Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in fall 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer speaks to reporters and dignitaries during a tour of the Intuit Dome construction site in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
A worker walks past a seating area as construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, center, walks through the suites area during a tour of the Intuit Dome construction site in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
A worker does some welding as construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer speaks to reporters and dignitaries during a tour of the Intuit Dome construction site in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
A plane flies over as construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
A look at the future site of huge video screens as construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
A plane flies past as construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, right, looks over plans with Johnny Crabill during a tour of the Intuit Dome construction site in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer looks over the different levels during a tour of the Intuit Dome construction site in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, right, with Dennis Wong, Craig Bojda, and Bill Hanway, left, during a tour of the Intuit Dome construction site in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
A view of the lower level as construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, left, during a tour of the Intuit Dome construction site in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
A view of the tunnel as construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
A view of the visitors’ hydro area as construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
A map of the visitors’ locker room is seen as construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Former MLB player Kenny Lofton, right, talks to Clippers owner Steve Ballmer during a tour of the Intuit Dome construction site in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer speaks to reporters and dignitaries during a tour of the Intuit Dome construction site in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
SoFi Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Rams and Chargers, can be seen in the distance as construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer speaks to reporters and dignitaries during a tour of the Intuit Dome construction site in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in fall 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
A view of the Clippers’ future office and ticketing area along with a parking structure across the street as construction continues on the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Clippers’ new home arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
A view of the Hollywood Park area as construction continues of the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Tuesday, December 13, 2022. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
INGLEWOOD — Someone said we looked like LEGO figures, all dressed up in safety vests and hard hats like the protagonist “Emmet” in those stop-motion-style hit movies.
It was true. Whether working or touring the Intuit Dome construction site on Tuesday, everyone looked the part – including the master builder responsible for bringing the whole scene to life.
The Clippers’ owner was making his monthly visit to check on the massive construction site at Prairie Avenue and Century Boulevard, where builders are busy assembling the basketball palace that the Clippers will call home starting in fall 2024. He found his developing arena fitted with its first walls and having grown some more gigantic trusses.
Next door to SoFi Stadium, they aren’t using bricks, but they will use a material called ethylene tetrafluoroethylene. No LEGO Technic involved, but they are putting in a biomass backup generator.
Just know that the 18,000-seat Intuit Dome will be every bit as state of the art as you’d expect of a $2 billion project funded by Ballmer, the multi-billionaire former Microsoft CEO. It’ll be extraordinarily energy efficient. And it will toe the line in regard to fans’ proximity to the court as well as how steep and, he hopes, how loud one end of the arena will get.
Personally, I can’t wait to get a load of The Wall, which could be as intimidating as the colossal barrier on “Game of Thrones.” As much of an earful as a lot of those popular songs of the 1960s, when chaos and oversaturation made a sweet wall of sound.
The Intuit Dome is sampling from more than a few of Ballmer’s favorite things that he’s experienced at other arenas and stadiums, near and far.
That includes the coziness of Utah’s Vivint Arena or San Diego State’s Viejas Arena (but with more leg room). Glass handrails inspired by Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum. The family-seating spaces that are available at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena.
And a section befitting bold soccer fandoms, such as those populating LAFC’s 3252, or Tottenham’s Hotspur Stadium in England, where a single-tiered portion of the stands holds 17,500 supporters.
It was easy to picture it just gazing at the cement bones of the Clippers’ version this past week. Easy to imagine a pulsating 51-row, 4,750-seat section that will tower over the visiting team’s bench. I could almost hear it.
For the sheer auditory spectacle, I want to hear it.
Though not as much as Ballmer, who noted they’re not sure how to handle ticketing for their wall, how they’ll generate a Clippers-supporters-only area and avoid having opposing fans infiltrate that coveted space.
“The game last night,” Ballmer said, “having so many Celtics fans is annoying. I think we can do better than that.”
There’s one sure-fire way: By winning. That’s the ticket.
Certainly, the list of things the arena project accomplishes is vast: The Clippers will no longer have to play third fiddle to the Lakers and the NHL’s Kings, scheduling-wise, as they do at Crytpo.com Arena. And the entirety of the organization’s operations – business and basketball – will be located on the same block and not scattered in L.A. and Playa Vista.
The Clippers will have a space of their own, with their own colors, their own aesthetic, much of it cued by Ballmer’s imagination: Walls covered with hardwood from old basketball courts; a jersey from every high school basketball team in the state; a couple of courts for public use, inside and outside of the arena.
The visitor’s locker room will be as nice as any in the league, which, yes, ought to make a good impression on potential recruits. And Ballmer took on extra expense to make sure the Clippers’ practice courts receive natural light: After all, “we’re in California,” said the Seattleite who commutes for the Clippers’ sake.
There will be giant escalators and giant screens: the double-sided Halo Board circling the inside of the bowl and another 176-foot panel outside of it. And upper-level tickets that Ballmer insists won’t be cost-prohibitive.
But you can build all that and not guarantee that they – fans, legions of rabid fans in Ballmer’s likeness – will come.
The Clippers need to build that where it matters most.
On the basketball court.
They’ll have to do more than compete, more than promise, more than look the part of a contender.
They’ll have to actually climb all the way to the top of the NBA scaffolding and hoist that Larry O’Brien championship trophy. The more times the better, for Ballmer’s purposes.
They’ve had some big swings and big misses since he bought the team in 2014 for $2 billion. And as expertly constructed as they seemed to be coming into this season, the Clippers’ season so far has been confounding, an injury-marred slog in which Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, their two best players, have only recently begun getting regular game reps. And that’s regular in the relative sense, not in a game-in, game-out sort of way.
Ballmer’s a very smart guy, he knows fans had high expectations and are frustrated. Also, they tweet at him to tell him. So he gets it.
“I can’t say I’m 100% happy, because we’ve struggled because of the injuries,” said Ballmer, basking still in that 113-93 victory over the Celtics. It was the win of the season so far, and it came before a large contingent of Celtics fans, many of whom likely chose to see their team play against the Clippers instead of the Lakers the next night because the former offered more affordable entry.
“But I’m super happy to see our potential,” he added. “We’ll be good. (Coach) Tyronn (Lue) knows what he’s doing. He’s gonna do his best, our players are going to do their best. Our front office, if there’s opportunities to improve or not, they’re going to do their best.
“Every fan has an opinion, which is interesting. It’s important, because you either sell the tickets or you don’t. But if we win games, they’re going to be plenty happy.”
And the start of the season doesn’t mean the Clippers (currently 17-14) won’t be right where they want in the end. They might be fresher than their foes down the stretch, might be experienced enough to figure it out with finite rehearsal time. Might be.
But converting fans, or satisfying the ones you’ve got, is a see-it-to-believe-it business, and Ballmer understands that too.
“The bowl is our product, the team and the bowl,” he said. “The team’s obviously No. 1, but the bowl is what enhances it.”
Because if the Clippers do get cooking – with electricity only at Intuit Dome, no gas – once they move in, they’ll be doing it in a venue structured to provide maximum support. To be as loud as the NBA will allow, and as intense as their famously intense owner can get away with.
It could be the sort of experience that inspires and hooks a whole swath of Angelenos who find the finer things in life are almost as awesome as winners.
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