[Elvis]

[Elvis]

https://www.dailynews.com/2019/11/05/un ... i-stadium/

‘Unbelievable,’ ‘beautiful,’ ‘intimate’: Rams, Chargers fans get first looks at SoFi Stadium


Tim and Janet Heher of Seal Beach look at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood from their 2020 Rams season seats during a stadium tour on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. Construction is more than 80 percent complete on the stadium, which will be home to the Rams and Chargers. (Photo by Kevin Modesti/SCNG)

By KEVIN MODESTI | kmodesti@scng.com | Daily News
PUBLISHED: November 5, 2019 at 8:54 pm | UPDATED: November 5, 2019 at 8:54 pm

INGLEWOOD — Typical late-arriving L.A. sports fans they are not: Rams season-ticket holders Tim and Janet Heher were in their seats nine months before the first kickoff at SoFi Stadium.

“This is even better than I expected,” Tim said as the Seal Beach couple looked around the stadium’s shell from the 12th row behind the south end zone. “L.A. deserves this. I can’t wait ’til the first game happens.”

The Hehers were among a group of Rams and Chargers season-ticket holders allowed to put on hard hats Tuesday and venture in to try out their seats for the first time at the stadium, now three years and more than 80 percent into its construction.


A panoramic photo shows SoFi Stadium in Inglewood from the back of the south end zone lower seating section during construction Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. The stadium will be the Rams’ and Chargers’ home starting in 2020. (Photo by Kevin Modesti/SCNG)

Reporters were invited to tag along and record the moment when the stadium, home for the two NFL teams starting with the 2020 season, began to feel real for a few fans.

“You have an expectation when you came in. Then you walk in and it blows you away,” said Danny Reyes, a Chargers fan from Carson who looked out from his four seats in the fourth row behind the south end zone.

“I kind of expected the field (area) to be much larger, to take you away from the experience. But you’re going to be right in the game.”


Danny Reyes, a Carson resident, registers his approval after seeing SoFi Stadium in Inglewood from his 2020 Chargers season seats for the first time Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. (Photo by Kevin Modesti/SCNG)

The towering structure on the former Hollywood Park racetrack property next to the Forum is still very much a construction site, dominated by cranes and pickup trucks. The eye is drawn to the dark metal frame of what will be an Oculus double-sided video screen encircling the stadium’s rim. There’s nothing close yet to the sight of a green playing field or goal posts to stir the imagination.

The shape is complete, though, and some fans had no trouble looking into the future.

“If you’re a true fan, you see football wherever you look. You can feel it right now. This feels like football,” Reyes said.

The clear-roofed stadium named for a digital personal finance company is scheduled to open with a Taylor Swift concert July 25, 2020 and later the 2022 Super Bowl, 2023 college football national championship game and 2028 Summer Olympics opening and closing ceremonies.

It’s expected to seat 70,240 for football (expandable to 100,240 for some events).

Despite its size, one fan on hand Tuesday said he thinks its vertical design will make it feel “intimate.”


John Ruiz gestures as he and his wife Rozlynn look around SoFi Stadium from their 2020 Rams season seats Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. The Ruizes, San Diego residents, were among Rams and Chargers season-ticket holders given a tour of the Inglewood stadium, at which construction is more than 80% complete. (Photo by Kevin Modesti/SCNG)

“It kind of feels like a basketball stadium, kind of enclosed. It’s beautiful,” said John Ruiz of San Diego, who attended the event with his wife Rozlynn, taking in the view from the 12th row.

The Ruizes and the Hehers said they paid $7,500 for the seat licenses and will pay about $150 per game for each of their Rams season tickets. Reyes said he paid $3,000 for the seat licenses and will pay $1,000 per seat for the Chargers’ first season in SoFi Stadium.

Tim and Janet Heher moved back to Southern California from Texas after he retired, and 2019 Rams season tickets were their first purchase. Tim said he expected SoFi Stadium to be easier to get to – and in and out of – than the Coliseum. He hoped public transportation will be an easy option.

“You have the history at the Coliseum. It’s a great place. But this is unbelievable,” Heher said. “I went to the Super Bowl at Mercedes Benz Stadium (in Atlanta), and they have the Oculus. And I’ve been to Jerry Jones’ stadium in Dallas. And I think this is going to rival both of those.”

Fans said they hoped the stadium will be such a draw for Angelenos that there will be less room for the opposing fans who sometimes dominate the scenes of Rams’ games at the Coliseum and the Chargers’ games at Dignity Health Sports Park.


SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, said to be 80% complete, is pictured looking into the southwest corner from seats in the south end zone during a stadium tour for Rams and Chargers season ticket holders Nov. 5, 2019. (Photo by Kevin Modesti/SCNG)

Rams COO Kevin Demoff called Tuesday’s event a milestone.

“We’ve had great moments (at the Coliseum),” Demoff said. “But there’ll be something just different about seeing those fans in this stadium wearing Rams colors, waving towels when the team comes out of the tunnel. You could start to see that sitting in the seats here today.”

Even seeing the empty seats seemed to please the executive, who recalled how the Coliseum’s red seats enhanced the impression that there were a lot of San Francisco 49ers fans at the Rams’ latest home game.

“My biggest smile today was seeing a stadium with blue seats,” Demoff said.

[aeneas1]

seats look navy not royal, hmmm.....

[Elvis]

[Mr. Sparkle]

Where’s my cupholder!
I still can’t believe I didn’t get one in the “new” Colosseum.

[St. Loser Fan]

I know I don't get much leeway in saying anything negative: but man do I hate those single layer seats.

[Elvis]

I know I don't get much leeway in saying anything negative: but man do I hate those single layer seats.

BTW, if you want to be a poster here you need to read your PMs from mods and administrators...

[Gareth]

I know I don't get much leeway in saying anything negative: but man do I hate those single layer seats.

What is a single layer seat?

[aeneas1]

What is a single layer seat?

apparently the opposite of these.

[St. Loser Fan]

What is a single layer seat?

I might be using the terminology wrong. But what I call "double layer"


Single layer.