'LA Hasn't Built a Stadium of This Size in 100 Years': SoFi Stadium Is Ready for Its Super Bowl Close Up

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

​SoFi Stadium’s 70,000-square-foot circular video board is dubbed the “Infinity Screen."
Photo by Decerry Donato

There will be plenty of fanfare around NFL stars like Matt Stafford, Aaron Donald, Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase when Super Bowl LVI comes to Los Angeles on February 13. But for 70,000-plus people in attendance and millions watching around the world, there will be another superstar on display: SoFi Stadium.


The 3.1 million-square-foot behemoth in Inglewood is a state-of-the-art technological marvel, featuring a 70,000-square-foot video board (dubbed the “Infinity Screen”), lightning-fast Wi-Fi and a massive LED canopy. SoFi Stadium relies solely on digital displays for everything from advertising to concession stand menus; that also comes in handy since the arena has two NFL tenants, the Rams and the Chargers, and can easily rotate their branding according to who’s playing that day.

With a whopping $5.5 billion price tag, the stadium’s top brass has visions that go far beyond the Super Bowl. The facility is also a concert venue that will host the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Bad Bunny this year, and it will play a feature role in the 2028 Summer Olympics in L.A.

Skarpi Hedinsson, chief technology officer of SoFi Stadium.Skarpi Hedinsson, chief technology officer of SoFi Stadium.Photo by Decerry Donato

"We’re building a smart campus," Skarpi Hedinsson, chief technology officer of SoFi Stadium and the surrounding Hollywood Park complex, told dot.LA. “L.A. hasn’t built a stadium of this size in 100 years.”

Privately financed by the Rams’ billionaire owner, Stan Kroenke, SoFi Stadium is built on a single, converged network—powered by Cisco and partner technology integrator AmpThink—that connects virtually every piece of digital infrastructure in the stadium. That offers more robust Wi-Fi access, and enables fans to enter through the turnstiles using mobile tickets and purchase concessions and merchandise with digital wallets like Apple Pay.

“We’ve designed the network looking forward to the 2028 Olympics, where we would expect to see a lot more people on the network across the campus and much larger traffic consumption,” AmpThink CEO Bill Anderson told dot.LA.

Cisco’s connected Wi-Fi network utilizes the next-generation Wi-Fi 6 standard, offering faster speeds and increased bandwidth. Currently, SoFi Stadium has more than 2,500 Wi-Fi 6 access points, the largest such deployment at a sports venue. Cisco is also responsible for the IT at Hollywood Park’s adjoining, 6,000-seat YouTube Theater and American Airlines Plaza, a sprawling open-air space that serves as a main entrance to the stadium.

Photo by Decerry Donato

A massive LED canopy envelops SoFi Stadium.

\u200bSoFI stadium now includes a metaverse app called Dreamground that displays virtual sculptures and more on the field.

SoFI Stadium’s tech features include a metaverse app called Dreamground that displays virtual sculptures and interactive features.

Photo by Decerry Donato

Originally, SoFi Stadium’s data center was designed to hold seven server racks and thousands of servers. But because the network is consolidated, the stadium only needs one-half of a rack that holds a few hundred servers to power the 300-acre property. (Implementing the technology required a lot of manpower: Over 17,000 people worked on the project, with 3,500 people on-site daily.)

Other technological features at SoFi Stadium include Dreamground—a metaverse app that allows guests to interact with an augmented digital world, complete with virtual sculptures and interactive features, which can be accessed throughout the stadium and Hollywood Park.

And, of course, there’s the enormous “sunbrella” LED canopy hanging above the stadium. Though it’s hidden in plain view, the semi-translucent roof not only protects visitors from the weather but also functions as a giant overhead video screen.

For Hedinsson and the rest of SoFi Stadium’s tech team, Super Bowl Sunday isn’t just a chance for the Rams to become NFL champions—it’s an opportunity to showcase the arena’s cutting-edge technology before a global audience. Hedinsson paid particular tribute to Kroenke’s vision for the project.

“The commitment that [Kroenke] had from the very beginning—making sure it has the latest technology, that it has a differentiated guest experience—you’re seeing that play out,” Hedinsson said.

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How the 'Thrift Haul' Boosted Secondhand Ecommerce Platforms

Lon Harris
Lon Harris is a contributor to dot.LA. His work has also appeared on ScreenJunkies, RottenTomatoes and Inside Streaming.
How the 'Thrift Haul' Boosted Secondhand Ecommerce Platforms
Evan Xie

If you can believe it, it’s been more than a decade since rapper Macklemore extolled the virtues of thrift shopping in a viral music video. But while scouring the ranks of vintage clothing stores looking for the ultimate come-up may have waned in popularity since 2012, the online version of this activity is apparently thriving.

