The Brief

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

The contract Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium was built on is void, a judge ruled, upending a 10-year-old deal at the center of a larger fight between the city and the stadium developer.

Companies tied to Stan Kroenke and his Hollywood Park stadium property say Inglewood owes them about $400 million under the agreement that had the companies pay for the development’s infrastructure up front in exchange for future reimbursement.

But Inglewood said it shouldn’t have to pay, and claimed the agreement was not enforceable, prompting several businesses that operate SoFi, YouTube Theater and other real estate developments on the site to sue in December 2025.

The city claimed that the process used to greenlight the stadium construction in 2015 was no longer legitimate after a court ruled a similar development agreement in the Inland Empire was void a couple of years later.

Now, Superior Court Judge David Reinert has not only agreed with the city, but said in a Sept. 1 ruling the process leading to the contract had been problematic from the start. Developments similarly based on signature-gathering campaigns that skirt voter feedback had been overturned in the 1990s, according to his ruling.

The order calls into question the future of the financial arrangement the city and the stadium developer have maintained for more than a decade, one that promised Kroenke’s companies reimbursement for the infrastructure and services they paid for and that has generated millions in tax revenue for the city.

It’s also the latest public signal that the once-friendly relationship between Kroenke and Mayor James Butts, which paved the way for the NFL’s return to LA, has grown increasingly tumultuous.

A spokesperson for Hollywood Park said they could appeal the order but haven’t yet done so.

“We respectfully disagree with the Court’s ruling,” they said by email. “Hollywood Park has fulfilled every one of its commitments under an agreement that the City unanimously adopted, described as ‘the best [stadium deal] ever’, and benefited from for more than a decade. We remain hopeful that the City and its leadership will reverse course from their unilateral decision to abandon their commitments under the agreement and will honor their part of the deal.”

An attorney representing Inglewood described it as an important win for the city.

“This decision has huge repercussions for the 300-acre SoFi Stadium/Hollywood Park development,” Skip Miller, lead counsel for the city of Inglewood, said in a press release. “It means that without a valid development agreement, Hollywood Park/SoFi Stadium no longer has vested rights and that the City has no further obligations under the 2015 Development Agreement.”

Butts told The LA Local he wants to negotiate a path forward with the stadium developer but didn’t say if those talks have been scheduled.

“I look forward to talking with them and seeing what we can do to move forward as partners,” he said.

The backstory 

The arrangement that cemented the development agreement in 2015 was: Kroenke’s companies would pay up front for the infrastructure needed to build Hollywood Park, and Inglewood would reimburse them later.

The deal landed Kroenke a new home for the Rams and the opportunity for more real estate development on the site in the future. And it helped the city move forward with reworking the site of the former Hollywood Park Racetrack into one of the nation’s premier stadium complexes.

The reimbursements were designed to be delayed until the city could afford them: When the city earned $25 million in tax revenue from the development in a given year, it would pay down the debt.

Kroenke’s companies say Inglewood owes them about $400 million for those improvements and other investments they made. They claim that the city began surpassing the $25 million revenue threshold in 2022 and each year since.

Butts first told Hollywood Park that he believed the development agreement was void in letters he wrote to Kroenke and his employees last year. He was frustrated that the stadium businesses were fighting the city’s plan to work with an LA advertising agency to install dozens of digital billboards near the stadiums.

The city’s lawyers had found that a similar development agreement had been voided in 2018 and asked that the city be paid back the $20 million in reimbursement payments it made, Butts wrote Kroenke.

The stadium companies sued soon after.

The judge’s ruling

Public projects on the scale of SoFi Stadium typically require a series of hearings, reviews and voter approval — which can take years to achieve. Instead, the stadium developer and city truncated that process by collecting more than 22,000 signatures supporting it.

The City Council voted unanimously in favor of the stadium development in February 2015, and the project broke ground not long after. Butts was a booster of the plan, the LA Times reported at the time. “Now we can celebrate,” Butts said after the winning vote to a cheering crowd in Rams jerseys.

Hollywood Park’s lawyers said in interviews and court filings that the city never questioned the validity of the subsequent contract until last year.

“Its announcement that the Development Agreement is void comes only after the Project was painstakingly built in reliance upon the [agreement], and after the City has reaped enormous benefits from the economic boon created by the project,” Hollywood Park’s lawyers wrote.

State law requires legitimate development agreements to meet various standards. They need to be negotiated between the involved parties, for example, and subject to voter referendum. But the initiative process the city and the developer pursued did not meet those standards. California courts had already found similar agreements “wholly void” dating back to the 1990s, Reinert wrote in the Sept. 1 ruling.

“Therefore, here too, the Development Agreement must be set aside,” he wrote.

Butts said the city was not aware of the legal issues the development agreement could face back in 2015, but he declined to talk more about it because the case could be appealed.

“This is the ruling right now, and we agree with it,” Butts said on Friday.

What happens next

Lawyers for both Hollywood Park and the city released statements saying they remained committed to the success of the stadium development. But how they will arrive at or proceed with a new framework remains unclear.

