The Clippers have played second fiddle to the Lakers in Los Angeles for decades, and the gap continues to exist despite continued efforts by the Clippers to distinguish themselves since Steve Ballmer acquired the team in 2014.
Through two eras—one with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, another with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George—the Clippers have changed their on-court perception from cellar dwellers to consistent winners over the last decade. But the Clippers have failed to accomplish much in games that truly matter, outside of a 30–9 record against the Lakers.
And they’ve had to play kid roommate to the Lakers in sharing the iconic former Staples Center, now Crypto.com Arena, in downtown Los Angeles with the Lakers for the last 25 years.
Now the Clippers have moved out.
The team finally has a home of their own, as they play their first regular-season game at the Intuit Dome: a state-of-the-art, $2 billion arena in Inglewood, where The Forum, home of the Lakers until 1999, used to sit.
“The entire building focus is all about creating a home-court advantage for our team,” Gillian Zucker, CEO of Halo Sports and Entertainment, parent company of the Clippers and Intuit Dome, tells Front Office Sports.
The Clippers taking a piece of Lakers history to launch a new chapter is fitting, as the Intuit Dome symbolizes the team’s modern approach to attracting a fan base in Los Angeles—a direct contrast to the Purple and Gold, a family-owned franchise that lives and breathes history and legacy.
Crypto.com Arena, originally named Staples Center, was built in 1999, and does not have close to the number of bells and whistles of the Intuit Dome. Still, a Laker game remains a spectacle, with A-List celebrities and fans from all over the world lining up to see the franchise.
But as the Clippers continue to try to build a championship team on the court—which Zucker says is “inevitable” despite the team’s track record—the Intuit Dome’s pageantry can serve as its own spectacle.
Zucker says the team is too busy with its arena launch to focus on their crosstown rivals. But she admits the Intuit Dome, which comes just months after the team announced a full rebrand, is the beginning of a new chapter for the Clippers.
“People think of today as being the end of something. We think of today as being the start of something,” Zucker said.
Los Angeles Grandeur
As the arena waited on Tuesday for its big regular-season coming out party, its gaudy technological features were on full display. The stadium is so high-tech that AT&T CEO John Stankey boasted on a podcast over the summer, “We’ve taken some of the most robust fiber infrastructure in Los Angeles that AT&T has and… we put seven and a half miles of fiber in.”
Some of the most intriguing tech elements include facial recognition used in team stores and concession areas, and video-game buttons on chairs for fans to participate in games played on a one-acre halo board.
The tech may not be perfect by Wednesday, as the facial recognition system created massive delays during a Bruno Mars concert in August. But it’s just one part of the growing pains of grandiose attempts at development.
“I’ve checked on everyone with the team. There’s tremendous confidence around here and a lot of excitement. With anything like this, there can be things that surprise you along the way, but we’ve got the best of the best, and I think we’re ready to take any challenge that comes our way,” Zucker said.
Ballmer told ESPN while he doesn’t see any glitches happening, he’s a little nervous. “I’ll probably hold my breath a little,” he said.
The venue also features a massive plaza with a full-sized, public basketball court, and decked-out amenities in the visitors’ locker rooms and referees’ holding room.
Will the Clippers have a season on the court that matches the new opulence around it? If they don’t, the jokes will come quickly: that the new arena is the only exciting thing the team has going for it. But Ballmer has spared no expense.
