About this election

• What’s at stake
• Why it matters
• What your vote means
• Understanding Measure AT
• What people who support it say
• What people who oppose it say
• Potential financial impact
• Follow the money

Inglewood currently pulls in a 10% tax on SoFi Stadium tickets, but there's an annual ceiling on how much more the city can get. This ballot measure, backed by billboard company WOW Media, would remove the cap and add a new 2.5% tax for the Intuit Dome.

Wondering how we got here? Here's the backstory to this race:

What’s at stake

The measure would remove a cap on how much tax revenue Inglewood can get from SoFi Stadium tickets and add a new 2.5% tax on tickets to the Intuit Dome.

Why it matters

Inglewood already pulls in an average of $20 million every year from ticket taxes for SoFi Stadium alone, according to city budget estimates. This could bump that number even higher with the city hosting the Super Bowl in February and large Olympic events in 2028. The measure isn’t just about city revenue though. It’s an extension of an advertising turf war between billboard company WOW Media and Inglewood’s major venues.

Official title on the ballot: Ordinance to Amend the Admissions Tax for Large Venues. Measure AT

Language you’ll see on your ballot:

"Shall the ordinance amending the City's admissions tax on large venues to establish tiered rates of 10% and 2.5% based on venue seating capacity, and to remove the existing annual cap on admissions tax revenue, resulting in increased general fund revenues, be approved?"

What your vote means

• A "yes" vote means: You want to remove the cap on tax revenue Inglewood can get from SoFi Stadium tickets and add a tax on Intuit Dome tickets.
  
• A "no" vote means: You don’t want to remove the cap on the amount Inglewood can get from SoFi ticket taxes or tax Intuit Dome tickets.

Understanding Measure AT

Inglewood has long leaned on sports venues as an economic engine, but hit a dry patch in 2013 when the Hollywood Park Racetrack shuttered after 75 years. SoFi Stadium’s opening in 2020 kicked that engine back into high gear.

Inglewood has pulled in an average of $20 million annually from admissions tax since 2021, according to city budget estimates, up from just half a million dollars in the year before the stadium opened. City staff estimated that removing the cap on SoFi Stadium taxes could bring in as much as $50 million more each year.

The primary campaign supporting the measure is funded by billboard company WOW Media, which is in an advertising turf war with companies behind SoFi Stadium and the Intuit Dome.

That battle has strained the relationship between the stadiums and Inglewood officials, to the point that a judge ruled that the 2015 development agreement that brought SoFi Stadium to Inglewood isn’t legally valid.

Both the Intuit Dome and Kia Forum fit within the purview of the proposed 2.5% tax, but city staff wrote in a report that it would not immediately apply to the Kia Forum, which has a development agreement with the city running until 2041.

What people who support it say

Inglewood Residents for Stadium Accountability, the WOW-backed committee that is campaigning for Measure AT, says the admissions tax tweaks will modernize how the stadiums contribute to the community.

Increasing the potential admissions tax the city can pull in, the campaign says, would help Inglewood pay for the police, firefighters and infrastructure upkeep that come with regularly hosting major events in the city.

“This is not an argument against the stadium owners,” Bishop Johnny J. Young, of the Miracle Temple Church of God Pentecostal, said during a July City Council meeting. “Being a good corporate neighbor means paying their fair share to repair the roads worn down by millions of visitors.”

The city says the measure would also fix auditing issues that come with digital ticketing platforms like Ticketmaster and StubHub.

What people who oppose it say

Opponents of the measure argue that increased taxes could actually risk a decrease in city revenue by pushing events to pick the L.A. Coliseum or Rose Bowl over SoFi Stadium.

“The answer isn’t a massive tax increase that drives business away. It’s making City Hall more transparent and accountable spending money it already collects,” read a ballot argument signed by 77th St. Block Club Captain Krystal Alexander and small business owners Lisa Collins and Edna Cabrera.

Potential financial impact

The city estimates removing the admissions tax cap could add as much as $50 million in annual revenue, though opponents argue it could make the city less attractive to major events.

Follow the money

Inglewood Residents for Stadium Accountability, the committee backed by WOW Media, spent $1.3 million through June to campaign for Measure AT and against Measure BB, a separate initiative to ban some commercial billboard ads.

LAist’s Voter Game Plan guide will include more campaign financing information as we get closer to Election Day.

Further reading

• Inglewood’s billboard battles: Letters reveal fraying relationship between SoFi, mayor
• Inglewood’s flashy digital billboards could hit the ballot this fall
• Inglewood’s billboard battles just got weirder
• Inglewood’s video billboards score a major win in court battle with stadiums
• Billboard ads and stadium taxes head to voters this November
• Campaigns backed by stadium and billboard companies have spent $3.4M on Inglewood’s election 

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The post, Measure AT, the Ordinance to Amend the Admissions Tax for Large Venues, appeared first on LA Local.