Inglewood Mayor Butts Denies Grudge as Stadium-Backed Measures Fail

Inglewood voters delivered a narrow but pointed rebuke to the coalition behind SoFi Stadium on Tuesday, rejecting two dueling ballot measures that would have restricted the city’s billboard revenue and raised taxes on big events — even as Mayor James T. Butts Jr. publicly declared he holds “no animus” toward the stadium operators now apparently funding a campaign to unseat him, the Los Angeles Times reported.

With returns posted by the Los Angeles County registrar as of early Wednesday afternoon, Measure BB — the “Billboard Blight” initiative backed by the owners of SoFi Stadium, Intuit Dome and the Forum — was losing 52% to 48%, a margin of 808 votes. Measure AT, which would have eliminated a $15-million cap on the 10% admission tax paid on ticket sales, was losing 51% to 49%, a margin of 402 votes.

The defeats land hardest on Butts, whose political future is now uncertain: City Councilmember Gloria D. Gray was leading him in the mayoral race 32.6% to 29.2%, setting up a spring runoff. Hollywood Park, the nearly 300-acre development anchored by SoFi Stadium and owned by Rams owner Stan Kroenke, has backed Gray.

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Butts Claims Victory on Revenue That Funds City Programs

Butts framed the apparent defeat of Measure BB as a win for residents. The billboard revenue at stake funds free kindergarten classes for low-income families, a mobility and diagnostic center for seniors, and a one-time $500 property-tax rebate for every homeowner in the city.

“That’s good that is not taken away from the residents,” Butts said, rejecting the idea that the measure soured the relationship with the venue owners, whom he called “great business partners.”

The fight traces back to last year, when Inglewood signed a deal with WOW Media for 60 digital signs carrying 108 screens — some bus-shelter-sized kiosks, others street displays up to 22 feet tall on sidewalks and medians. SoFi Stadium, Intuit Dome and the Forum sued to block the deal, arguing the signs would undercut their own sponsors who paid for exclusivity. A judge sided with the city, and an appeal is underway.

Inglewood Mayor Butts walks out of interview before coming back to answer questions

Measure BB aimed to bar billboard advertising on public property and qualified for the ballot with nearly 13,000 signatures. The WOW deal runs 20 years with two 10-year options — potentially 40 years in all.

“It’s biblical in length,” said John Shallman, the political strategist managing the “Yes on BB” campaign. “You go back 40 years. We didn’t even have the internet. We didn’t even have cellphones.”

The Stadium Side Calls the Results a Stunning Rebuke

“The big story is that Inglewood voters are delivering a stunning rebuke to Mayor Butts,” Shallman said. “He’s a 16-year incumbent sitting at just 29% while his huge tax measure is losing.”

Measure AT was a citizen initiative funded by WOW Media, and Hollywood Park viewed it as punishment for challenging the billboard deal. Butts distanced himself from it entirely: “The city did not put that initiative on the ballot and it had nothing to do with me.”

Inglewood Mayor Butts Denies Grudge as Stadium-Backed Measures Fail

Shallman also argued the fate of BB could be moot anyway because of conflicts with the California Department of Transportation. A day before the election, the “Yes on BB” campaign released CalTrans notices citing four WOW Media billboards along the 405 near La Cienega for violating the state’s Outdoor Advertising Act, with potential fines of $40,000 plus back assessments. Those billboards are subject to Measure BB, which calls for a halt of advertising on them.

From Billboards to a Voided $5-Billion Stadium Deal

The billboard fight has since metastasized into a far larger legal battle over the stadium itself. Last month, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled void the 2015 development agreement that cleared the way for the $5-billion SoFi Stadium, citing a 2018 Moreno Valley decision. Under that agreement, Hollywood Park paid up front for roads, water lines, streetlights and event-day police and emergency services, with the city agreeing to eventually reimburse Kroenke for those expenses. Now that the agreement has been voided, the city argues it isn’t required to pay.

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Skip Miller, lead attorney for the city, defended the kiosks on their own merits, saying the Inglewood displays “blend in with the surrounding areas” and connect to a network that provides traffic and safety information.

So the split returns leave Inglewood in an unusual position: the mayor survives the stadium owners’ ballot offensive, yet trails his challenger in the race for his own job, with a runoff still to come and a voided development agreement hanging over the city’s finances.