Hollywood Park said it is exploring its legal options and could appeal the decision. If the ruling stands, the city and Hollywood Park will have to determine what, if anything, replaces the agreement that governed their financial relationship for more than a decade.

The timing adds urgency. SoFi Stadium is set to host the 2027 Super Bowl and the Opening Ceremony of the 2028 Olympics.

Meanwhile, the disagreement over the city’s and stadiums’ digital billboard programs continues. The competing billboard networks have sparked an advertising turf war that has jumped from the courts into the Nov. 3 election.

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Jackie, Big Bear’s late famous bald eagle, was suffering from several severe illnesses that ultimately led to her death in August, wildlife officials announced Wednesday evening.

Jackie had Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, otherwise known as HPAI, that caused a severe ulcer in her stomach, leading to internal bleeding, anemia and sepsis.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and the Ojai Raptor Center released the results of Jackies’s necropsy and additional testing. Veterinary pathologists with the wildlife alliance performed the necropsy, and the raptor center led Jackie’s intensive care for weeks.

“The necropsy results have helped connect many of the findings we were seeing throughout the eagle’s hospitalization,” Chris Eksteen, executive director of the Ojai Raptor Center, said in a statement. Eksteen added that caring for her was an “extraordinary privilege” for their entire team.

Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit behind the popular nest livestream overlooking Big Bear Lake, said on social media that they’re taking some time to process the news.

“Please take care and be kind,” the group told its roughly 1.3 million Facebook followers.

What do we know?

HPAI is an infectious disease that’s been circulating in wild bird populations throughout the country, according to wildlife officials. Jackie may have been exposed by coming into contact with affected birds, such as waterfowl, or by eating infected prey.

HPAI was the main cause of her decline, according to the necropsy details. She had signs of chronic disease in a part of her stomach commonly called the gizzard, which contributed to the severe anemia she was suffering from. She had a serious bacterial infection, as well as severe inflammation and blood clots in her heart and major blood vessels.

Toxicology screenings also showed rodenticide in her liver and “persistent environmental contaminants.” But the rodenticide — brodifacoum — was not named as the primary cause of her illness and death.

The multiple, severe and interconnected illnesses “had been developing over time,” wildlife officials said. The organizations said they have “no evidence that Shadow or the eaglets were sick.”

Jackie’s remains have since been cremated by the National Eagle Repository, which is run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Boyle Heights and Arts District residents are joining forces to push for enforcement of an anti-camping zone at the park beneath the 6th Street Bridge, which is expected to open next year.

On Thursday, members of the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council voted 13-1 to sign on as supporters after Arts District residents spearheaded a petition calling for the city to implement such a zone for the sidewalks and perimeter around the future park. 

With this vote, the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council is joining the Arts District Little Tokyo Neighborhood Council and the downtown Los Angeles Residents Association in urging Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, Mayor Karen Bass and city staff to move forward with the designation and to coordinate a security plan for the park. 

The move comes after residents on both sides of the Los Angeles River have raised concerns for months about the possibility of homeless encampments forming at the park. Anti-camping zones — established through Los Angeles Municipal Code 41.18 — bar people from sitting, lying, or sleeping in certain public spaces. 

Graffiti is seen at the Sixth Street PARC (Park, Arts, River & Connectivity).

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Steve Saldivar

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The LA Local

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Councilmembers must get buy-in from their colleagues before enacting new 41.18 zones. Proponents, however, point out that the LA City Council in 2024 already endorsed a zone for the 6th Street Bridge, which they believe should extend to the park beneath it. Former Councilmember Kevin de León initiated those efforts.

Jurado, in a statement, said her office is confirming the boundaries as they relate to the park. 

Elsewhere in Los Angeles, efforts to establish or enforce anti-camping zone have received pushback.

In August, the city council approved Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez’s efforts to repeal 12 anti-camping zones that were established under the previous councilmember in District 13. Soto-Martínez’s office said enforcement under the city ordinance interferes with efforts to move unhoused residents into housing.

Jurado said she is open to having “a serious and transparent conversation about how 41.18 is being used and what results it is producing.” She said anti-camping zones are “just one piece of a much larger conversation about keeping this park safe and responding to homelessness.”

“This park represents a major public investment into equitable park space while bridging two historic neighborhoods. Ensuring its success from day one requires the honest dialogue and difficult decisions needed to address legitimate safety and access concerns while recognizing that there is no one-size-fits-all solution,” Jurado said.

Known formally as the Sixth Street PARC (Park, Arts, River & Connectivity), the park will feature an arts plaza, complete with a performance amphitheater, garden and terrace seating. Other amenities include a café, dog park, fitness equipment and sports courts.

Construction of the park began in 2023, just a year after the grand opening celebration of the bridge, which connects historic Boyle Heights with the Arts District neighborhood and crosses the Los Angeles River. 

Rendering of Leonard Hill Arts Plaza at the Sixth Street PARC.

