WHY THE CLIPPERS' NEW ARENA IS A GAME CHANGER FOR THE FRANCHISE?
WHY THE CLIPPERS' NEW ARENA IS A GAME CHANGER FOR THE FRANCHISE?
Nov 19, 2021

WHY THE CLIPPERS' NEW ARENA IS A GAME CHANGER FOR THE FRANCHISE?

Leonardo Risso FOTO: Los Angeles Clippers

We all know that Clippers are organically compared to the Lakers for the simple fact of vying for the rank of being LA owners especially in an environment in which purple and gold are the predominant colors for historical reasons. Since 1970, back when it was still named the Buffalo Braves, the Clippers have tried to put together several competitive teams in the 1970s and more recently with the “Lob City” by Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and his team, who reached the conference semifinals in 2015 and 2016, in addition to the current team formed by Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, who were named by many as the championship favorite when the roster was formed.


Despite good players having passed through the franchise, the team never managed to win the Larry O'Brien Trophy, and the best result in its 52 years of history was reaching the Western Conference Finals last season in the NBA.


One of the factors that evidently may have influenced this negative repertoire considering the franchise's potential is the fact that they play their games at the Staples Center, home of their most fierce rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers. But since 2014, after Steve Ballmer bought the Clippers franchise for $2 billion, one question remains unanswered. Why not build the Clipper’s own arena?


Then in July 2019, the franchise officially announced the construction of the Inglewood Basketball & Entertainment Center which is expected to be completed by 2024.




At a cost of $1.8 billion, the arena is expected to generate approximately 10,000 construction jobs for the City of Los Angeles and 1,500 permanent jobs once construction is complete. In addition, the space will be dedicated exclusively to the Clippers team and outside the basketball calendar, it will be able to host concerts, conferences, and a diverse array of events, thus bringing a competitive advantage over the Staples Center, which has at least two teams with different calendars playing on their arena.


The Clippers are ambitious and as we can see in Steve Ballmer's own words: “My goal is simple, I want the Clippers to have the best home in all of sports...”


But why that’s a game changer to the franchise?


IDENTITY

Imagine a situation in which a Clippers’ fan decides to go to a game to support his/her team, it will be the Staples Center. The arena where your biggest rival won several titles and built its history and identity over several years. The fan will then look up and see a series of retired jerseys from the... Lakers! This is not the ideal situation for an NBA team and its fans.


Now imagine the weight of identity and connection that will be generated by going to a game in 2024 with an environment 100% proprietary and exclusive to your favorite franchise, it's certainly different. The franchise's new $3.3 billion property will further enhance the NBA's 6th most valuable brand, according to Forbes.


INCREASE IN REVENUE

From a financial standpoint, the potential is enormous. Early on, the franchise has already signed a naming rights agreement with a financial software company called Intuit for $500 million, named Intuit Dome and another of approximately $400 million deal has been signed with Aspiration, a focused financial services company focused on sustainability as the arena's first commercial partner. Aside from all revenue from ticket sales for games, box seats, merchandising, advertising space, the Clippers will generate $268 million annually in economic activity for the city of Inglewood


A TALENT MAGNET

When a player who is a free agent and therefore chooses a new team, it is not just the quality of the team that is considered, but the city, fan base, salary, and the place where the games take place. This was undoubtedly taken into account by Kawhi Leonard in 2019 and this will increasingly be an attraction factor for new players.


A NEW COMMUNITY

The main reason that Intuit Dome will change the game for the franchise it is because it will build a new community, with a space and infrastructure offered to one of the most basketball-loving cities on the planet, which is simply the perfect marriage, the bigger the fan base , the more access to quality spaces and better experience, and consequently the better it will be for the Clippers financially and, above all, to reach the long-desired NBA championship.


At the end of the day, it's all about connecting, bringing people together with the joy of sports.

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