As many of us are aware, the 56th Super Bowl was recently held this past weekend in Los Angeles, CA. The Bengals and Rams faced off in the newly built five billion dollar SoFi stadium in Inglewood, CA. This incredible new stadium is bringing new life and activity to the surrounding area. For some, this will mean more business, more customers, and more money. However, for many this new build will cause rent to soar and inherently gentrify the surrounding area.
Inglewood has been home to Black and Latino families since the 1980s. The area has also long struggled with poverty, crime, and socioeconomic issues. However, Inglewood had also built up a record of hosting successful sports teams, inspiring the name “City of Champions”. Around 1960 the Lakers and Kings moved to Inglewood to play at the Forum where they both had some extremely successful paths, giving the city its nickname. When these teams moved to the newly built Staples Center in 2000, the image of Inglewood left behind was one of struggle. So when SoFi stadium was built in 2020, it brought back a new image for the city along with new life. The additional win of the Rams during Super Bowl LVI helped the city restore its image as the “City of Champions”.
Many local residents experienced a surge of pride that such an event was being held in their home city as well as excitement for the influx of business from large sporting events. But many others struggle to feel this same sense of pride as the cost of living rises and displaces locals from their homes. Additionally, while the income into businesses will increase, the wages and salaries of local workers will likely remain constant as the extra cash gets funneled into corporations. An article from the Washington Post explains:
As has been the case in other cities with gentrification tied to sports, rents are skyrocketing in Inglewood, and displacements are underway, even as Mayor Butts has sought to institute caps on rent increases. Sports, once a key to the survival of the community’s residents, has been transformed into an engine of The Wood’s undoing.
Sports, while they can be used as a tool to bring life back into a city, can also bring economic hardship to the local community. As sports continue to bring large events and celebrations to cities all over the US, we must remain cautious about the impacts sports have on the surrounding community and remind ourselves that those living in the community must be prioritized.
This is an interesting case because people generally look past the externalities that involve rent and the existing people in the area. It's a super beautiful stadium and a great thing to have in LA but it seems that the Inglewood population can do nothing but stand by and watch their rents increase. If the LA county government actually found this to be a concerning issue, they would definitely do something about it but that seems extremely unlikely.
The SuperBowl was a test run for the 2028 Olympics, which will have an even more severe impact on the low income communities of Los Angeles. Before the SuperBowl, police sweeped the streets of homeless encampments to make the city look better for the cameras. The Olympics will be the same but on a much larger scale. Not to mention the large influx of people into a city with very limited transit will inconvenience and/or harm many locals. Events like this should not be permitted without strict rent control, and should not happen in communities that are already struggling.
An increase in sporting events is necessary and beneficial to Inglewood as it increases business activities. But it also causes suffering for people. A rise in sporting activity in the area has a negative effect on residents, which is causing rent prices to increase and displacing families and neighborhoods. I believe it would be redundant to displace people who have established their homes or increased rent for Inglewood's sporting events.
When I first went to Inglewood I went to the Forum, which seems extremely out of place for the area. The topic of gentrification is seen in many parts of Los Angeles, even USC for example. USC is placed in a lower income community and placing USC as the mecca of South Central Los Angeles. When the USC village was built it transformed the entire community, not for the better. Yes it provided jobs and a place to go, but the Village is an expensive facility. It does not even provide people in the community with places to shop, it forces them to go further out to find cheaper prices because the village makes everything so expensive. Maybe if the…