Report: Rams ask league for up to $500 million in additional funding for SoFi Stadium
The Los Angeles Rams are attempting to secure more funding for its new SoFi Stadium.
A lot more funding.
The Rams have requested up to $500 million in additional financing from the NFL, The Athletic reported on Thursday. If approved, it will also double the amount of time they have to repay the league through its lending program, the G-4.
That funding would bring the total amount the team has borrowed from the league to $900 million.
The new 70,000-seat venue in Inglewood will play host to both the Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers. It is believed to carry a price tag of more than $5 billion, by far the largest in NFL history. By comparison, the Las Vegas Raiders’ new stadium is expected to cost around $2 billion.
It is possible that the new loan could be split between the Rams and Chargers, per the report. Half of the initial $400 million loan already belongs to the Chargers, too.
Coronavirus impacting SoFi Stadium’s launch
SoFi Stadium was scheduled to open at the end of July with a pair of Taylor Swift concerts, however those shows were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A fifth worker at the construction site tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday, too, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The virus could hinder the Rams’ ability to pay back that debt initially. Should the NFL season be delayed, canceled or have a number of games played without fans in attendance, the team will miss out on a lot of expected income. The new funding from the league, though, would double the amount of time required to repay the loan.
“There’s a massive request for debt waivers and additional G-4 from those in L.A.” a team source told The Athletic. “And they’re asking to pay that over 30 years as opposed to 15 years.”
NFL team owners, per the report, will vote on a proposal to increase the amount each team can borrow from the league from $350 million to $500 million, due largely to budget fears related to the coronavirus.
The Rams are set to hold three preseason games at SoFi Stadium this fall — one against the Chargers — before opening the regular season with a Sunday night tilt against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1.
Those games remain in flux due to the coronavirus. There were more than 1.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States as of Thursday afternoon, according to The New York Times, and nearly 85,000 deaths attributed to it. California had more than 73,500 confirmed cases alone, nearly half of which were located in Los Angeles County, which is expected to extend current stay-at-home orders through the end of July.
More from Yahoo Sports:
