California Casino Strikes Partnership with L.A. NFL Stadium

The new NFL stadium in Southern California has a new casino partner.

The Pechanga Resort Casino is set be the newest founding partner of SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park. This is the latest in a string of partnerships between casinos and NFL teams or stadiums. This casino partnership is one that was highly sought as sports betting gains acceptance around the country and becomes legal in more and more states.

The stadium is set to open next July in Inglewood, California, and is going to cost nearly $5 billion to build. Los Angeles Rams owner and chairman E. Stanley Kroenke is building the new luxury stadium on 298 acres. The Chargers also will play at the facility starting next season.

Pechanga Casino and Southern California Branding

The Pechanga Casino has been a longtime partner with the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and MLB’s Los Angeles Angels. The facility also has naming rights with San Diego’s Pechanga Arena, which is the home to professional indoor football, minor league hockey, lacrosse and indoor soccer teams.

At SoFi Stadium, the Pechanga Founders Club is going to be a 14,000-square-foot premium club space on field level. Pechanga will have rights to branding in different areas and levels of the stadium, including an 11,500-square-foot activation zone on Level 8. This activation zone will give Pechanga opportunities to deal with customers and offer special branding.

The Pechanga Resort Casino is owned and operated by the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians.

"We are thrilled to partner with the Chargers and the Rams, and to be a part of SoFi Stadium," Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro said in a press release. "This isn't just a Los Angeles stadium, it's a Southern California stadium, and Southern California has always been and will always be our home. We are especially proud to be able to help local students and people in need with the grants we announced today."

Alongside the branding deal, the Pechanga tribe is donating $100,000 to Morningside High School in Inglewood and the Inglewood chapters of non-profits School on Wheels and U.S. Vets group. Throughout Southern California, the Pechanga tribe has donated millions of dollars in recent years.

NFL Teams and Casino Partnerships

In February, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones struck a deal with WinStar Casino, the first agreement of its kind between an NFL team and a casino.

Several other similar deals have taken place in the months since. The number of teams with some sort of deal with a casino or some form of gaming has reached double digits.