Although recent events may have put a damper on the Rams historic season, the team's future is still bright. Los Angeles is already home to many championship teams, but what makes this particular team different is what its presence and growth will do for the city. Construction for the $5 billion stadium began in 2015, the stadium's timeline has kept the city buzzing with hope and optimism. Sports stadiums and arenas have been known to transform towns and cities alike. The new Los Angeles Rams football stadium is no exception.
Located in Inglewood, California the new stadium not only shapes the future of a sports team but of a city. According to Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. he "sees his city rising again after hard times and double-digit unemployment further damaged Inglewood's psyche following the loss of its identity as a sports mecca." According to the Ram's chief operating officer Kevin Demoff, the stadium has to play more significant role than it's expected to. Although the NFL's history and social impact have been put in question several times over the last few years, it appears that the construction of the new stadium is motivating the NFL to attempt to project a "better" agenda beyond football.
The vision for Ram's owner E. Stanley Kroenke is to not only build a strong team but an even stronger legacy for the city. With a $5 billion budget, stadium plans are larger than life. "Its formal name is the LA Stadium & Entertainment District at Hollywood Park — includes a 70,240-seat stadium and 6,000-seat performance center under one roof that will anchor a 298-acre complex of office buildings, shops, restaurants, residential units, hotels, and parks. It's 3 1/2 times the size of Disneyland and twice as big as Vatican City." Said to be equipped with state of the art amenities set to put the stadium above the rest, one design challenge for Dallas-based architecture firm HKS Architects is to embody the "Southern California" feel to the stadium.
As a Los Angeles native myself, I can not disagree with Williams' statement of wanting to incorporate an indoor-outdoor feel. However, beyond the sunny skies, sandy beaches, and celebrity lifestyle the city is often associated with, Los Angeles is much more than that. Its eclectic art and culture scene, loyal sports fans, never-ending food scene, architectural gems, and appealing grittiness is what we would hope future structural developments like the stadium aspire to reflect.
Why on earth does it have a roof???
Why indeed. And the article skips over how it is financed and who gets stuck with it at the end of its useful life and who participates in the revenue generated by all these rock bands, tractor pulls, and what have you. And not even a nod to the San Diego Chargers (R.I.P.) who pooped all over their fan base to move to LA when that city would not cough up a new stadium, or the saga of the wandering Raiders who someday hope to put down roots in Las Vegas.
To keep out the heat and keep in the noise? Or to harvest solar energy?
Football is the quintessential American sport.
Two teams battle back and forth repeatedly over the same territory, at tremendous risk of grievous personal injury, for the profit of others.
That $5b is being spent on single a stadium is an indication of just how profitable this scam is. That millions of Americans are fans is an indication of how stupid they are.
And, unless things have changed, those players battling back and forth are making something more than just minimum wage and free Gatorade.
Yeah, they're earning head injuries that will shorten the amount of time they can spend the millions they're paid. Hopefully their offspring can claim they hit a triple after starting their life on third base! Maybe even become president!!
"Two teams battle back and forth repeatedly over the same territory, at tremendous risk of grievous personal injury, for the profit of others."
^ True! But it doesn't sound like you hate football nearly enough.
Los Angeles is suffering a typhus epidemic in some areas. It is caused by rats in sewers becoming in contact with raw sewage from the homeless encampments and transmitting it to fleas the rats are infested with. The fleas bite residents of these areas (or passers-by) and they become infected. Typhus is treatable but the initial symptoms are severely unpleasant. So, LA has money for this stadium boondoggle but can't treat its sewage?
Interesting that they get architects from Dallas to give them that southern CA feeling = power of PR = typical CA — yawn — my guess is the 300 acre site plan (the most important architecture) was too blah to lead an architect article — ah! — the power of the color rendering — "we have met the enemy and they is us!" (Walt Kellly's Pogo).
Saddest part being they have an office in LA. I doubt that office is involved much.
I'm surprised that Anish Kapoor hasn't been tapped to design a stadium yet. A big empty shiny blob fits the bill perfectly.
a JV with heatherwick would work too.