Background The stadium site was previously home to
Hollywood Park, later sold and referred to as
Betfair Hollywood Park, which was a
thoroughbred race course from 1938 until it was shut down for racing and training in December 2013. Most of the complex was demolished in 2014 to make way for new construction with the rest demolished in late 2016 after the Hollywood Park Casino, which remained open after the track itself closed, moved to a new building. The current stadium was not the first stadium proposed for the site. The site was almost home to an NFL stadium two decades earlier. In May 1995, after the departure of the Rams for
St. Louis, the NFL team owners approved, by a 27–1 vote with two abstentions, a resolution supporting a plan to build a $200 million, privately funded stadium on property owned by Hollywood Park for the
Los Angeles Raiders.
Al Davis, who was then the Raiders owner, balked and refused the deal over a stipulation that he would have had to accept a second team at the stadium. On January 31, 2014, the
Los Angeles Times reported that
Stan Kroenke, owner of the
St. Louis Rams, purchased a parcel of land just north of the Hollywood Park site in the area that had been studied by the NFL in the past for the 1995 Raiders proposal and that the league at one point attempted to purchase. This set off immediate speculation as to what Kroenke's intentions were for the site: After the site's former Hollywood Park owners gave up on getting an NFL stadium for the site in the mid-2000s it was sold and planned to be a
Walmart Supercenter; however, in 2014, most of the speculation centered on the site as a possible stadium site or training facility for the Rams. NFL Commissioner
Roger Goodell represented that Kroenke informed the league of the purchase. As an NFL owner, any purchase of land in which a potential stadium could be built must be disclosed to the league. Speculation about
the Rams' returning to their home of nearly fifty years had already been discussed when Kroenke was one of the finalists in bidding for ownership in the
Los Angeles Dodgers, but speculation increased when the news broke that the Rams owner had a possible stadium site in hand. skyline in background Nearly a year went by without a word from Kroenke about his intentions for the land, as he failed to ever address the St. Louis media, or the Hollywood Park Land Company, about what the site may be used for. There was, however, speculation about the future of the Rams franchise until it was reported that the National Football League would not be allowing any franchise relocation for the 2015 season. On January 5, 2015,
Stockbridge Capital Group, the owners of the Hollywood Park Land Company, announced that it had partnered with
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment to add the northern parcel to the rest of the development project and build a multi-purpose 70,240-seat stadium designed for the NFL. The project would include the stadium and a performance arts venue attached to the stadium with up to 6,000 seats. The previously approved Hollywood Park development was reconfigured to fit the stadium, and included plans for up to of retail, of office space, 2,500 new residential units, a luxury
hotel with over 300 rooms, of public parks, playgrounds, open space, a lake, and pedestrian, bicycle, and mass-transit access for future services. It was reported in early February 2015, that "earth was being moved" and the site was being graded in preparation for the construction that would begin later in the year. The project was competing directly with a rival proposal. On February 19, 2015, the
Oakland Raiders and the
San Diego Chargers announced plans for a
privately financed $1.85 billion stadium that the two teams would have built in
Carson if they were to move to the Los Angeles market. The project was, like the Inglewood project, also approved to move forward and cleared for development. The two projects spent the remainder of 2015 jockeying for the right to get approved by the NFL.
Financing The stadium was built privately, but as of 2015, the developer was seeking significant tax breaks from Inglewood. At the commencement of construction, the cost of the stadium was estimated at $2.66 billion. But internal league documents, produced by the NFL in March 2018, indicated a need to raise the debt ceiling for the stadium and facility to a total of $4.963 billion. Team owners voted to approve this new debt ceiling at a meeting that same month. Another $500 million in loans was approved by the NFL in May 2020, putting the total cost at $5.5 billion and making it the
most expensive stadium ever built.
