LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles and Inglewood officials joined with Super Bowl organizers Monday to kick off a week’s worth of events leading up to Sunday’s game at SoFi Stadium between the L.A. Rams and Cincinnati Bengals.
The Rams will be just the second team in NFL history to play a Super Bowl in its home stadium. The Bengals, meanwhile, will arrive in L.A. on Tuesday.
“Inglewood is proud to carry the torch of not only being a Super Bowl host city but the home of two teams in the NFL,” Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts said Monday at the Super Bowl welcome news conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
He added that the Super Bowl is the first “world class” event hosted at SoFi Stadium — which opened in 2020 — but that there will be “many coming.”
“SoFi Stadium is now the site of the world’s most hyped sports championships, concerts and other performances, setting the standard for what a top tier venue should be,” he said.
“We expect Super Bowl LVI to further boost Inglewood’s reputation as hosts for major events.”
He and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti highlighted the economic benefits of hosting the Super Bowl, saying it is expected to generate about $500 million for the L.A. region.
“It helps local services and government, it’s about $22 million in taxes, it’s about $500 million … that will be spent on our hotels, pay our employees, go to our restaurants, go to our bars. This is something that has a multiplier effect for everybody,” Garcetti told reporters after the news conference.
“And these are hard-hit industries — restaurants barely made it through COVID, but people who have invested or gotten a PPP loan have been waiting for something like this where they can make, you know, as much as a month’s profits in a single night.”
Garcetti said the NFL will cover overtime costs for law enforcement.
“Obviously Inglewood doesn’t have enough officers right there, but together with the LAPD, with our sheriff’s department, we’re going to have a safe experience and we’re going to get those costs reimbursed. NFL is reimbursing our overtime costs,” Garcetti said.
The Los Angeles Police Department was scheduled to begin increased deployments on Thursday, Chief Michel Moore told the Police Commission on Tuesday.
Garcetti said after the news conference that a Super Bowl win during his last year as mayor would be extra welcomed, as it would mean that the city won every major sports championship available during his nine years as mayor.
“Since I’ve been mayor, I’ve been lucky enough, we’ve got a Stanley Cup, we’ve got Major League Soccer Championship, we were able to win the WNBA, World Series and an NBA championship,” he said.
“All that’s left is this Super Bowl, and I’ll have been lucky enough while being mayor to win every major sports championship.”
Other NFL-affiliated events in Los Angeles this week includes The Super Bowl Experience, presented by Lowe’s. The interactive, football-themed attraction that will fill the halls of the Los Angeles Convention Center welcomed more than 40,000 fans over the weekend, and will be open again on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Fans can get player autographs, take photographs with the Vince Lombardi Trophy and play interactive games. The event will also include sponsor displays and giveaways, youth football clinics and the NFL Shop.
Monday night, the Rams will host an “Opening Night Fan Rally” for season-ticket holders at Oaks Christian High School in Thousand Oaks. Head coach Sean McVay, General Manager Les Snead and some current and former players ae expected to attend.
