After years of rumors and speculation, and with plenty of moving parts that still need to be sorted out, at least one thing is official: the St. Louis Rams are Los Angeles-bound.
The NFL owners voted in favor of the Rams’ plan of moving back to the city they called home from 1946 to 1994.
A new stadium will be built in Inglewood, Calif., on the site of the old Hollywood Park racetrack, roughly 10 miles from downtown Los Angeles. It is expected to be the league’s largest stadium in terms of area (at 8.5 million sf), and will cost between $1.8 billion and $3 billion.
The stadium will be set 100 feet into the ground with a 175-foot above ground profile. The roof will have open air on its sides with metal borders at the top, and the section over the playing field will be made of the transparent ETFE material, which is translucent but immensely strong. The stadium, which will have 70,000 seats and could expand to 100,000 with standing room only capacity, will be part of a 298-acre entertainment, retail, and housing complex.
“It's going to be so much more than going to a football game,” said Mark Williams of HKS, the firm designing the stadium, according to the Los Angeles Times. “You're going to be absorbed into the site, absorbed into the stadium, and get a very wide bandwidth of experience. It's the kind of memory people are going to cherish for a lifetime.”
The NFL is in favor of two teams moving to LA and sharing a stadium. The San Diego Chargers have the option of leaving their digs, the old Qualcomm Stadium, and joining the Rams in becoming co-tenants at the new LA stadium. They have a little more than one year to make a decision. If they decline, then the Oakland Raiders could choose to move from their home, the O.co Coliseum, and play in the new stadium with the Rams.
Meanwhile, both the Chargers and Raiders are working to stay in their current cities (at least that's what both teams’ owners are saying). If they stay, the NFL will give them each $100 million toward a new stadium.
The original plan for the Raiders and Chargers was for the teams to share a stadium, designed by Manica Architecture, in Carson, Calif. That was voted down by the owners in part because of logistics (the league would’ve had to realign divisions), and in part due to location. The $1.7 billion stadium in Carson would’ve been built on top of an old landfill.
The proposed Carson Stadium was voted down by NFL owners. Rendering: Manica Architecture
The next step for the Rams will be to determine where they’ll play next. The team’s temporary home is expected to be the LA Coliseum, a 92-year-old bowl stadium that seats more than 93,000 people. The University of Southern California’s football team currently plays there on Saturdays. Other options for the Rams include the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
Los Angeles has been without football since the 1994 season, when both the Rams and Raiders moved. For the 1995 season, the Rams played at St. Louis’s Busch Stadium before moving into the now-named Edward Jones Dome later in the season. The Rams stayed at the dome through the 2015 season.
The Rams turned down a recent plan to stay in St. Louis, which included a $1 billion HOK-designed stadium on the Mississippi River.
Though financing was an issue for the proposed St. Louis stadium, it’s unclear how serious the team considered the plan. Rams’ owner Stan Kroenke bought the land in Inglewood back in early 2014, which had fueled relocation rumors since.
The proposed riverfront stadium in St. Louis. Rendering: HOK
Related Stories
| Jan 28, 2014
Big Ten Conference opens swanky HQ and museum [slideshow]
The new mixed-use headquarters includes a museum, broadcast studios, conference facilities, office spaces, and, oh yeah, a Brazilian steakhouse.
| Jan 27, 2014
A climber's dream: Rock climbing hall planned near Iran's highest peak
Forget the rock climbing wall. A developer in Iran is building a rock climbing hall. That's right, an entire building dedicated to the sport, with more than 48,000 sf of program space.
| Jan 13, 2014
Custom exterior fabricator A. Zahner unveils free façade design software for architects
The web-based tool uses the company's factory floor like "a massive rapid prototype machine,” allowing designers to manipulate designs on the fly based on cost and other factors, according to CEO/President Bill Zahner.
| Jan 11, 2014
Getting to net-zero energy with brick masonry construction [AIA course]
When targeting net-zero energy performance, AEC professionals are advised to tackle energy demand first. This AIA course covers brick masonry's role in reducing energy consumption in buildings.
| Jan 7, 2014
Concrete solutions: 9 innovations for a construction essential
BD+C editors offer a roundup of new products and case studies that represent the latest breakthroughs in concrete technology.
Smart Buildings | Jan 7, 2014
9 mega redevelopments poised to transform the urban landscape
Slowed by the recession—and often by protracted negotiations—some big redevelopment plans are now moving ahead. Here’s a sampling of nine major mixed-use projects throughout the country.
| Dec 27, 2013
$1 billion 'city within a city' development approved by Coachella, Calif., city council
The mega development includes 7,800 homes, a retail center, office space, and nearly 350 acres of open space.
| Dec 13, 2013
Safe and sound: 10 solutions for fire and life safety
From a dual fire-CO detector to an aspiration-sensing fire alarm, BD+C editors present a roundup of new fire and life safety products and technologies.
| Dec 10, 2013
16 great solutions for architects, engineers, and contractors
From a crowd-funded smart shovel to a why-didn’t-someone-do-this-sooner scheme for managing traffic in public restrooms, these ideas are noteworthy for creative problem-solving. Here are some of the most intriguing innovations the BD+C community has brought to our attention this year.
| Dec 9, 2013
Tips for designing higher education's newest building type: the learning commons
In this era of scaled-down budgets, maximized efficiencies, new learning methods and social media’s domination of face time, college and university campuses are gravitating toward a new space type: the learning commons.