According to a new trend story from CNBC, interest in “reselling” platforms like Etsy-owned Depop and Poshmark has exploded in the years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. In an article that spends a frankly surprising amount of time focused on sellers receiving death threats before concluding that they’re “not the norm,” the network cites the usual belt-tightening ecommerce suspects – housebound individuals doing more of their shopping online coupled with inflation woes and recession fears – as the causes behind the uptick.

As for data, there’s a survey from Depop themselves, finding that 53% of respondents in the UK are more inclined to shop secondhand as living costs continue to rise. Additional research from Advance Market Analytics confirms the trend, citing not just increased demand for cheap clothes but the pressing need for a sustainable alternative to recycling clothing materials at its core.

The major popularity of “thrift haul” videos across social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok has also boosted the visibility of vintage clothes shopping and hunting for buried treasures. Teenage TikToker Jacklyn Wells scores millions of views on her thrift haul videos, only to get routinely mass-accused of greed for ratching up the Depop resell prices for her coolest finds and discoveries. Nonetheless, viral clips like Wells’ have helped to embed secondhand shopping apps more generally within online fashion culture. Fashion and beauty magazine Hunger now features a regular list of the hottest items on the re-sale market, with a focus on how to use them to recreate hot runway looks.

As with a lot of consumer and technology trends, the sudden surge of interest in second-hand clothing retailers was only partly organic. According to The Drum, ecommerce apps Vinted, eBay, and Depop have collectively spent around $120 million on advertising throughout the last few years, promoting the recent vintage shopping boom and helping to normalize second-hand shopping. This includes conventional advertising, of course, but also deals with online influencers to post content like “thrift haul” videos, along with shoutouts for where to track down the best finds.

Reselling platforms have naturally responded to the increase in visibility with new features (as well as a predictable hike in transaction fees). Poshmark recently introduced livestreamed “Posh Shows” during which sellers can host auctions or provide deeper insight into their inventory. Depop, meanwhile, has introduced a “Make Offer” option to fully integrate the bartering and negotiation process into the app, rather than forcing buyers and sellers to text or Direct Message one another elsewhere. (The platform formerly had a comments section on product pages, but shut this option down after finding that it led to arguments, and wasn’t particularly helpful in making purchase decisions.)

Now that it’s clear there’s money to be made in online thrift stores, larger and more established brands and retailers are also pushing their way into the space. H&M and Target have both partnered with online thrift store ThredUp on featured collections of previously-worn clothing. A new “curated” resale collection from Tommy Hilfiger – featuring minorly damaged items that were returned to its retail stores – was developed and promoted through a partnership with Depop, which has also teamed with Kellogg’s on a line of Pop-Tarts-inspired wear. J.Crew is even bringing back its classic ‘80s Rollneck Sweater in a nod to the renewed interest in all things vintage.

Still, with any surge of popularity and visibility, there must also come an accompanying backlash. In a sharp editorial this week for Arizona University’s Daily Wildcat, thrift shopping enthusiast Luke Lawson makes the case that sites like Depop are “gentrifying fashion,” stripping communities of local thrift stores that provide a valuable public service, particularly for members of low-income communities. As well, UK tabloids are routinely filled with secondhand shopping horror stories these days, another evidence point as to their increased visibility among British consumers specifically, not to mention the general dangers of buying personal items from strangers you met over the internet.

How to Startup: Mission Acquisition

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

How to Startup: Mission Acquisition

Numbers don’t lie, but often they don’t tell the whole story. If you look at the facts and figures alone, launching a startup seems like a daunting enterprise. It seems like a miracle anyone makes it out the other side.

  • 90% of startups around the world fail.
  • On average, it takes startups 2-3 years to turn a profit. (Venture funded startups take far longer.)
  • Post-seed round, fewer than 10% of startups go on to successfully raise a Series A investment.
  • Less than 1% of startups go public.
  • A startup only has a .00006% chance of becoming a unicorn.

Ouch.

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From The Vault: VC Legend Bill Gurley On Startups, Venture Capital and Scaling

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

Bill Gurley in a blue suit
Bill Gurley

This interview was originally published on December of 2020, and was recorded at the inaugural dot.LA Summit held October 27th & 28th.

One of my longtime favorite episodes of Office Hours was a few years ago when famed venture capitalist Bill Gurley and I talked about marketplace-based companies, how work-from-home will continue to accelerate business opportunities and his thoughts on big tech and antitrust.

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