The Los Angeles Rams are set to usher in a new era at their new home in SoFi Stadium for the 2020 NFL season.
Team owner Stan Kroenke has spared no expense to construct this $5 billion, 70,000-seat venue. To no surprise, it will be featuring some state-of-the-art hardware in order to provide fans with the ultimate in-game experience.
Playing in a fair-weather city like Los Angeles certainly comes with its fair share of perks. Kroenke has taken advantage of that by producing one of the stadium’s crowning features.
SoFi Stadium will have a translucent roof that will allow fans to see through a canopy made of Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), via Stu Jackson of the team’s website:
“The ETFE foil is not used everywhere in the world, (but) it is becoming more popular,” Tawa Sulaiman, Roof Structure Superintendent, Turner AECOM-Hunt Join Venture, said at a Jan. 22 media event.
Sulaiman added that even the cables used to hold it up are unlike most other buildings in the world:
“The cables that the ETFE sits on that come from Germany, that’s also a very unique system that’s not used everywhere in the world,” Sulaiman said.
The roof is set to consist of 306 individual, transparent panels with 46 being capable of opening up to let fresh air in on warm days. It will be supported by 1,450-ton, 75,000-foot long cable net system, making it the largest in the world.
Recent reports suggest that the stadium is about 85% complete and they are still preparing to install the crown jewel in a 120-yard, two-million pound 4K Oculus video board. Workers recently suffered a minor setback after a crane collapsed at the construction site.
Fortunately, the damages are not deemed to be too severe and no one was injured in the accident. Meanwhile, all signs are pointing to the stadium being on track with its progression.
