Casey Hayward gets virtual tour of Inglewood stadium: ‘It’s pretty dope’

Reporting from Atlanta —  Chargers cornerback and Atlanta resident Casey Hayward stopped by the Super Bowl media center Thursday morning to take a virtual reality tour of the new 70,240-seat stadium in Inglewood that the Chargers and the Rams are scheduled to begin sharing in 2020.

“It’s pretty dope,” Hawyard said after donning a VR headset to scan what is being billed as the world’s largest indoor-outdoor stadium and attempting a few kickoffs on the field. “To actually get to visualize it and see exactly how it’s going to look is kind of crazy.

“I’m excited about playing there. It will be good to share it with another team. Hopefully both teams will be good for a long time, and we’ll make a lot of history in this new stadium.”

Kevin Demoff, the Rams’ chief operating officer, said construction of the stadium is about 60% complete and on schedule to be finished in the summer of 2020.

The concrete for the seating bowl has been poured, and the structure for the transparent roof, which will cover the entire playing field, seating bowl, an adjacent pedestrian plaza and a proposed 6,000-seat theater, is nearly complete.

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The future home of the Rams and the Chargers is under construction in Inglewood. The $2.6-billion, 300-acre project includes plans for retail, office, residential, hotel and park space.

The stadium will feature a 70,000-square-foot, two-sided, oval-shaped 4K video board that will be suspended from the roof and run the length of the field. Below the board will be a sound bar that will distribute audio equally throughout the building.

“I think it’s going to be one of a kind,” Hayward said. “When you’re the new guy up, you should make everything one of a kind, and I think that’s how it’s going to be when we get into that stadium.”

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Hayward plans to attend a few Super Bowl parties and events this week, but he admitted it’s a little tough to have the Rams and New England Patriots playing in his hometown after his Chargers lost to the Patriots 41-28 in the divisional round. The Chargers beat Baltimore in the wild-card round.

“It’s a little bitter for sure, but the two best teams are here,” Hayward said. “They’ve been good all year. I might give the Patriots a little edge because of their defense, but the Rams are so good up front. It’s going to be a good game.”

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@MikeDiGiovanna