Los Angeles Stadium (temporarily renamed from SoFi Stadium) stands across Lake Park ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Inglewood, California on June 10, 2026. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)
Parking at any major sporting event or concert in Los Angeles has long been an exercise in a particular kind of local torture. Getting into the lot is never fun and has been known to cause gray hairs to appear on body parts that didn’t previously have hair. Exiting the venue often unlocks a circle of hell where the devil wears a reflective traffic vest. And to endure this pain, a driver has to numb themselves to paying an arbitrarily inflated cost.
But $300? Seriously? To park one car?
That is the price soccer fans attending Team USA’s first match against Paraguay were required to prepay to park on-site at Los Angeles Stadium (the FIFA-approved name for the stadium because Sofi Bank is not an official World Cup partner). Despite the shocking price, as of Monday, June 8, all non-ADA on-site spots for that match were sold out. But FIFA’s official parking partner, JustPark also lists spots available for $281 at Hollywood Park Casino Garage, 0.7 miles away. And for those wanting a deal, it’s only $157.25 to park at the Locust Street Garage located 1.14 miles away… or the length of 17 soccer pitches.
Lest anyone think this price gouging is somehow a unique patriotic feature of the USA match, worry not. The price for on-site parking for Switzerland vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina, which takes place the following week, stands at $250 per car.
The obvious solution to this expensive problem is to take public transit. Metro is providing a menu of enhanced services, including direct shuttles from 15 locations in L.A. and Orange Counties.
But what if you really, really want to drive?
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Normally, the smart move would be to park at nearby Kelso Elementary School or Morningside High School, which are relatively affordable and easier to escape from at the end of the night. For example, Rush fans attending the Canadian rock band’s reunion tour at the Kia Forum this month can pay $59.49 to park at Kelso, while both lots offer $176.49 parking spaces for next year’s Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium. In addition to being cheaper, exiting these grounds is much quicker than leaving the massive official lots that surround those two arenas like paved moats, where cars inch along about as fast as if they were literally driving through water.
But neither website lists any of the World Cup matches. Neither FIFA nor the Inglewood Unified School District nor the Inglewood Educational Foundation (the nonprofit that operates the parking lot concession) responded to our questions about parking. One organization that did respond was the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission, which said that “FIFA controls all the lots near the stadium.”
But there is another parking solution. And it just so happens the answer is the only thing that’s about as synonymous with Southern California as traffic: the single-family home.
Jose Gomez, an Inglewood resident since the 1990s whose house is a 25-minute walk south of SoFi Stadium, advertises his house’s parking on TikTok as @Inglewood.event.p. But he also uses a more low-tech approach to getting customers. “I just stand on the street with a sign,” he said, adding that he charges between $20 and $40 depending on the game or event, though he could ostensibly charge more because his neighbors lack the space to give him any competition. “They don’t have the parking, so it’s just me.”
He’s even put money back into his operation, rigging his yard with lights and cameras so customers can be assured their vehicles stay safe. Gomez is planning to charge $50 to $60 for the World Cup, a steal compared to FIFA’s official price.
Another Inglewood backyard side hustler is Mike, who grew up two blocks west of the Kia Forum and didn’t want to give his last name so as not to attract unwanted government attention to his home-based business. After attending a Metallica concert at SoFi Stadium during the metal band’s 2023 world tour, his buddy told him he should start charging people to park at his childhood home. Since then, he has regularly opened up the family house to pack in up to 10 vehicles in the dirt lot.
He said that a third-party company, DrivewayPass, recently reached out to him to become a partner. But he doesn’t need their help — or them taking a cut of his profits. Mike fills up his spaces via Reddit and word of mouth. And when business is good, he’ll send customers over to a neighbor who has three spots of her own. For a smaller concert at The Forum — he said Bruce Springsteen fans are his most dependable return customers — he charges between $35 and $40. But for bigger concerts at SoFi such as Kanye West or Lady Gaga, he bumps it up to $45.
When asked about FIFA’s $300 fee to park cars, he called it “ridiculous.” Unlike some of his neighbors, Mike said he’ll charge only $50 for the World Cup, even though he could raise his prices without anyone faulting him: He gives all of the money back to his parents.
Pablo Goldstein is the Creative Producer at L.A. Material.
