Inglewood - The 2026 FIFA World Cup is underway. In host cities across the tournament, stadiums thunder with supporter chants and the 90 minutes of high stakes drama that holds the entire world's attention.
But one day in Los Angeles unfolded very differently.
On this day, no match was scheduled at Los Angeles Stadium. Its entrance gates stood quiet. There were no waiting queues, no sea of team jerseys, no drum beats echoing down the stands.
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That was when ITSMe reporter Raisha arrived at Los Angeles Stadium - the official venue name used by FIFA during the 2026 World Cup, for the facility most people know locally as SoFi Stadium.
And in that quiet, the stadium felt more alive than it ever would on match day.
Its enormous transparent canopy stretched wide enough to appear as though it was floating above the ground. Aircraft on final approach to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) regularly passed low overhead. Even people who had not come for a football match would stop, tilt their heads upwards, and pull out their phones to photograph the building.
Raisha had not travelled here to watch a match. This lull in the chaos of the World Cup instead gave her a chance to observe something almost everyone overlooks: the full grandeur of a world class stadium, when no football is being played inside it.
Los Angeles Stadium is one of the flagship venues for the 2026 World Cup, set to host eight total matches: five group stage fixtures, two Round of 32 ties, and one quarter final.
Two years from now, this same stadium will return to the global spotlight as co-host of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics Opening Ceremony alongside the LA Memorial Coliseum, as well as the official venue for the Olympic swimming competition.
Opened in September 2020, the facility was constructed with an estimated investment of US$5-6 billion, ranking it among the most expensive sports stadiums ever built.
But what makes it remarkable goes far beyond construction cost or size.
Its permanent ETFE material canopy lets natural sunlight filter through, while the open perimeter of the structure creates a unique semi-outdoor spectator experience completely unlike most other World Cup venues.
Suspended above the pitch hangs the Infinity Screen: a dual-sided oval video display that counts as one of the largest of its kind on Earth. Even with the entire stadium empty, its scale stops every visitor in their tracks. It is almost impossible to visualise the atmosphere when more than 70,000 fans fill the stands around it.
There is a fascinating story behind its final shape too. Built directly beneath the LAX arrival flight path, the entire stadium was constructed 30 metres below ground level to comply with strict building height limits. This engineering solution produced the distinctive futuristic silhouette that earned the venue its famous nickname: "The Spaceship".
Los Angeles Stadium sits at the centre of Hollywood Park, a nearly 300-acre integrated development combining the sports facility, hotels, retail centres, office space, public parkland and entertainment zones.
With a standard capacity of 70,240 spectators, the stadium is also the permanent home ground for both the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers NFL teams. It has previously hosted the Super Bowl, WrestleMania, and major concert tours for Taylor Swift and Beyoncé.
Raisha's experience walking the empty stadium forms the subject of a new episode of ITSMe's 2026 World Cup Podcast.
Speaking with hosts Syafira and Dila from the ITSMe production studio in Sentul, Bogor, she shares this quiet other side of a World Cup venue: one that remains utterly mesmerising, long before the first match whistle has even been blown.
When Raisha left Hollywood Park that evening, the stadium still stood silent. The World Cup continued rolling on as planned, just not here, not today.
In just a few days time, these empty stands will once again thunder with tens of thousands of supporters from every corner of the planet. But even in this quiet, Los Angeles Stadium already leaves an impression no one will easily forget.
