LOS ANGELES _ As construction continues on the NFL's most expensive stadium by far, the $5 billion Inglewood venue has reached a major milestone.
The place now has a name: SoFi Stadium.
LA Stadium and Entertainment District at Hollywood Park has partnered in a 20-year agreement that gives the digital personal finance company the exclusive naming rights for the future home of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers, the teams announced Sunday. The deal is the official culmination of negotiations first reported in May. Financial terms of the naming-rights deal were not disclosed.
The stadium, which is scheduled to open next summer and being developed by Rams owner Stan Kroenke, will play host to Super Bowl LVI in 2022, the college football national championship game in 2023, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games in 2028. It will have a seating capacity of about 70,000, expandable to 100,000.
"There were many companies interested in joining us as our naming rights partner but SoFi was the perfect fit as they share our passion for innovation, design and customer experience," Kroenke said in an email. "Our partnership allows for our stadium and SoFi to grow together over the next 20 years as we deliver special moments for NFL fans and the world. We are inspired each day by the excitement Rams fans, our partners and all Angelenos have shared with us as Hollywood Park comes to life."
Adjacent to the stadium and under the same roof will be a 6,000-seat performance venue and the 2.5-acre American Airlines Plaza. Plans for the 298-acre site _ which is roughly 3 { times the size of the amusement park part of Disneyland _ include more than 1.5 million square feet of retail and office space, 2,500 residences, a hotel and more than 20 acres of parks.
"For us, being a part of this new stadium, I really believe that this will not only be the greatest stadium in the country and probably the world," Chargers owner Dean Spanos said. "Clearly, it's going to redefine this area of Los Angeles for the next century. When all this thing is built out, it's going to be bigger than Century City. When you sit back and take a look at the vision here and what's happening, it's just incredible."
SoFi will have branding on the roof of the stadium, and on the speaker system at the bottom of the 70,000-square foot oculus display, the ring-shaped video board that will be suspended from the ceiling.
"You have to have a shared vision, a shared philosophy about partnership, and shared objectives, and then of course alignment," said Anthony Noto, SoFi chief executive and former chief financial officer of Twitter and the NFL.
