Stan Kroenke (left) and Steve Ballmer.
Stan Kroenke and Steve Ballmer
L.A. Rams owner; L.A. Clippers owner
The L.A. Dodgers and L.A. Lakers have for generations held Angelenos’ hearts firmly, but the players that arrived over the past decade have elevated the city and its region into a professional sports megalopolis, and helped make it a perfect host for the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Rams owner Stan Kroenke completed the 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium four years ago, and it has been a major catalyst for development around Inglewood. The surrounding Hollywood Park features 1.7 million square feet of office and retail, 2,500 residential units, a 300-room hotel and a 6,000-seat performing arts center.
But that was just the beginning.
Over the past few years, Kroenke spent $650 million amassing 100 acres in the San Fernando Valley, and in April his company unveiled a $10 billion plan to build a 52-acre development in Woodland Hills around the Rams’ future headquarters. The project calls for practice and training facilities, two indoor entertainment venues, and 5 million square feet of residential and mixed-use development.
While that plan makes its way through the pipeline, SoFi Stadium’s neighbor was L.A.’s most celebrated new entertainment development last year. Though many said it was impossible to get Angelenos to care enough about the NBA’s Clippers, owner Steve Ballmer has done the impossible with the $2 billion Intuit Dome.
The Clippers left Crypto.com Arena and Downtown L.A. — where the team was the third tenant behind the Lakers and the NHL’s Kings — and played their first season to much fanfare this past year at the eye-catching Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (In all, the complex spans 26 acres and will soon feature office space, retail and a hotel.)
It was an expensive feat simply to get the land to build the new privately funded arena, for which Ballmer had to outlast several costly lawsuits and pay $400 million for the adjacent Forum arena in 2020.
SoFi Stadium will host some of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as well as Super Bowl XLI in 2027. In 2028 it will host the opening and closing ceremonies for the Summer Olympics, as well as Olympic swimming and track and field competitions. The Intuit Dome will also host basketball games and other indoor Olympic events.
Kroenke owns the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids, and all of their venues too. His firm is also planning a 10 million- to 12 million-square-foot district near Ball Arena in Denver.
