LA Rams meet Local Govt, determine no stoppage at SoFi Stadium

When CA Governor announced Stay-at-home, many questions were raised about  LA Rams Sofi Stadium. After meeting today, construction will proceed

The LA Rams certainly are handling issues on multiple fronts right now. From the moment the California Governor announced the Stay-at-Home directive to curtail the spread of the dangerous COVID-19 disease, questions were raised about the status of the SoFi Sports Complex. The $5 Billion-cost projects are scheduled to open in phases over the course of this summer and to be ready for the opening of the 2020 NFL Season for both the LA Rams and the LA Chargers.

But as is often the case with single piece legislation or executive orders, the one-size-fits-all seldom fits all.  The executive order, as it is currently written, restricts construction to projects benefiting public services and housing projects. Since SoFi Sports Complex does not fit that rather narrow definition of authorized construction projects, the matter required a meeting between both the LA Rams organization and local government officials.

The LA Rams met with local government officials to hammer out the dos and don’ts of the California Governor’s stay-at-home directive.  Thankfully, The Athletics Rich Hammond has made the results of that meeting known:

As far as the other COVID-19 restrictions? They will remain in effect.  Those restrictions include remaining at a safe distance, no handshaking, no large gathering of persons, and other such directions to reduce the likelihood of transmitting the disease among workers.

When the news of the stay-at-home order was announced, we did reach out to determine the status of the project. We were advised by a source that the SoFi Project did not meet the criteria for an authorized project at face value. After that determination, additional information surfaced from another source indicating that the Governor’s office would look to change the language to allow SoFi to proceed.

Thankfully, the meeting today has clarified the impact of the new rule. This is great news towards the completion of the project.  While this does not eliminate the chance of any future delays, it does mean that the project can meet it’s project timeline..