Drive down Manchester Boulevard in Inglewood, and you’re likely to see WOW Media’s digital billboards — from thin, curved signs planted in medians to giant LED screens stretching across the streets — that some residents have called eyesores.
What is less apparent is that those boards are at the center of a corporate power struggle that may be headed for elections in November.
On the other side: WOW Media, which has a financial partnership with the city of Inglewood that could be worth tens of millions of dollars as the aggressive expansion of the billboard network comes online. The city has not publicly acknowledged or opposed the ballot proposals supported by WOW, and Mayor James Butts declined to comment on those plans.
On the other side: the operators of SoFi Stadium, the Intuit Dome and the Kia Forum – who want the billboard network to go and have their advertising interests in the stadium area.
Both billboard companies and field operators have turned to the same weapon: Petitions to put measures on voter ballots.
WOW is banking on proposals to cut stadium parking fees and raise taxes on event tickets. Stadium management is pushing for moderation to use the city’s billboard system and the deal with WOW. Each side positions their campaigns as protecting the citizens of Inglewood.
But none of these measures seem to be supported by members of the public. The money needed to persuade voters comes from businesses that have a big hand in the upcoming World Cup, Super Bowl and Olympics.
The battle goes back to lawsuits between the city and stadium-related businesses, including those tied to Stan Kroenke’s SoFi Stadium and Steve Ballmer’s Intuit Dome and Kia Forum. Last year, those businesses were sued after the Inglewood City Council approved an exclusive contract with WOW Media to build and operate more than 100 digital billboards on some of the city’s busiest streets.
Soon after, Butts wrote to Kroenke directly seeking to ease tensions with Hollywood Park, where SoFi Stadium is located, and asked if the previous development agreement was still in effect.
Now, as the city prepares for these major sporting events, the conflict has expanded from a fight over advertising controls to a broader debate about public space and city revenue.
WOW Media is a major sponsor of the Inglewood Residents for Stadium Accountability committee. It supports two proposals: an average stadium parking rate and an event ticket tax.
Businesses associated with the stadium are backing a proposal that would roll back or end the building board’s plan and end its exclusive deal with WOW.
Those same stadium-related businesses that support the billboard defacement plan are also behind the city’s highly visible and controversial display of digital advertising on stadium properties, which has transformed Inglewood’s streetscape in recent years.
Besides these campaigns, WOW is already using large digital billboards throughout the city, including its “Spectaculars” and curved digital kiosks along major corridors.
The company promotes them as an advertising space for viewers who are attracted to major sporting events. It built its brand through aggressive marketing ahead of the city’s upcoming world sports calendar.
In a February Instagram post, WOW wrote: “You need Digital Spectaculars with power. You need big houses. You need WOW,” along with a video clip of a soccer ball bouncing through the streets of Inglewood.
Taken together, coverage of the campaigns, interviews and reporting by LA Local suggest that the two parties are not only fighting over policy measures, but also fighting for control of high-priced advertising space in Inglewood.
When asked why WOW is supporting programs that are apparently unrelated to its board network, CEO Scott Krantz said the company is pressuring stadium operators to give more to the city.
“Our commitment has always been to invest in Inglewood, and that commitment extends beyond our network,” Krantz wrote, adding that WOW wants Inglewood to remain a strong and financially stable “Champion City.”
At the center of one of the competing measures is a proposal to change the way Inglewood pays stadium ticket taxes.
Inglewood has long relied on ticket taxes for revenue. But when the Staples Center opened in 1999 and the Lakers and Kings left the Forum, collections dropped from about $700,000 to $225,000. By 2009-10, they had dropped to $20,000.
That changed with the stadium boom, including SoFi Stadium and the Intuit Dome.
In 2022-23, the city collected $23 million in admission tax revenue, boosted by major events including the NCAA national football championship game and WrestleMania. Admission taxes from all ticketed events account for 9% of the city’s general fund, according to budget documents.
The cap limits how much the city can collect. Under current rules, each property pays up to $15 million a year.
The proposed Inglewood Fair Share Admissions Tax Tier Reform and Cap Removal Initiative, sponsored by WOW media, would eliminate those figures and restructure how areas are taxed.
If approved, it would impose a 2.5% ticket fee on mid-sized venues, while larger venues such as SoFi Stadium would continue to pay 10% per ticket, but without a cap of $15 million.
Above Mel Garcia’s place, the Intuit Dome passes through the roof like an alien spaceship. On game days, the streets are packed with traffic.
“The parking lot is full of sewage, a lot of traffic,” Garcia said. Sometimes you see residents renting parking spaces, sometimes you see tourists trying to sneak into parking spaces.
Another proposal, the Parking Price Transparency and Anti-Price-Gouging Initiative, would cap parking near stadiums at $20 per vehicle. Also sponsored by WOW Media.
The plan says the cap will bring more stability on game days and pressure drivers into commercial areas instead of residential streets.
Tens of thousands of vehicles can enter the city during NFL games and concerts, and the city issues an average of 41 parking tickets per major event, according to city documents.
Most city parking fines range between $50 and $70, about the same as the cheapest parking listed around the stadium for other Rams games.
Parking prices at stadiums can rise into the hundreds of dollars, as they did with the FIFA World Cup this summer.
The city continued to make repairs. On May 12, the City Council approved an ordinance allowing churches and other businesses with large lots to sell parking spaces during events.
Signature collection – and signature removal – has also become part of a broader battle.
WOW-backed campaigners appear to have been gathering signatures for initiatives that would cut stadium parking rates and raise taxes on event tickets while asking voters to withdraw support from a rival campaign to end WOW’s network of billboards.
LA Local has obtained photos of a petition asking voters to remove their names from the Billboard Blight Elimination and Neighborhood Preservation Initiative.
The Inglewood City Clerk confirmed that the petition was filed but did not answer questions about when it was sent, who filed it or how many signatures they want to remove from the campaign.
When asked about the effort, Krantz, the CEO of WOW, did not directly confirm the involvement but did not deny it either. Instead, he argued that downtown businesses have created an “uneven playing field” that benefits themselves at the expense of others.
“The plans we support are designed to protect Inglewood from another attempt by the stadium owners to take more from residents, small businesses and city services that support critical infrastructure,” Krantz wrote.
John Shallman, a spokesman for the billboard blight campaign that often works with the LA Clippers, said WOW used its stadium-related requests to target about 13,000 people signed by his team.
“While WOW openly promotes various initiatives related to the platform, it also funds and organizes efforts designed to reduce our support by asking voters who have already signed to withdraw their names,” Shallman told LA Local.
Shallman said the campaigners carried several billboards and asked some voters who had signed the billboard initiative to withdraw their support. LA Local could not independently investigate those claims without confirming that a petition had been filed with the city.
Krantz previously wrote for LA Local that the billboard blight initiative is a “power grab by private interests” by stadium owners designed to funnel advertising dollars into billboards in the arena.
“Their major signs – including future signs – are free from this plan,” Krantz wrote. “The arenas are not sharing their advertising dollars with the citizens of Inglewood.”
The WOW-sponsored campaign makes it clear that they oppose a ballot measure that harms California’s financial boards and secretary of state. Stadium businesses have not similarly written their opposition to parking and event tax plans.
The lawsuits remain unresolved, and the measures are still being reviewed by the city to see if they meet the standards for being placed on the fall ballot.
Christopher Damien and Isaiah Murtaugh write LA Local, local non-profit community newsroom.
