One of the things the NFL owners are expected to vote on this week during the NFL Annual League Meetings is whether to increase the debt limit for the new Los Angeles Rams stadium in Inglewood.
The reason?
According to Seth Wickersham of ESPN, the cost of building this monument to football is edging close to $5 billion.
Today NFL team owners will vote to increase the debt limit for the Rams new stadium, which according to internal league documents is now projected to cost an amazing $4.963 billion.
— Seth Wickersham (@SethWickersham) March 27, 2018
When the Rams broke ground on this stadium back in 2016, the estimated cost was around $2.6 billion. So, yeah. That escalated quickly.
The stadium is going to be utterly unique, based on designs the team has shared. Here’s a bit of context about what the team hopes to achieve with this lavishly expensive stadium.
“I think at the end, what we’re looking to do is take the ultimate luxury and combine it with the highest level of experience and convenience,” said Greg Kish, the VP of Sales and Service for LASED, per the team’s website in January. “The fans in L.A, rightfully so, have a perception and definitely big expectations for their entertainment venues and we’re hoping to deliver on that.”
“When you’re standing, you’ll look across the lake and say, ‘That building looks like it could only be built in Los Angeles,’” Demoff added. “And I think that was Stan Kroenke’s vision — something that was an international, global, iconic venue.”
Kroenke has some seriously deep pockets, so it’s not likely the other owners will say no to this debt increase. According to Forbes, his net worth is $8.3 billion, so he can definitely afford the lavish expense. Though, as we all know, he’s not footing the entire bill.