‘The stadium is secondary’: how US sports teams became real-estate speculators

The Los Angeles Rams play their home games at the 70,240-capacity SoFi Stadium, a gleaming $5bn venue that serves as the centerpiece of a broader mixed-used development project. Photograph: Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

Pitching his vision of shifting the St Louis Rams to an ultra-modern stadium anchoring a massive land redevelopment near Los Angeles international airport, Stan Kroenke told his fellow NFL owners: “This is what we do”.

Nearly eight years later, with the Rams successfully relocated and playing in the $5bn, 70,240-capacity SoFi Stadium complex, Kroenke is delivering on his declaration with the help of retailers, homebuilders, Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny.