A battle over billboards roils Inglewood

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Drive down Manchester Boulevard in Inglewood, and you’re likely to see WOW Media digital billboards — from slender, curved signs planted in medians to massive LED screens that stretch across streets — that some residents have called eyesores.What’s less visible is that those billboards are at the center of a corporate power struggle that may be headed to the ballot this November.On one side: WOW Media, which has a financial partnership with the city of Inglewood that could be worth tens of millions of dollars as an aggressive expansion of its billboard network comes online.The city has not publicly endorsed or opposed the ballot proposals backed by WOW, and Mayor James Butts declined to comment on those initiatives.On the other: the operators of SoFi Stadium, Intuit Dome and the Kia Forum — who want the billboard network gone and have their own advertising interests in the stadium district.Both the billboard company and stadium operators have turned to the same weapon: Petitions to put initiatives on voters’ ballots.WOW is bankrolling proposals to cap stadium parking fees and raise taxes on event tickets.

The stadium operators are pushing a measure to gut the city’s billboard program and the deal with WOW.Each side frames its campaigns as protecting Inglewood residents.But none of these measures appear to be financed by community members.

The money needed to persuade voters is coming from business interests who have major stakes in the upcoming World Cup, Super Bowl and Olympics.This fight goes back to lawsuits between the city and stadium-linked businesses, including those tied to Stan Kroenke’s SoFi Stadium as well as Steve Ballmer’s Intuit Dome and Kia Forum.Last year, those businesses sued after the Inglewood City Council approved an exclusive contract with WOW Media to build and operate more than 100 digital billboards along some of the city’s busiest st...