Inglewood NFL stadium comes closer with signatures for a vote now verified

Inglewood is one step closer to construction breaking ground on a potential NFL stadium later this year. The Los Angeles County registrar's office verified more than 11,000 signatures to put the approval of the stadium before the city's voters, Inglewood City Clerk Yvonne Horton told KPCC Thursday.

By having an election early this summer, the project’s developers hope to speed up the process, bypassing lengthy environmental reviews. They submitted 22,216 signatures to the county registrar.

“If the citizens of Inglewood decide to adopt the initiative — a sports and entertainment district — that would start at the end of this year and open in late 2018,” the project's lead Chris Meany said Monday.

Inglewood’s city council could also bypass voters and approve the measure on its own. Either way, there’s still no guarantee an NFL team would be playing in the stadium — two-thirds of the league’s owners must approve any move.

Construction has already started on 238 acres of the old Hollywood Park racetrack. The city approved a mixed-use development on that plot in 2009. Developers are asking voters – or the city council – to approve construction on an additional 60 acres where an 80,000-seat stadium would be built.