Petitions spark billboard fight as Inglewood eyes ballot

Inglewood billboard – In Inglewood, digital billboard expansion and stadium-driven opposition are colliding ahead of November ballot measures. WOW Media is funding initiatives to cap stadium parking fees and restructure ticket taxes, while stadium operators backing SoFi Stadium, In

By the time you reach the stretch of Manchester Boulevard in Inglewood. the city’s skyline seems to lean back at you. WOW Media digital billboards line the corridor—from slender. curved signs tucked in medians to massive LED screens that cut across streetlines. Residents who call them eyesores also know what’s harder to see: these displays are at the center of a corporate power fight that may land before voters this November.

Two campaigns are now battling for that power, each claiming it’s protecting Inglewood. On one side is WOW Media. which has a financial partnership with the city that could be worth tens of millions of dollars as its billboard network expands. Mayor James Butts has declined to comment on the ballot initiatives. and the city has not publicly endorsed or opposed the proposals backed by WOW.

On the other side are the operators of SoFi Stadium, Intuit Dome and the Kia Forum, who want the billboard network gone and have their own advertising interests in the stadium district. They, too, are pushing their case to voters—through ballot petitions.

Both sides are drawing from a dispute that started long before canvassers ever hit doorsteps. The fight traces back to lawsuits between the city and stadium-linked businesses. including those tied to Stan Kroenke’s SoFi Stadium and Steve Ballmer’s Intuit Dome and Kia Forum. Last year. those businesses sued after the Inglewood City Council approved an exclusive contract with WOW Media to build and operate more than 100 digital billboards along some of the city’s busiest streets.

Shortly afterward, Butts wrote directly to Kroenke, asking to ease tensions with Hollywood Park—where SoFi Stadium is located—and questioned whether a prior development agreement was still valid.

Now, as Inglewood prepares for major sporting events on its global calendar, the dispute has broadened from advertising control into something residents can feel in daily life: public space and city revenue.

A key point of friction is money—how it’s raised, who benefits, and how the city taxes stadium events. WOW is the main funder of the Inglewood Residents for Stadium Accountability committee. It is backing two proposals: a cap on stadium parking rates and a tax on event tickets.

Stadium-linked businesses are backing a measure to roll back or eliminate the city’s billboard program and end its exclusive agreement with WOW. Those same stadium-linked businesses are also behind a billboard blight initiative aimed at the city’s most visible and controversial digital advertising displays on stadium properties—displays that have changed Inglewood’s streetscape in recent years.

The campaign money is not coming from community members, either side agrees in spirit even if they disagree on motive. Both campaigns say they’re acting for residents. But none of these measures appears to be financed by community members. The money needed to persuade voters is coming from business interests with major stakes in the upcoming World Cup. Super Bowl and Olympics.

WOW has also been operating its own digital billboards across the city. including “Spectaculars” and twisting digital kiosks along major corridors. The company promotes them as advertising space for audiences drawn to major sporting events. and it built its brand around aggressive marketing for Inglewood’s fast-growing events calendar.

In a February Instagram post, WOW wrote, “You need Digital Spectaculars that match the energy. You need massive real estate. You need WOW,” alongside a video clip of a soccer ball bouncing through Inglewood streets.

The question for residents is why a billboard company is putting resources behind initiatives that don’t mention digital signage directly. When asked, WOW CEO Scott Krantz said the company is pushing for stadium operators to contribute more to the city.

“Our commitment has always been to invest in Inglewood, and that commitment goes far beyond our network,” Krantz wrote, adding that WOW wants Inglewood to remain a strong and financially stable “City of Champions.”

At the center of one competing measure is a proposal to change how Inglewood taxes stadium tickets. Inglewood has long relied on ticket taxes for revenue. Collections fell after Staples Center opened in 1999 and the Lakers and Kings left the Forum—from about $700,000 to $225,000. By 2009-10, they were down to $20,000.

The stadium boom changed that, including SoFi Stadium and Intuit Dome. By 2022–23. the city collected $23 million in admissions tax revenue. boosted by major events including the NCAA football national championship game and WrestleMania. Admissions taxes from all ticketed events accounted for nearly 9% of the city’s general fund, according to budget documents.

