Rams owner seeks $400M from Inglewood over stadium costs

The owner of the Los Angeles Rams, E. Stanley Kroenke, is seeking approximately $400 million from the city of Inglewood, California, in a legal dispute over infrastructure costs related to the SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park development. The conflict centers on a 2015 development agreement and comes as the stadium complex prepares to host major global events, including the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Kroenke’s Hollywood Park development group argues that under the terms of the 2015 agreement, the city is obligated to reimburse the company for public infrastructure improvements it financed, such as roads, sewer lines, and streetlights. The agreement stipulated that reimbursement would begin once the development generated more than $25 million in annual tax revenue for Inglewood, a threshold the company says has been met.

City officials, led by Mayor James T. Butts Jr., contend the agreement is invalid. They cite a subsequent California court decision which ruled that development agreements adopted by voter initiative, rather than negotiated directly with a local legislative body, are not enforceable. Inglewood also disputes the methodology behind the $400...