‘The stadium is secondary’: how US sports teams became real-estate speculators

More than ever, franchises are a profit play as owners seek to boost income by building developments where people can live, work, shop, dine, drink and play

Pitching his vision of shifting the St Louis Rams to an ultra-modern stadium anchoring a massive land redevelopment near Los Angeles international airport, Stan Kroenke told his fellow NFL owners: This is what we do".

Nearly eight years later, with the Rams successfully relocated and playing in the $5bn, 70,240-capacity SoFi Stadium complex, Kroenke is delivering on his declaration with the help of retailers, homebuilders, Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny.