Rams Unveil $5B Stadium Former San Diego Chargers Will Also Play In

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Take a time-lapse tour of the build out of the biggest stadium in the NFL, courtesy of video provided by SoFi Stadium

It's unclear when any fans will get to see it, but the $5 billion home of the Rams and Chargers was officially opened Tuesday with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting, setting the stage for a spectator-less debut this weekend.

Rams owner and project developer Stan Kroenke, Chargers owner Dean Spanos and Inglewood Mayor James Butts did the honors, using ceremonially large scissors to snip a ribbon and formally open SoFi Stadium.

"We are in the team business, and you can't get to a moment like today without a great team," Kroenke said. "I would like to thank the 17,000 people who have worked on this project over the past four years. During a period of unrest and change in many parts of the country, it's been our deepest privilege to work on a project this special with such a diverse workforce. Thank you for making our vision a reality."

With Kroenke developing and bankrolling the project, the Rams will be the stadium's primary tenant, although the Chargers will share the venue. The Rams will christen the stadium Sunday night when they take on the Dallas Cowboys in a nationally televised matchup.

But the stadium will be devoid of fans, thanks to the continuing coronavirus pandemic. The only occupants of the seats -- which is designed for 70,000 fans but can hold up to 100,000 for select events -- will be cardboard cutouts purchased by fans who want their faces to be in the stands.

The stadium instantly becomes Inglewood's crown jewel, sitting adjacent to the Forum. A new Clippers arena will soon take shape across the street.

The stadium will ultimately be surrounded on the 300-acre property by a sweeping entertainment complex, including a performing arts venue.

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The 3.1 million-square-foot stadium itself features more than 260 suites and a 70,000-square-foot wrap-around video board, billed as the only 4K end-to-end video board in sports.

"When you see our SoFi Stadium home and the ongoing development surrounding it, you have to marvel at Stan Kroenke's vision," Spanos said. "This is an iconic project, anchored by an iconic stadium, that will not only redefine the city of Inglewood, it will redefine the landscape of greater Los Angeles for the next century and beyond. This has been a long time coming, and we cannot wait to usher in a new era of Chargers football on what will undoubtedly be the grandest stage in all of sports."

Raise your hand if you’re surprised the man who decided to move San Diego’s beloved football franchise north to — well, we can’t even say it — still owns a home in America’s Finest City.
Well, it’s true, but maybe not for much longer. Turns out Chargers owner Dean Spanos put his “house” in La Jolla on the market last week, and prospective buyers, nosy folks and fans/ex-fans can check out the listing on Zillow and elsewhere.
Berkshire Hathaway’s Ross Clark, who is named on Zillow as the listing agent, confirmed that the “private compound” on Hillside Drive in La Jolla listed on the real-estate site is being shopped for a cool $17.95 million — hey, we know what you're thinking: That’s EIGHTEEN MILLION DOLLARS. No, it's not. It's $17,950,000.
But we digress: That price tag gets you 10 bathrooms and 6 bedrooms spread out over more than 10,000 square feet.
“The house is a phenomenal property with incredible views,” Clark said on Tuesday morning, adding that it was built on a sort of “peninsula lot, with lots of sun and views of the whole coast up to North County.”
One signing bonus for anybody with sticker shock: Off-street parking is a snap once you get through the street-side gate, thanks to an eight-car garage and a two-lane driveway running along half of the house.
No big surprise that the property also boasts a recently remodeled kitchen (side-by side ovens with twin TVs perched above!), elevator, pool, massage room, wine cellar, gym, bar/media room, offices and grounds boasting what the listing calls “an orchard and wandering paths.”
Photos of that bar/media room offer perhaps the most personal window into the lives of the home’s soon-to-be former occupants, showcasing trophies, footballs, a helmet and a throw blanket that we can only assume is Charger blue.
Getting nearly $18 million for the compound might be a third-and-long situation, however. We're no experts but presumably they are at Zillow, which put a "Zestimate" on the home at $16,298,604, with an sales range between $14.99 million and $17.11 million.
If the Spanos family is able to complete the pass, though, the new owners may have to have to shell out as much $81,056 per month, with taxes coming in at $11,368 monthly -- quite a bump since last year, when the tax assessment on the home, according to Zillow, was $4,822,896 -- with taxes for 2019 a much-lower $59,331.

Ready to make an offer? Give Ross Clark a call -- you can find him on Zillow like we did: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7505-Hillside-Dr-La-Jolla-CA-92037/16851376_zpid/?

The stadium has already booked a variety of musical performances, although they were delayed due to the coronavirus. Taylor Swift has been scheduled to star in the venue's first event, with Kenny Chesney, Motley Crue and Def Leppard already booked.

The venue will also host Super Bowl LVI in 2022 and college football's national championship in 2023, along with opening and closing ceremonies of the 2028 Olympics.

Here's some fun facts:

  • The complex the stadium sits in is called Hollywood Park, the name of a racetrack formally on the site
  • Hollywood Park is made up of 298 contiguous acres
  • SoFi Stadium is the largest in the NFL (3.1 million square feet)
  • Hollywood Park is 3.5 times the size of Disneyland and twice as big as Vatican City
  • The gridiron is 100 feet below grade level
  • 7 million cubic yards of dirt were excavated from the stadium bowl so it would be below grade level
  • Nearly 100,000 tons of steel and cable were used in construction
  • 144,000 cubic yards of concrete (enough to fill 44 Olympic-sized pools)
  • 12 million man-hours in construction
  • 23 elevators
  • 50 escalators
  • 2,638 doors
  • 12.5 miles of plumbing
Copyright City News Service
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