VenuesNow Conference: Panel Talks L.A.’s Gateway Stadium

Black Coffee Productions for VenuesNow – Venues Now
“Field of Dreams: The NFL’s Return to Los Angeles” panel at the VenuesNow Conference on Tuesday (from left): moderator Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times, Jeanne Bonk of the San Diego Chargers, Kevin Demoff of the Los Angeles Rams and Jason Gannon of the Los Angeles Stadium and Entertainment District.

L.A. Stadium and Entertainment District officials see the massive Inglewood project as part of the city’s new front door, greeting a global audience traveling through Los Angeles International Airport every year.

The $5 billion project, which covers 300 acres, sits under a flight path to LAX. As a result, officials feel there’s a prime opportunity to grab the attention of international visitors, starting with a bird’s-eye view of the development.

The stadium will be home to the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers. It is scheduled to open for the 2020 season.

The stadium’s roof, for example, will be made of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene, a clear plastic material known as ETFE. It could potentially be used as a projection screen to display images of live events going on at the facility as well as the naming-rights partner’s logo and brands associated with other sponsors.

“We’re working on that,” said Jason Gannon, managing director of the stadium district. “Certainly, there are a lot of interested parties in that conversation. That’s in our design model.”

In 2017, LAX welcomed 85 million passengers, ranking it as the world’s fifth-busiest airport, according to airline industry trade groups.

“The one great advantage we have is being a gateway to an international destination,” said Kevin Demoff, the Rams’ executive vice president of football operations and chief operating officer.

“We talk about our proximity from LAX, the No. 1 destination in the world from Asia for air traffic with 13 million passengers a year,” Demoff said. “When you look at the opportunity to draw from across the world, that’s where our project can be a game changer.”

The stadium and mixed-use district are just one piece of development within a four-mile radius of the airport. All told, those projects approach $40 billion, Demoff said, which includes an expansion of LAX and public transportation upgrades.

In Inglewood, visitors could spend an entire week at the L.A. Stadium and Entertainment District, surrounding high-profile events such as the Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four, College Football Playoff and the 2028 Olympics, he said.

The district, in addition to the stadium, includes 13.5 million square feet of mixed use, including hotels, retail, restaurants, office space and a 6,000-seat performance venue. Plus, the NFL Network is relocating to the site, taking up 200,000 square feet.

The stadium itself is designed with the flexibility to accommodate 70,000 to 100,000 fans depending on the event, and officials are already in discussions with WWE about booking WrestleMania at the stadium.

“Everybody’s looking for content, for real estate, to grow their brands at these events, and we’re so close to the airport and so easy from a public transportation perspective,” Demoff said. “There is no type of event that we can’t hold. The Forum is just to the north from a concert perspective, and depending on what happens with the (Los Angeles Clippers’ arena project) to the south of us, you have every venue possible for someone to say, ‘OK, this is a blank canvas for our event.’”

The Chargers will move from StubHub Center, their temporary home for three years with 27,000 seats, to the Inglewood stadium, which will stand among the NFL’s biggest footprints.

“One of the most important things at StubHub is the intimacy,” said Jeanne Bonk, the Chargers’ executive vice president and chief operating officer. “There’s not a bad seat in the house. You can hear the pads and the helmets hitting. It’s really a tremendous opportunity from a fan’s perspective. We got a chance to see that and hear from our fans that they appreciate it. We need to be able to take that [experience] and apply it to a new stadium. Even though it’s 3 million square feet, I think you’re still going to feel that intimacy that’s so important in watching a sporting event.”

The stadium is 40 percent through construction and remains on schedule to be completed in June 2020, Gannon said.

“We’re on a 24/7 … work schedule right now and are averaging about 1,500 employees on site every day,” he said. “At peak, it gets up to about 3,000 people. We’re pushing pretty hard and really excited to have a great team upfront.”

HKS is the designer on the stadium project. An AECOM Hunt/Turner Construction joint venture is building it, and Legends Global Planning is the owner’s rep.