If/when there’s a football season this year, it will involve the christening of a new stadium in L.A. That stadium will now face a challenge to its ongoing construction.
California governor Gavin Newsom has issued a “stay at home” order for the entire state, effective Thursday night. The order applies until further notice.
Details are scant, but if everyone must “stay at home” then the people who travel from their homes to the Inglewood construction site won’t be able to make it to work on Friday, and they won’t be able to make it until the “stay at home” order is lifted.
While the completion of SoFi Stadium means little in relation to the issues with which the nation currently is dealing, it’s another tangible intersection between the COVID-19 pandemic and the NFL. This one could ultimately keep the Rams and Chargers from playing in their new stadium in September — and if the stadium is delayed until 2021, it will force the league either to move Super Bowl LV to a new location or waive its rule requiring that any stadium that hosts the league’s premier event must be open for a full year before the year in which it hosts the Super Bowl.
UPDATE 11:25 p.m. ET: According to RamblinFan.com, the order will apply to the stadium construction workers, since they do not fall within the scope of essential services that are exempted from the mandate.
UPDATE 11:30 p.m. ET: Per a source with knowledge of the situation, stadium construction officials will not be commenting on the situation until they better know how the order will affect them.