As he pulled his vehicle into the back of a SoFi Stadium parking lot one recent afternoon, Adrian Pitts squinted through his windshield.
“They can literally see my waist up,” he complained while peering into one of his home’s second-story windows. He got out of the car for a better look and pointed. “You can see the mirror in my shower.”
By his own careful measurement, Pitts lives 14 feet from the Hollywood Park development’s property line, so close that he has become concerned about his privacy while bathing.
His three-bedroom home is one of hundreds in a gated community known as the Renaissance that abuts the 70,000-seat stadium. It is also one of a handful near the western edge of the community whose owners can reasonably argue that Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift and N.F.L. teams play in their backyard.
These days, that yard is being occupied by a little tournament known as the World Cup. Soccer fans from five continents are visiting SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., to cheer on their nations’ squads. Those watching on television have seen elegant shots of the palatial $5 billion venue with its curving awning resting on a serene artificial lake.
What they will not see is Pitts’s misery. When Team U.S.A. began its tournament with a 4-1 win over Paraguay on June 12, it was a joyous celebration for many American soccer devotees. For Pitts, it was just another day filled with inconvenience.
“Honestly, the traffic during football season is worse,” Pitts, 55, conceded later that weekend. “It’s not the World Cup. It’s the whole thing. Our city’s a little bit different now.”
Over the past five years, Pitts said, he and his neighbors — several of whom spoke to The New York Times — have had to endure various forms of irritation.
On event nights, Pitts said, his 12-minute commute becomes 45. He has had to fight with traffic enforcement officers to reach his home. To monitor people wandering back to their cars late at night, he has installed at least eight security cameras on his property.
The booming daylong sound checks are often louder than the concerts themselves, he said. Because of the noise, he said, he cannot open his windows. He shudders at his recollection of the two-day hip-hop festival aptly named Rolling Loud.
Hours before kickoff for SoFi Stadium’s opening World Cup game, many fans were already reveling in a party outside the gates. Pitts was at work most of the day. But he returned home before the game ended and, as sometimes happens, saw a group of young fans hop a property gate, seemingly in pursuit of an easier exit.
A similar sequence of events played out on a Monday night (Iran vs. New Zealand), a Thursday afternoon (Switzerland vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina) and a Sunday when the parking lots opened at 8 a.m. (Belgium vs. Iran). On Thursday, the United States and Turkey will compete in the fifth of SoFi Stadium’s eight World Cup contests.
“People don’t think about what’s going on here — they only think about what affects them,” Pitts said. “People say, ‘Oh my God, you’re so lucky, you live next to the stadium.’ And I ask people, ‘Why am I so lucky?’”
Pitts moved in around the time the Renaissance opened in 2006. Pictures he took then show that the view out the back windows was of trailers and a few trees — the old Hollywood Park racetrack past its prime. Further in the backdrop was what was then known as the Great Western Forum.
Now, the view just over Pitts’s fence is half blue sky, half SoFi.
In between are Hyundai Orange Zone Parking Lots F and G, where a space for an upcoming BTS concert can be purchased in advance for $77. For the first World Cup game featuring Team U.S.A., the closest available parking to those lots was for oversize vehicles. It cost $661.
City and stadium officials acknowledge that a development this large brings challenges to the neighborhood. But they also tout the benefits of Hollywood Park, which opened in 2020, as an economic engine that they say has revitalized the city and offered trickle-down benefits to residents.
SoFi Stadium, which is being called Los Angeles Stadium for the World Cup because of FIFA rules, will host a second Super Bowl next year and signature Olympics events in 2028.
Pitts has season tickets to the Los Angeles Rams and a commemorative team football on display at his home. “I go to every game,” he said. And he knows his home’s value has nearly doubled, to about $900,000. “But that’s just L.A.” he said.
There is speculation that more development could be on its way. Homeowners worry that Hollywood Park could seek to expand its footprint to reach a pair of key thoroughfares. The Renaissance and its roughly 400 homes stand in its way to the east. Another community, Carlton Square, has more than 400 condominiums to the north.
“Some people are worried about eminent domain,” Pitts said. “At this point, I’m like, take the money and run.”
The post The World Cup Came to His Backyard. He’s Not Thrilled. appeared first on New York Times.
