WET WEATHER DELAYS NEW STADIUM BY A YEAR
los angeles» The opening of the $2.6 billion football stadium under construction in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood has been pushed back one year to 2020 because of construction delays caused by the Los Angeles area’s uncommonly wet winter.
Rams spokesman Artis Twyman on Thursday confirmed the delay of the 70,000-seat stadium, which will be shared by the NFL’s Rams and Chargers. The massive project also includes a 300-acre entertainment district.
The stadium was scheduled to open just before the 2019 NFL season but is now slated to open in the summer of 2020, the developers said in a statement.
Super Bowl LV has been awarded to the stadium for Feb. 7, 2021, although the NFL now would have to waive a rule that prohibits a Super Bowl being played at a stadium before it has hosted two full regular seasons. The NFL hasn’t yet decided how it will react to the stadium’s delay.
The delay shouldn’t disrupt the Los Angeles teams’ current playing arrangements: The Rams plan to stay downtown in the Memorial Coliseum, near USC, for the 2019 season, while the Chargers confirmed they will stay at the 30,000-seat StubHub Center in suburban Carson.
B las vegas» The public board that oversees the proposed Las Vegas stadium where the Raiders want to start playing in 2020 unanimously approved a conditional lease agreement for the facility after months of negotiations that were affected by the sudden exit
Las Vegas lease OK’d
of an instrumental financial backer of the $1.9 billion project.
The Las Vegas Stadium Authority board was running up against a deadline to approve the lease to avoid delaying the team’s relocation by a year.