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Image courtesy of City of Los Angeles, Bureau of Engineering

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Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council board member Shmuel Gonzales, a local historian and community organizer, voted in favor of an anti-camping zone designation because he wants the park “to be something that ultimately benefits the community.” He said residents fought hard to get the park built on the Boyle Heights side. 

Enforcement of an anti-camping zone would mean “that we’re getting the city to take responsibility,” and it would be a way to deter private security and business improvement districts from bringing “negative capitalist forces into our neighborhood.”

Gonzales said there should be proper signage of anti-camping zones. It should be a fair process, he said, “so that people aren’t surprised and the city knows that they’re responsible through their own signage to facilitate the transition of these people into housing.”

Boyle Heights resident Margarita Amador, the neighborhood council’s secretary, said she wants the park to be “protected, safe and usable for the community.” 

Amador was in support of the neighborhood council “joining forces” with the Arts District and downtown because Boyle Heights, she noted, has the biggest recreational section of the park, including the soccer field and water splash area. 

“We don’t want it to be a MacArthur Park,” she said. “If you don’t have a plan in place, it’s going to become a MacArthur Park … It’s not probably the solution, but at least it’s something that can be enforceable.”

Tom Trafelet, who created the petition, told Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council members that he wants equity on both sides of the bridge. 

“I just don’t want it to be just the Arts District getting everything and you guys getting nothing,” said Trafelet, who has lived in the Arts District for more than 20 years. “I hope that we can work together and join forces and create a safe space for families to come and enjoy it because it’s an absolutely beautiful park.”

The 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles was paired with an equally elaborate arts festival: 10 weeks of programming around the region that included more than 400 performances and led to the launch of the Los Angeles Opera.

Fast forward more than 40 years, and lawmakers and experts are questioning whether L.A. can pull off a similar success in the summer of 2028, with less than two years to go.

“We had an opportunity to have a longer runway leading up to the Games…We had a lot of time,” said Zev Yaroslavsky, who was on the City Council when it negotiated the 1984 Olympic Games and closely observes plans for 2028. “And it just didn’t happen.”

Yaroslavsky and others testified Wednesday at a state hearing on the 2028 “Cultural Olympiad,” the arts and culture programming that will accompany the coming Games in Los Angeles.

At that meeting, officials from organizing committee LA28 and the city and county arts and culture departments laid out their plans, which will launch in the summer of 2027. They’ll include neighborhood festivals, a mural program, posters designed by local artists and partnerships with L.A.’s cultural institutions.

The planners presented a vision of arts sprawled across the region, lifting up local artists and bringing performances and installations into L.A.’s public spaces — but they were less clear on how the programming would be funded and who would be included.

The city of L.A. has already set aside $15 million for Olympics arts programming, but further fundraising for the Cultural Olympiad is still ongoing, according to LA28 and the city.

State Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, who represents neighborhoods including downtown L.A. and Exposition Park, told organizers she was concerned that without clarity on funding opportunities soon, organizers would leave out community groups and artists in neighborhoods that need the investment, like Altadena, South L.A. and East L.A. She also wanted to know how much money LA28 was earmarking for local artists specifically.

“Given the short timeframe and given some of the structure I’m seeing, I’m a little concerned,” she said.

Dwayne Jones, a LA28 vice president working on the Cultural Olympiad, told lawmakers that they were raising “tens of millions” of dollars for the program, but didn’t offer specifics.

What’s in the works 

L.A.’s Olympics arts programming will launch in July of 2027, with a poster series designed by local artists. LA28 will also facilitate a program for L.A. institutions to apply to be an official part of the 2028 Cultural Olympiad, put on a film series, and offer subsidized tickets to cultural institutions and events.

The city of L.A. is planning its own local arts festivals in each council district, and will install new murals around the city tied to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. L.A.’s Department of Cultural Affairs has drafted plans to expand to a seven-week citywide festival if it can secure $25 million in additional funding.

“ We want L.A. to know that the Games are not happening to L.A., but happening for L.A.,” said Daniel Tarica, who leads that department, at Wednesday’s hearing.

Lessons learned from past Olympics

The Olympics may bring a lot of spectators to the region, but it does not typically flood local cultural attractions, such as museums. In fact, during the 2012 Olympics in London and 2024 Olympics in Paris, some museums reported a decline in visitors, according to Tawny Paul, a professor of history at UCLA who studied those recent festivals.

Paul told lawmakers on Wednesday that to counteract these lulls, L.A.’s 2028 arts offerings should cater to locals, and institutions would need to bring their offerings out of their normal locations and into the areas around competitions and fan zones.

She also offered lessons from the 1984 arts festival, which she said was lauded as a success, but faced criticism for focusing on international artists, rather than artistic communities in Los Angeles. Some in L.A. were so upset by the 1984 Cultural Olympiad, Paul said, that they put on their own fringe festivals in response.

Like Smallwood-Cuevas, Paul also warned that it would take greater resources to include smaller community-based art groups in the Cultural Olympiad.

“One of the things that the Cultural Olympiad can do really well is help lend visibility to different arts offerings,” she said. “But what I’ll warn is that visibility without resources would favor institutions and communities that already have capacity.”