Inglewood’s Dramatic 14-Year Journey: From $18 Million Deficit to Multibillion-Dollar Entertainment District

In 2011, Inglewood stood on the brink of financial collapse with an $18 million deficit, 17 percent unemployment, and months away from being unable to make payroll. Today, the city has emerged as a multibillion-dollar entertainment capital that will host the 2028 Summer Olympics opening ceremonies.

By September 2011, Inglewood faced cash bankruptcy. The city carried a BBB-minus bond rating, and 22 percent of residents lived below the poverty line. But Inglewood held one critical asset: a nearly 300-acre development site at the center of the city, formerly home to Hollywood Park Racetrack.

When James T. Butts was elected mayor in 2011, he set out to attract an NFL team and build a new stadium on the Hollywood Park location. In early 2014, Stan Kroenke announced plans to develop an NFL stadium and relocate the Rams to the site.

The 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium became the centerpiece, taking six years to build at an estimated cost of $5 billion. In 2018, before a single game was played, the stadium project generated $15.8 million in tax revenue.

The $2 billion, 18,000-seat Intuit Dome opened in 2024 as home to the Clippers. Construction created more than 7,000 jobs, and the city’s unemployment rate plummeted from 17 percent to around 4 percent.

The transformation has produced “stories of success, stories of despair.” Property values have surged—the average home valued at $370,413 in 2016 now sits at approximately $770,000. However, thousands of Black renters and longtime residents face rising rents and displacement pressures.

As Inglewood continues evolving, the challenge remains balancing economic growth with protecting longtime residents from displacement.