The flashy new Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California (US) opened its doors to the basketball fans for the first time on October 14th as the National Basketball Association (NBA) team Los Angeles Clippers hosted a preseason game against their peer team Dallas Mavericks.
‘nba.com’ stated that the arena has been hosting concerts since August but this is the first game in the more than $2 billion vision of the Clippers Owner Steve Ballmer. Fans streamed in through doors using facial recognition. A double-sided halo board showed photos, videos, statistics, and more.
first @LAClippers game at home 💙❤️ pic.twitter.com/Cj4jceIZ4z
— Intuit Dome (@IntuitDome) October 15, 2024
The 18,000-capacity Intuit Dome is an indoor arena in Inglewood, California (US), South of the 70,000-capacity SoFi Stadium and of the 17,505-capacity Kia Forum. It is the home venue of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area (US). The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The Intuit Dome serves as their residence.
‘nba.com’ further stated that the Clippers were one of three tenants of the 20,000-capacity Crypto.com Arena sharing space with the National Basketball Association (NBA) team Los Angeles Lakers and the National Hockey League (NHL) team Los Angeles Kings. Now they’ve got their own address.
Enthused Tyronn Lue, Clippers Coach, “It’s a great feeling to have a place to call home. The guys are very excited about it. Our whole organization is excited about it. Tonight (October 14th) our fans get the chance to see a part of it. You have a chance to have your own place we call home. You can leave your shoes in the locker room and come back tomorrow and they’ll be there. We have our own place and own building and everything is secure.”
On ‘60 Minutes’ (prime-time American television news show), which aired on October 13th, Ballmer showed off his new building which he hopes will give his NBA team a boost – “Everything in my instinct says it will help our team, our basketball team, if our crowd team can really get into it and give them energy.”
As fans entered the arena they found an 80,000-square-foot outdoor plaza with a basketball court that’s open to the public.
Patricia Blakemore was jumping up and down when she arrived in the arena.
“It’s so high tech,” said Blakemore, who lives in nearby Manhattan Beach.
Added Blakemore, “I have to say one of the things that make me exceptionally happy is that from the moment we parked our car to get in here, the staff has been very helpful.”
When asked how long he’s been a Clippers fan, Eric Swallow said since Monday (October 14th). He just bought season tickets.
Stated Swallow, “It’s a new stadium and it’s close to the Manhattan Beach.”
That was all it took for the Clippers to gain a new fan.
Estelle Talleu and Matteo Decarlini came from France to visit Los Angeles and go to the game.
Said Decarlini, “I love basketball and I wanted to see LA and this atmosphere. In France, it’s not the same. There’s nothing like this. This arena is so big.”
Talleu loved the halo board: “It’s amazing.”
She was taking lots of videos as were many fans in the nearly 18,000-seat arena.
There’s also an abundance of bathrooms and Ballmer boasted about the 1,400 toilets on ‘60 Minutes’. There’s good reason.
Ballmer told ‘60 Minutes’, “I really hate it when people wait in line. Waiting in line for toilets, I think is – it stops people from getting back into the game. People get frustrated.”
The Intuit Dome is in an area that’s exploding with sports and entertainment. It’s less than a mile from the Sofi Stadium – which the National Football League’s (NFL’s) Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers call home – and the Kia Forum, which hosts concerts and used to be home to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The arena is carbon-free and cashless and has all the bells and whistles.
Juvenal Martinez, who is 14, came to the game with his uncle – “The arena is good. I like it. I like all the technology and the facial scan to get in.”
Ballmer broke ground on the arena in 2021 and it opened its doors in August. It is scheduled to host many big events, including the 2026 All-Star Game and basketball for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
New York (US)-based the National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams. It is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered the premier professional basketball league in the world.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game is the annual All-Star game hosted every February by the National Basketball Association and showcases 24 of the league’s star players.
The 2028 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 2028 or LA28, is an upcoming international multisport event scheduled to take place from July 14th-30th, 2028, in the United States.
Concluded Jason Kidd, Mavericks Coach, “This is beautiful. To be able to practice here (Sunday) and have shootaround here, they did an incredible job. I think the Clippers fans should be happy. When you look at fan experience it will be like no other. It will be exciting to be the first visiting team to experience that.”
Continue to follow Coliseum for latest updates on venues business news. Coliseum is dedicated towards building the best global community of sports and entertainment venue executives and professionals creating better and more profitable venues.
Become a member of the only Global Sports Venue Alliance and connect with stadiums, arenas and experts from around the world. Apply for membership at coliseum-online.com/alliance and make use of the 365Coliseum Business.