Stadium Shadows: Gentrification, Community Disruption and Urban Renewal in Los Angeles

Since becoming prominent in the American landscape in the early twentieth century, stadium development has typically been labeled as a catalyst for economic growth within respective communities. While many organizers and city officials usually label these projects as a stream for financial opportunity, typically in the form of job creation and increased interest in a public space, such development has historically led to disproportionate benefits across an area's social and racial hierarchies. In the case of Los Angeles, a town that widened its athletic influence during westward expansion, the promise of economic growth often came at the expense of its most vulnerable citizens, leading to displacement and an ongoing cycle of separation from the rest of the community. This paper analyzes three of the city's most significant athletic endeavors - the development of Dodger Stadium, the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, and the development of SoFi Stadium - to highlight the mechanisms for which stadiums and athletic projects lead to disruption and displacement within vulnerable communities despite the city's promise to use the projects as tools for economic and cultural growth.