Partnership in conjunction with new stadium
The National Football League’s (NFL) Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers has announced that Pechanga Resort Casino will be the teams’ official California casino partner. Pechanga will also be the official casino partner of the new SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park stadium development area.
SoFi Stadium is scheduled to open in July 2020, in time for next year’s NFL season. It is located in Inglewood, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, blocks away from The Forum, home of the NBA’s Lakers and Clippers. Pechanga Resort Casino is about 94 miles southeast of the stadium
The Rams and Chargers continue the recent trend of U.S. professional sports teams partnering with casinos. The most recent NFL team to strike such a deal was the Philadelphia Eagles, who named Harrah’s Philadelphia a casino partner earlier this month.
Branding and fan experiences
Pechanga branding will be featured heavily at SoFi Stadium. The highlight will be the Pechanga Founders Club, a 14,000-square-foot “premium club space” located on the field level. Fans in the club will have a full view of the field.
The highlight will be the Pechanga Founders Club, a 14,000-square-foot “premium club space”
There will also be something called an “activation zone,” which is a separate, 11,500-square-foot area elsewhere in the stadium. Not much detail was given as to what this area entails, except that it will offer “special branding and experiential opportunities for Pechanga to utilize for guests.”
Pechanga community outreach
To commemorate the partnership, Pechanga tribal leadership announced a $100,000 donation to Inglewood’s Morningside High School and the Inglewood chapters of Meals on Wheels and U.S. Vets.
“Pechanga is a company that not only shares Stan Kroenke’s vision to build a world-class facility and fan-first development with Hollywood Park, but also shares our passion for our surrounding communities,” said SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park Managing Director Jason Gannon in a press release.
Rams, Chargers both recently moved to L.A.
The Rams moved to Los Angeles for the start of the 2016 NFL season after two decades in St. Louis. The team had been located in Los Angeles from 1946 to 1994 prior to the move eastward. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum currently serves as the Rams’ home.
The Rams moved to Los Angeles for the start of the 2016 NFL season after two decades in St. Louis
The Chargers relocated to L.A. a year later after almost 50 years in San Diego. The team actually played its first year of existence, 1960, in Los Angeles. The combination of it being the second team to move to L.A. combined with the Rams already having a history there has hurt the Chargers’ ability to attract fans.
The team currently plays at Dignity Health Sports Park, home of Major League Soccer’s L.A. Galaxy. It is a tiny stadium, seating only 30,000, and, in an illustration of the lack of local fan support, is filled mostly with visiting fans on game days.
The Oakland Raiders, who had also previously called Los Angeles home, had agreed in 2015 to build a stadium with the Chargers if both teams moved to L.A. The NFL, though, opted for a plan from the Rams and gave the Chargers the first option to share the stadium. The Raiders have since committed to move to Las Vegas and will begin play there in 2020.