The most expensive stadium ever constructed will open its doors as the United States begin their World Cup 2026 campaign on Friday evening. The Stars and Stripes will start their title bid against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, which cost an estimated £4.1 billion to build.
A Venue for All Seasons
When not hosting the Los Angeles Rams and LA Chargers in NFL fixtures, SoFi Stadium has become a hotspot for major acts on the West Coast. However, Inglewood will focus on World Cup matters over the next six weeks as it prepares to stage eight matches during the tournament.
No stadium can rival SoFi's construction costs, though it wasn't intended to be that way. Original estimates suggested the 70,240-seat site would cost a fraction of that amount, at a forecasted £1.5 billion, before the private project underwent several rounds of refinancing.
Music and Football
Since opening in 2020, the ground has primarily served as home to the LA Rams and LA Chargers. However, it has also hosted some of the biggest musical acts on the planet, making it one of California's premier new venues. The Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Bad Bunny, Kanye West, The Weeknd, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are just some of the names to have performed there. Slowly but surely, SoFi is making back its initial investment, considering major acts can generate between £10 million and £13 million in gross revenue per night.
This summer will welcome a different kind of act as football fever takes over the United States. Mauricio Pochettino's side will have the honour of headlining the first fixture when they face Paraguay in the early hours of Saturday morning. Four more World Cup group games will be staged at SoFi, including the United States' final Group D matchup against Turkey on June 25. It will then host two round-of-32 games, as well as a quarter-final fixture on July 10.
Architectural Marvel
Only AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will host more games at World Cup 2026. Fans attending games in Inglewood are in for a treat. SoFi was designed by architecture firm HKS and features a 1,000,000-square-foot canopy that can be adjusted to allow for extra ventilation when needed. The canopy also includes 27,000 LEDs that can display images and video seen from overhead.
The west coast monolith also houses a first-of-its-kind 'Infinity Screen' created by Samsung specifically for this stadium. The ovular design weighs 1,000 tonnes and is a double-sided 4K video board that gives fans the best possible view of the action, even from the highest seats.
The site on which SoFi was built was once home to the Hollywood Park Racetrack. Nowadays, Hollywood Park is a multi-complex site featuring a hotel, cinema, mall space, restaurants, and a brewery, perfect for World Cup fans hoping to make more of an event out of their visit.
World Cup 2026 will be among the glitziest in history, with a number of huge grounds and high-tech venues set to host 104 matches this summer. However, none can rival SoFi Stadium in pure spending power.
