close to $10BRAMS
The $5B Inglewood stadium is the "most expensive in the U.S., and perhaps the world," and "every dollar spent here has gone toward tackling one of the toughest problems in American sports: making professional football work" in L.A., according to Andrew Beaton of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. At this time next year, the "first stages of this sprawling project will be complete and two teams will call the new stadium home." Rams Owner Stan Kroenke is "spending lavishly to create a building" that he and the team "felt could only exist" in L.A. The complex is "far larger than just a stadium," and the approximately $5B "spent on the stadium may wind up being less than half the total cost" of the development. Sources said that when the plot is "fully developed, the total expenditure could exceed" $10B. The "primary hub is actually three separate spaces" -- the stadium itself, a nearby 6,000-seat performance venue, and a 2.5-acre plaza in between. All three will be "covered by a translucent plastic roof." Outside of the stadium, there are "vast and largely empty plots of land," but they are "perhaps more important than the stadium itself." The Rams and the NFL "knew for this project to make any sort of financial sense, it had to be operational year round and not just on Sundays." Throughout the "design process, that was the parallel path they had to balance" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 9/13).