Under current rules, each venue pays up to $15 million annually. The proposed Inglewood Fair Share Admissions Tax Tier Reform and Cap Removal Initiative—funded by WOW Media—would eliminate those caps and restructure how venues are taxed. If approved. it would set a 2.5% ticket charge for mid-sized venues. while larger venues like SoFi Stadium would continue paying 10% per ticket. but without the $15 million cap.

Parking is the other battlefield, and for some residents the impact is immediate. Over Mel Garcia’s neighborhood, Intuit Dome looms over rooftops like an alien spacecraft. On game days, streets are crowded with vehicles.

“The parking is wild, a lot more traffic,” Garcia said. “Sometimes he sees residents renting out driveway spots, other times he sees visitors trying to sneak into street parking spaces.”

WOW also funded the Parking Price Transparency and Anti-Price-Gouging Initiative, which would cap parking near stadiums at $20 per vehicle. The initiative claims the cap would bring more stability to game days and push drivers toward commercial lots instead of residential streets.

City documents show the scale of the problem. 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. Most city parking fines range between $50 and $70—about the same as the cheapest listed parking around the stadium for some Rams games. Stadium parking prices can climb into the hundreds of dollars; the summer’s FIFA World Cup is cited as an example.

In the middle of the campaign season, Inglewood has continued to adjust rules. On May 12, the City Council approved an ordinance allowing churches and some businesses with large lots to sell parking spots during events.

The dispute has also turned procedural, with signature gathering—and signature removal—becoming part of the same fight. WOW-backed canvassers appear to have collected signatures for initiatives that would cap stadium parking rates and raise taxes on event tickets while also asking voters to withdraw support from a rival campaign seeking to curb WOW’s billboard network.

The LA Local 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 the petition had been filed but did not respond to questions about when it was submitted. who filed it or how many signatures it sought to remove from the rival campaign.

Krantz did not directly confirm involvement when asked about the effort. He also did not deny it. Instead, he argued the city’s stadium businesses have created an “uneven playing field” that benefits themselves at the expense of others.

“The initiatives we support are designed to protect Inglewood from another attempt by stadium owners to take more from residents, small businesses and the city services that support critical infrastructure,” Krantz wrote.

John Shallman, a spokesperson for the billboard blight campaign and a former staffer who worked with the L.A. Clippers, said WOW used its stadium-related petitions to target the roughly 13,000 signatures his group had collected. He told the LA Local that while WOW was publicly promoting separate stadium-related initiatives. it was also funding and organizing efforts designed to reduce support for theirs by asking voters who had already signed to withdraw their names.

Shallman said canvassers were carrying multiple clipboards and asking some voters who had already signed the billboard initiative to remove their support. The LA Local could not independently verify those claims beyond confirming the petition had been filed with the city.

Krantz’s own message to that initiative has been blunt. He previously wrote to the LA Local that the billboard blight initiative was a “private interest power grab” by stadium owners designed to funnel advertising dollars to the billboards on stadium property.

“Their own massive signs — including future signs — are conveniently exempt from this initiative,” Krantz wrote. “The stadiums share none of their advertising revenue with Inglewood residents.”

In financial disclosures, the campaign funded by WOW directly discloses that it opposes the billboard blight ballot initiative with the California secretary of state. The stadium businesses did not similarly list their opposition to the parking and event tax initiatives.

The legal filings remain unresolved, and the initiatives are being processed by the city to see if they met standards for inclusion on the fall ballot.

For Inglewood residents. the fight is moving through the places they already know—streets crowded with game-day traffic. familiar corridors lit by digital screens. and a city budget shaped by event tickets. This time, it’s also moving through paper trails and petitions. By November. the question may be less about billboards alone and more about who gets to decide what Inglewood’s public spaces—and revenues—should become as the next wave of big events rolls through.

Inglewood WOW Media SoFi Stadium Intuit Dome Kia Forum billboards ballot initiatives parking rates admissions tax stadium accountability World Cup Super Bowl Olympics