Intuit Dome

Intuit Dome is an indoor arena in Inglewood, California, south of SoFi Stadium. It is the home venue of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Clippers previously played games at Crypto.com Arena, a venue the team shared with the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL), from the 1999–2000 season through the 2023–24 season.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the new arena was held on September 17, 2021. The arena opened on August 15, 2024, ahead of the 2024–25 NBA season. The arena will serve as a basketball venue during the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Bruno Mars, backed by his band, the Hooligans, opened the venue with a concert on August 15, 2024. Mars and Lady Gaga performed the world premiere of their new duet, "Die With a Smile".

History

In 2017, the City of Inglewood approved an exclusive negotiating agreement with the Los Angeles Clippers to build a new, basketball-specific arena for the team, which would be located across from the then-under construction SoFi Stadium. The Clippers have not had their own arena since they left the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in 1999 for Staples Center (now Crypto.com Arena), which they shared with the Los Angeles Lakers and the NHL's Los Angeles Kings.

Throughout the team's history, it never had any tangible ownership interest in any of its home arenas. The Clippers instead rented its previous venues in Buffalo's Memorial Auditorium (as the Braves), where it held low priority beneath the Sabres and Canisius college basketball, then San Diego's Sports Arena when they became the Clippers, followed by the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

Its previous deal with Crypto.com Arena allowed for a different Clipper court, and required a 'neutralization' process before and after each game to cover up and then restore Laker achievements, banners and sponsorships, along with setting its own court lighting pattern. In tightly-scheduled weekends, which included Kings games and musical concerts in addition to the Lakers, the process was often completed within a three to four hour window, including cleanup of the seating bowl from the previous event. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer saw the construction of a dedicated arena for the team as being a high priority.

Lawsuits

Various lawsuits were filed to prevent the construction of the arena. Uplift Inglewood filed a lawsuit alleging that the agreement between the Clippers and Inglewood violated the state Surplus Land Act, which requires that proposals for affordable housing, recreation, and school projects be given preference when a city intends to sell its public land. Mayor James T. Butts Jr. Argued that the proposed site had already been deemed unsuitable for residential use due to its proximity to Los Angeles International Airport.

The Madison Square Garden Company —owner of The Forum, a nearby arena in Inglewood that formerly served as the Lakers' home arena— were accused of using litigation to block the new arena, fearing that it would unduly compete with The Forum's live events business. MSG paid the legal fees of Inglewood Residents Against Takings and Evictions (IRATE), another group that filed lawsuits opposing the arena. In December 2018, the Clippers (via its subsidiary Murphy's Bowl, LLC) filed a countersuit against MSG over the matter.

In March 2019, leaked emails revealed that MSG's Irving Azoff attempted to lure the Los Angeles Lakers back to The Forum after their lease of Staples Center was up. Despite nothing coming of the proposal, Azoff's proposal to re-purpose The Forum was seen as a way of preventing the LA Clippers from building their own arena in Inglewood and ensuring that the Madison Square Garden Company got an unfair advantage over rival AEG, which is a Lakers minority owner. In November 2019, a judge ruled against Uplift Inglewood's lawsuit. In December 2019, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved the new arena, after evaluating the arena's environmental impact.

Construction and opening

In March 2020, in a move to settle the litigation with MSG, Ballmer announced that he would acquire The Forum for $400 million in an all-cash deal. The sale was completed in May, with all existing employees retained under the new ownership. The acquisition of The Forum was considered to be the last major hurdle blocking the construction of the new arena.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on September 17, 2021. Ballmer described a goal for the new arena to be a "basketball palazzo". A 23-year naming rights deal for at least $500 million was announced with Mountain View, California based financial software company Intuit, naming the arena Intuit Dome. On April 5, 2024, it was announced that Bruno Mars would open Intuit Dome with back-to-back shows on August 15 and 16, 2024. On August 12, 2024, Shams Charania reported that the Los Angeles Clippers would make their regular season and home debut at the Intuit Dome on October 23 against the Phoenix Suns.

Text imported from Wikipedia article "Intuit Dome" and modified on September 9, 2024 according to the CC-BY-SA 4.0 International license.