New L.A. stadium for Chargers, Rams delayed one year

May 19, 2017  - By

The new stadium that is being built for the Rams and Chargers in Inglewood, Calif., will be delayed almost a year, to the start of the 2020 NFL season.

Developers, who broke ground on the project in November 2016, blamed the postponement on record rainfall during the excavation phase of construction, according to an article from the Los Angeles Times.

According to the L.A. Times, the rain fell at a crucial stage of construction when work centered on digging the massive hole — 5 million cubic yards of dirt were excavated — in which the stadium will sit. For scale, there was standing water 12 to 15 feet deep. After which, the excavated area had to be drained before any work could continue.

“Unfortunately, Southern California experienced record-setting rain this winter,” a statement from the Rams read. “Despite bringing drought relief to the region, the rain fell during the mass excavation period of construction when no other work could proceed in wet conditions. As a result, we experienced significant delays and lost the better part of two months from early January into the beginning of March.”

Crews are still hard at work on the project, with crews working on the Inglewood project on every day but Sunday since March. Each day, work is completed during two eight-hour shifts, with a third shift for resupplying, the L.A. Times article stated.

Originally projected to open in 2019, the 70,000-seat stadium was the centerpiece for the massive transformation project of the former Hollywood Park Racetrack into the Los Angeles Stadium and Entertainment District at Hollywood Park. The area will include a 300-room hotel, 780,000 square feet of office space, a 6,000-seat performance venue attached to the stadium, approximately 25 acres of public parks, open space, pedestrian walkways and bicycle paths, 890,000 square feet of retail space and 2,500 modern residences.

The Rams plan on playing at the Coliseum in Los Angeles for two more years — a move that is allowed under the terms of their current lease from the University of Southern California — while the Chargers confirmed that they will now play at the 30,000-seat StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., through 2019, according to an article from NFL.com.

But where does that leave Los Angeles’ standing as host of Super Bowl LV in February 2021? League rules state a stadium cannot host a Super Bowl in its inaugural season. Therefore, the matter will be up for the owners to decide.

Coincidentally, the league’s annual May meeting is in Chicago next week. At that time, the league would need to issue a waiver to keep the game in L.A. for the 2021 event.

The $2.6 billion project will be the second NFL stadium to host multiple NFL teams at the same time, after MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

To view a live feed of the construction project, click here.

This article is tagged with and posted in Football/Soccer, News
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About the Author:

Kelly Limpert is the former digital media content producer for North Coast Media. Limpert completed her undergraduate degree at Ohio University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. She specifically creates content for North Coast Media’s Golfdom, Landscape Management and Athletic Turf digital properties including eNewsletters, social media and websites.

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