The Pros and Cons of SoFi Stadium

Inglewood’s new SoFi stadium, home to the Los Angeles Chargers and Rams, is slated to open in July 2020. It will be christened by Taylor Swift’s 2020 tour, and may even host the 2020 NFL season opener. With architecture that is a feat of engineering, technology that is second-to-none, and a price tag that makes it the most expensive stadium in NFL history, countless stakeholders and fans are awaiting its unveiling.

While the stadium promises to bring upwards of 10,000 permanent jobs and consistent tourism to the storied Inglewood neighborhood, not everyone is hopeful that all of the change will be positive. Inglewood has most certainly had a troubled past, with high unemployment and crime rates that have slowly abated over the last 10 years. But it also has a long, rich history as an enclave for both African American and Hispanic communities.

 From the outside, this looks like a huge win for the city. But for many longtime residents and mom and pop shops, they fear the gentrification will bring rising property values and rent that will eventually price them out of the neighborhood. And many small businesses wonder how long they’ll be able to compete against chains moving into the surrounding areas. To that end, the city has established a 5-year rent control. 

 So what is the fear, and what can we learn from history? As property gets gobbled up nearby, the costs of housing and goods will eventually increase, pushing out those with low and fixed incomes. To those unaffected by this change, it is easy to overlook the problem. But for a traditionally African-American and Latino community, they can look forward to displacement and removal from their community and social support system.

This story is not new. We have seen it again and again across the country. New developments make way for forward progress as old neighborhoods reinvent themselves. But that reinvention almost always comes with a loss of the embedded culture that kept those social networks thriving.

This happened just a decade ago in Chicago’s infamous Cabrini-Green neighborhood. New developments created new, more expensive housing opportunities on prime real estate. As the upwardly mobile moved in, those who had long called it home were forced out and it disrupted an entire cultural ecosystem. Lives were uprooted, extended families no longer had opportunity to live in close proximity and care for one another. It had real consequences. The single mom working two jobs who lived next door to her aunts was relocated 30 miles away and lost her free childcare. She lost her social construct of proximity and togetherness.

 Yes, the pros and cons of these changes can be argued for days. But the benefits on one side do not negate the difficulties that many will face at the same time. So what do we do about this? Do we stand in the way of change and progress and innovation to ensure that no social and cultural norms are disrupted? Do we give development a full-court press and trust that economic benefit to the city will do the most good, regardless of the collateral damage? 

The answer is not easy. But maybe we start but acknowledging there are many stakeholders aside from the NFL and those who stand to make money from their new neighbor. 

 Maybe we make this the start of the conversation, rather than just the beginning and the end. Maybe we ask each other what we are responsible for, with the knowledge we have. And maybe we seek the Lord and ask how we might bring His peace to those who are getting displaced for the sake of Inglewood’s economic improvement.