Due to historic levels of rainfall in the Los Angeles area, the Rams announced that the opening of their new stadium that they will be sharing with the Chargers will be delayed. Rams COO Kevin Demoff informed season ticket holders via e-mail and held a conference call with reporters to inform them of the decision. Chargers president A.G. Spanos also released a statement addressing the delay. This will push back a lot of the predetermined timelines that the Rams had set up, including hosting the Super Bowl.
Why the rain effected construction
The Los Angeles Rams new stadium officially broke ground last November.
The stadium bowl is already fully excavated, being 90 feet deep. However, this phase of the construction process was the mass excavation period. Work during this point in the construction can't go forward in wet conditions, thus leading to major delays from the start of January to the beginning of March. There were 12 to 15 foot puddles in the stadium bowl from the rain. It was due to this that the decision was made to delay the opening to summer 2020. This accounts for possible delays in the schedule and so construction is not rushed.
Fallout from the decision
The decision by the Rams to push back their $2.6 billion dollar stadium in Inglewood does come with consequences. Foremost, it means that the team will play an extra year playing at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The Chargers will also have to play an extra year at StubHub Center. According to NFL rules, it also means that the Rams will likely have to play yet another international game in 2019 since they will still be in a temporary stadium
This also could affect the Rams planned 2019 roll out of their redesigned uniforms. This was originally supposed to happen in conjunction with their stadium opening, but now the team will wait to make a decision on if this will happen as planned or be pushed back to 2020.
The new stadium was also approved to host the Super Bowl in 2021. However, NFL rules say that a team cannot hold the event at the end of a stadium's first season. If the Rams want they can submit a waiver to NFL to try to have this rule bypassed.
Non-football ramifications
With the stadium set to open in summer 2020, it will help to make up for some of the lost football revenue by allowing for other events to take place at the stadium.
However, some NFL executives are estimating that the Los Angeles Rams could lose as much as $80 in future revenue from the delay. More than half of that amount would just be from loss of ticket sales and sponsorship. Los Angeles is also vying to host the 2024 summer Olympics, with the host city being announced this September. The Rams new stadium is expected to play a big role in the event if the city were to host the event.