Construction . The new
Hollywood Park Casino is in the foreground. The NFL approved the Inglewood proposal and the Rams' relocation back to Los Angeles, 30–2, on January 12, 2016, over the rival proposal. On July 14, 2016, it was announced that
Turner Construction and
AECOM Hunt would oversee construction of the stadium and that the architectural firm HKS, Inc. would design the stadium. On October 19, 2016, the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) determined that a tall LB 44 rotary drill rig would not pose a hazard to air navigation, so it approved the first of several pieces of heavy equipment to be used during construction. The stadium design had been under review by the FAA for more than a year because of concerns about how the structure would interact with radar at nearby
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). On December 16, 2016, it was reported in
Sports Business Journal that the FAA had declined to issue permits for cranes needed to build the structure. "We're not going to evaluate any crane applications until our concerns with the overall project are resolved," said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor. The FAA had previously recommended building the stadium at another site because of the risks posed to LAX—echoing concerns raised by former
United States Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge. The
Rams held the groundbreaking construction ceremony at the stadium site on November 17, 2016. The ceremony featured
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Rams' owner Stan Kroenke. On December 23, 2016, the FAA approved the large construction
cranes to build the stadium. On May 18, 2017, developers announced that record rainfall in the area had postponed the stadium's completion and opening from 2019 until the
2020 NFL season. On August 8, 2017, the LA Stadium Premiere Center opened in
Playa Vista, featuring interactive multimedia displays and models showcasing the design and features of the new stadium (with a particular focus on prospective buyers of premium suites and seats at the facility). In March 2018, the NFL announced that it would relocate its NFL Media unit (which manages the NFL's in-house media units, including
NFL Network, digital properties, and
NFL Films among other units) from
Culver City to a new facility neighboring the stadium in the Hollywood Park development including a studio capable of hosting audiences, as well as an outdoor studio. The new facility was completed in 2021. On June 26, 2018, the new stadium was ceremonially
topped out. As of August 2019, one year before the planned opening, Rams
chief operating officer Kevin Demoff stated that the stadium was 75 percent complete. In January 2020, Demoff announced that construction was 85 percent complete, with roof and oculus work, as well as seat installation, still in progress. In February 2020, a large crane collapsed—no one was injured. Amidst the
COVID-19 pandemic and
stay-at-home orders issued by the California state government in March 2020, construction (exempted as a critical infrastructure project) continued with
social distancing and heightened health and safety standards. Demoff acknowledged that there was a possibility that its completion could be delayed, explaining that it was "not the time you want to be finishing a stadium, in this environment as you prepare", but that "our stadium, and I believe the
Raiders' stadium as well, will both be amazing when they are finished and when they will begin play, which will certainly happen in the near future, whether that's in July, August, September, in 2021". Five construction workers were reported to have tested positive, including an ironworker who had worked in an assembly area away from the structure, and a
backfill operator who had worked in an "isolated area outside the building" and had not entered it. On June 5, 2020, construction on the facility was temporarily halted after an ironworker fell to his death through a hole in the roof created by the removal of a panel for maintenance. On June 9, 2020, construction on the facility resumed everywhere but the roof.
Canceled or postponed opening events, first events The entirety of the NFL preseason was also cancelled; the Rams held their first practice at the stadium on August 22, 2020. On August 25, the Rams and Chargers announced that all games at the stadium would be held
behind closed doors "until further notice". An official ribbon-cutting ceremony was hosted on September 8, ahead of its first NFL event on September 13—featuring the Rams hosting and defeating the
Dallas Cowboys 20–17 in the first
Sunday Night game of the season. The Chargers would have their first game at the stadium a week later, though they would fall to the
Kansas City Chiefs 23–20. The first athletic contest with spectators present occurred on May 15, 2021, with
LA Giltinis defeating
Utah Warriors, 38–27, in a
Major League Rugby match before 4,880 spectators. The
Los Angeles Rams hosted the
Chicago Bears for the first NFL regular-season game at the stadium with fans in attendance on September 12, 2021, a 34–14 Rams win before a crowd of 70,445. A week later, the
Los Angeles Chargers would hold their first regular season game at the stadium with fans in attendance, though they would fall to the Dallas Cowboys 20–17 before a crowd of 70,240. The first
playoff game at the stadium took place on January 17, 2022, a 34–11 Rams victory against the
Arizona Cardinals before a crowd of 70,625. All of the originally announced summer concerts at the venue were cancelled or postponed by the pandemic, including a two-night stop of
Taylor Swift's
Lover Fest on July 25 and 26, 2020 (originally announced as the stadium's grand opening and later cancelled, though she concluded the 2023 U.S. leg of
The Eras Tour at the stadium), and tours by
Guns N' Roses (
2020 Tour, they would perform at nearby
BMO Stadium instead),
Kenny Chesney (
Chillaxification Tour, though he would perform in 2022 at the stadium),
Tim McGraw (Here on Earth Tour),
Mötley Crüe, and
Def Leppard (
The Stadium Tour, though they would perform in 2022 at the stadium). On May 2, 2021, the stadium hosted its first major event with spectators present, the filming of the
Global Citizen-organized concert special
Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World, hosted by
Selena Gomez and featuring
Jennifer Lopez,
Eddie Vedder, the
Foo Fighters,
H.E.R.,
J Balvin, and the
Duke of Sussex, which aimed to promote
COVID-19 vaccination. After
COVID-19 restrictions were eased, SoFi Stadium hosted its first in-person concert event by American DJ
Kaskade on July 17. Mexican regional music group
Los Bukis kicked off their reunion tour on August 27 and 28, filling the stadium to capacity. On November 27 and 28, and December 1 and 2, the stadium hosted
Permission to Dance on Stage—LA, a run of four concerts by the
K-pop group
BTS. The shows took in a gross of $33.3 million;
Billboard reported them to be the highest-grossing concert engagement to ever be held in California, the second-largest in North America overall (surpassed only by a 10-show run at
Giants Stadium by
Bruce Springsteen), and the highest-grossing run of concerts at a single venue since 2012. On April 29, 2023, the stadium hosted its first ever
Monster Jam event. Grave Digger would end up winning the overall event championship. Two months later, it was announced that the stadium would play host to Monster Jam World Finals 23 on May 18, 2024. Monster Jam returned to the stadium on May 17, 2025 and on April 11, 2026. The stadium hosted City Year Los Angeles Spring Break Fundraiser on May 4, 2024, with a performance by
John Legend. On February 1, 2025, the stadium hosted the
Honda Battle of the Bands, the first on the West Coast. ==Naming==