A History of California in Six Super Bowl Stadiums

The State and Its Football Fields Have Gotten Glitzier, Gaudier, More Exclusive, and More Disconnected

On February 13, the most watched event in America visits its birthplace, California.

Inglewood’s oversized, overpriced SoFi Stadium—the most expensive stadium ever built in the United States—is hosting Super Bowl LVI. SoFi is the sixth California stadium to hold the game since the first Super Bowl was held in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1967.

To think back on those stadiums—five still open and operating, one recently deceased—is to see how much is changing in a state known for mass entertainment and global spectacles.

As California, like the Super Bowl, has become …