Rams owner plans NFL stadium at Hollywood Park site

The old home of Hollywood Park racetrack might be the new home of an NFL team as early as 2016.

Stan Kroenke, the owner of the St. Louis Rams, and Stockbridge Capital Group, which owns the 238-acre site of the former racetrack, have reached an agreement to build an NFL stadium, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times on Monday.

Kroenke owns 60 acres that once were the racetrack’s parking lot. Stockbridge would add to the project with land formerly used for the racetrack. The proposal is the latest in a two-decade push by various parties, including former Hollywood Park owner R.D. Hubbard, to build an NFL stadium in the Los Angeles area. Hubbard was in talks with the Oakland Raiders in 1995 to move the team to Hollywood Park, discussions that eventually fell apart.

Various other sites around the Los Angeles area have been mentioned as venues for a stadium. The league has not had a presence in the Los Angeles area since the Rams moved to St. Louis and the Raiders to Oakland in 1994. Kroenke did not own the Rams at the time.

The Rams have stated a desire to improve their existing stadium in downtown St. Louis and could leave that city in time for the 2016 NFL season. Any proposed move would have to be approved by NFL owners.

Hollywood Park closed as a racing venue in December 2013. The last horses left the property last January. In the last year, the barn area and racetrack have been demolished for eventual use for a variety of commercial and residential purposes that one day could include an 80,000-seat sports stadium.