Some people have expressed concerns related to traffic and gentrification while significant pushback also came from the Madison Square Garden Company, which had purchased The Forum, the venerable concert venue where the Lakers and Kings used to play, for $23.5 million in 2012.Īnticipating that the Clippers’ arena – which also will host concerts – could negatively affect business at The Forum, MSG sued Inglewood, Gov. On Friday, a few protesters were spotted nearby, and in the years leading up to Friday’s groundbreaking, the team and the city had to navigate lawsuits from opponents of the project (while navigating pandemic hurdles). A pair of parking garages and a 150-room hotel also will be incorporated into the plans. Not everyone has been thrilled by the concept of the 22-acre Clipper campus, which will house all of the team’s operations, including an 85,000-square-foot training facility, 71,000 square feet of team office space, a 25,000-square-foot medical clinic, as well as an outdoor plaza with a stage and basketball court, retail and restaurant space. “Your job is to help our guys,” said Ballmer, a competitive, enthusiastic, sweat-through-his-dress-shirt super fan of an owner, whose team reached the Western Conference finals last season for the first time in the franchise’s 50-year history.īallmer also referenced the several-years-long fight to make the project possible – and his commitment to helping the Clippers’ neighbors-to-be in Inglewood. “At the Intuit Dome, you’re not gonna be a spectator, you need to be a participant,” said Ballmer, who bought the Clippers for $2 billion in 2014 after the NBA stripped former Clippers owner Donald Sterling of the team after he was recorded making racist remarks. (Those relatively discrete high-end luxury boxes will not, in fact, be fashioned with big-screen TVs, the Clippers’ president of business operations Gillian Zucker said.) Not included, after some playful consideration, spikes in the suite seats that might motivate the people inside to take their seat in the bowl to watch the action. The roof of the dome was designed to accommodate the halo, not the other way around. The halo will include 44,000 square feet of 4K LED lighting, slightly more than one full acre and roughly six times the average size of other “big” screens in NBA buildings. He delighted in describing many of the arena’s planned bells and whistles, the 199 game clocks that will be positioned throughout the building, the 1,500 toilets, two extra inches of leg room in every row and 51 uninterrupted rows of seats in a section that will be known as “the wall of sound.” Acoustics experts were brought in to ensure that The Wall generates as much sound as possible.Įvery detail – from the huge two-sided halo video screen that will hover over the court, to the triple-wide escalators, to how the bathrooms will be designed to get fans back in their seats as quickly as possible – has a purpose. “We think the result will be a breathtaking basketball destination without equal and a first-class concert venue. “Beside your couch, this will be the most comfortable place you’ll ever watch a basketball game!” Ballmer said. In his element as the former Microsoft CEO, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer delivered a presentation about the $1.8 billion, 18,000-seat arena as if he were unveiling new technology products. Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and several of their teammates joined fans, local dignitaries, team and Intuit officials and Clippers mascot Chuck the Condor in a large tent, where several stakeholders hoisted ceremonial shovels full of dirt. On Friday, the team held a pep rally at the corner of Century Boulevard near Prairie Avenue and announced a 23-year naming rights partnership with Intuit, the Silicon Valley-based software company known for making TurboTax, for more than $500 million, according to CNBC. And, when construction is complete on the Intuit Dome across the street in 2024, it will be home to the Clippers, too. The city that was long the home of the Lakers before they joined the Clippers and NHL’s Kings at Staples Center in 1999 now is home turf for the NFL’s Rams and Chargers at SoFi Stadium. “Inglewood is the sports entertainment capital of the United States.” “Inglewood is the capital of Clipper Nation,” he said. INGLEWOOD - Just before Friday’s festive groundbreaking ceremony wrapped up, Inglewood Mayor James T.
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