Stan Kroenke built SoFi Stadium without public money. He now wants some.
Actually, he wants a lot.
Via The Athletic, Kroenke seeks $400 million from Inglewood in a legal dispute over improvements made to the location of the facility property and the surrounding area.
Camp Kroenke cites a 2015 agreement with the city. Inglewood claims the agreement was nixed by a court decision that made agreements adopted by voter initiative invalid.
Beyond taking the position that the agreement was voided by the court decision, Inglewood quibbles with the amounts Kroenke is seeking.
There’s a separate dispute over Inglewood’s placement of billboards in the vicinity of SoFi Stadium. A hearing on that issue is set for Friday.
The managing director of Kroenke’s Hollywood Park said this in a statement: “If the city’s agreements can now be revisited or undone after years of economic growth and community benefit, it raises fundamental questions about the reliability of doing business in Inglewood — and California generally.”
If Kroenke hadn’t dumped so much of his own money into the project, the last part of the statement could be viewed as a suggestion that the Rams could leave the state, again. (It would be hilarious if they went back to St. Louis.)
Looking at it more broadly, this is yet another example of how land barons and captains of industry do business. They want what they want, and they’ll use everything in their power to get it.
Frankly, Inglewood knew or should have known this could happen, given that the relocation of the Rams from St. Louis sparked litigation that ultimately was settled by the Rams and the NFL for $790 million.
If nothing else, Kroenke may view the current fight as a way to get more than half of that money back.
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