Intuit Dome, new house of LA Clippers, opens with official ribbon reducing

Ten years in the past this week, the NBA accepted the sale of the LA Clippers to former Microsoft chief govt Steve Ballmer, formally closing a chapter of franchise historical past through which Donald Sterling owned the group for 33 years. One of many causes Ballmer was elated to personal the Clippers was the group performed its house video games in downtown Los Angeles’ Staples Heart since 1999.

“Once I acquired the group, I used to be very delighted that I wouldn’t need to construct an area — critically,” Ballmer stated final month. “As a result of some other group I checked out, at any time, whether or not I used to be Seattle for some time, Sacramento possibly shifting to Seattle, which he league stated we couldn’t do. Whether or not it was Milwaukee, all of them wanted arenas.

“That’s the time through which groups would possibly promote. I stated, ‘That is nice. I acquired a group. It’s in L.A. And I don’t must construct an area’ All good.”

Ballmer would be taught the problems of the Clippers’ association in downtown Los Angeles. The Clippers have been the third group within the constructing, one of many busiest on the earth. They have been behind the Los Angeles Kings and the Los Angeles Lakers for scheduling precedence on an annual foundation, placing the Clippers at a logistical drawback.

“Six months later? We acquired to construct an area,” Ballmer stated.

The brand new Clippers area is lastly prepared for a grand opening. Intuit Dome, located in Inglewood, Calif., has its first occasion Thursday evening with the primary of two nights of exhibits that includes Grammy Award-winning recording artist Bruno Mars. Earlier than Mars takes the stage for a three-hour present, there will probably be a ribbon reducing and a purple carpet.

The $2 billion area that broke floor in September 2021 has options that can make it stand out immediately.

The outside of the constructing is designed to appear to be a basketball web. The scoreboard, dubbed the “Halo Board”, is the primary of its form in an NBA area. The seating alongside the customer’s bench baseline is “The Wall,” 51 straight rows with no suites designed to create an environment of noise that rivals essentially the most hostile arenas within the league.

Intuit Dome options 5 basketball courts, together with the group’s follow courts and amenities.

Youngsters nowadays… Let our drone provide the tour 👀

Clippers 2024-25 Schedule Launch introduced by @Ticketmaster! pic.twitter.com/Ef6mooVHMV

— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) August 15, 2024

However essentially the most vital a part of Intuit Dome’s opening and existence is the NBA schedule. The league launched the 2024-25 schedule Thursday, and the Clippers will open regular-season play at their new house towards Pacific Division rival Phoenix Suns on Oct. 23.

It’s considered one of 9 nationally televised video games the Clippers may have within the 2024-25 season, excluding NBA TV.

“We acquired to construct our home,” Ballmer stated in July, explaining the significance of the Clippers having their very own area. “We acquired to place the vitality in our home. We don’t need to play too many Monday nights towards ‘Monday Evening Soccer.’ We don’t need to play as many Saturday video games. We don’t need to need to cowl up banners of different guys to ensure that it to no less than really feel marginally like our home.

“It’s acquired to be our home. Took me six months, and I went from ‘Oh, we don’t need to construct one,’ to ‘Oh, we’re going to construct one.’”

Final common season, the Clippers had ten matinee house video games, going 5-5 whereas trailing by double digits sooner or later in all of them. The group’s house schedule for the 2024-25 season at present has zero matinee video games; all the house video games on the schedule begin no sooner than 6 p.m. native time. The one time the Clippers had a house schedule with zero afternoon begins within the 25 years the group performed downtown was within the 2000-01 season.

Talking of Grammys, the Clippers and Lakers would typically be displaced for a protracted winter highway journey because of the Grammy Awards in downtown L.A. The Clippers as soon as had an 11-game highway journey in 2011, going 24 days between house video games. Whereas the Clippers are on the highway earlier than the Grammy Awards subsequent season, it’s solely a four-game highway journey.

The longest highway journey the Clippers have is a seven-game journey after the All-Star break, however two of these video games will probably be a miniseries towards the Lakers. The Clippers are at present scheduled to see each different Western Convention opponent no less than as soon as earlier than they see the Lakers for the primary time subsequent season.

The Clippers are the newest group to enter a brand new area with a brand new model identification, one thing 15 different groups have executed when shifting into their present arenas.

However this is also a interval of transition for the Clippers. Whereas the roster nonetheless options All-NBA ahead Kawhi Leonard and former NBA MVP James Harden, the group parted methods with All-Star ahead Paul George and former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook this offseason.

George will return to face the Clippers on Nov. 6 with the Philadelphia 76ers to finish a five-game homestand, whereas Westbrook is scheduled to go to with the Denver Nuggets on Dec. 1.

LA has added contributors reminiscent of ahead Derrick Jones Jr., ahead Nicolas Batum and guard Kris Dunn.

Per league sources, the Clippers are making ready for the likelihood that ahead PJ Tucker will probably be with the group to start the season as properly. Tucker opted into the ultimate yr of his contract and although the Clippers explored buying and selling him, roster spots across the league are accounted for, making a deal unlikely earlier than coaching camp.

Ballmer wished to open Intuit Dome with a championship, and the Clippers confirmed during the last three years that they weren’t near that, failing to win a playoff sequence because the franchise’s solely convention finals look in 2021. The hope for Ballmer is the Clippers having an area constructed particularly for the group for the primary time in franchise historical past will probably be one other step in the direction of an elusive Finals look.

“There was once a basic TV business that ran about Avis rental vehicles,” Ballmer stated. “‘We’re Avis. We’re quantity two, however we strive tougher.’ We’ve no championships. We don’t. And we’re going to strive tougher. We’re going to work tougher. We’re going to do what we are able to in each manner, form, and kind for our followers and for our group.”

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(Picture: Brian Rothmuller / Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photographs)