Clippers unveil plans for privately financed L.A. arena next to new NFL stadium
The Los Angeles Clippers are opening a new chapter of basketball next season with the arrival of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
Amid that excitement, the team has unveiled plans for a new arena in Inglewood — one that they won’t share with the Lakers.
The Clippers announced the plans on Thursday for an 18,500-seat arena that will be privately funded with plans to begin construction in 2021. The goal is to have the arena ready for 2024 to coincide with the end of their lease at the Staples Center that they share with the Lakers and NHL’s Los Angeles Kings.
Transformative.
Unparalleled.
A place for #ClipperNation to call home. pic.twitter.com/1gJGBe19vr— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) July 26, 2019
A home of their own
The proposed arena would sit adjacent to the NFL stadium that’s under construction as the home of the Rams and will be shared by the Chargers.
“People, I think, will say, we play in the Lakers’ building,” team owner Steve Ballmer told the Los Angeles Times. “We’d like to play in the Clippers’ building. That’s what we’re working on.”
According to the Times, the planned arena will be the centerpiece of a complex that also includes an outdoor basketball court for public use and a giant screen intended to provide an atmosphere similar to “Jurassic Park” outside of the Toronto Raptors’ Scotiabank Arena.
Green plans
The arena will employ the use of solar panels and carbon offsets in an effort to achieve net zero greenhouse emissions, according to the Clippers.
Ballmer, the wealthiest owner in the NBA, made his fortune as an early stakeholder in Microsoft and its CEO from 2000-2014. He lives near Seattle.
He told the Times that he has no intention of moving the Clippers to Seattle, with the new arena plans as his assurance.
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