The Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns may just be an opening night matchup between two West Coast teams beginning the regular season, but the significance of it is much more important than just that.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Tonight, the Clippers will host the Suns in the first-ever NBA regular-season game at the brand-new Intuit Dome, a $2 billion, state-of-the-art arena in Inglewood, Calif.
But before the game was even a possibility of happening at such a venue, there were difficult challenges and major lawsuits thrown at the Clippers’ way to get to this point.
Clippers persevere past legal challenges, Intuit Dome is alive
In 2017, the City of Inglewood approved an “exclusive negotiating agreement” with the team for a basketball-specific arena. The Clippers had previously been at Staples Center, now known as Crypto.com Arena, since 1999 and shared the facility with the Los Angeles Kings (NHL), Sparks (WNBA) and their in-city rival, the Lakers.
The Clippers and Sparks’ schedules barely clashed with the WNBA season starting in May, but the other two did. The courts would rotate between the Lakers and Clippers as well as ice for the Kings, and each team had to be represented every night which saw them hide the others’ logos, banners, etc. until the next team played there.
To alleviate itself from the hurdles of sharing an arena with the Kings and Lakers during each season, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer decided that an arena just for his team was the best solution for the future.
Overcoming lawsuits and legal troubles thrown his way, Ballmer moved forward and broke ground a few years ago after the Clippers were given the go-ahead to start building. The Intuit Dome is located near the Los Angeles Chargers and Rams stadium, So-Fi Stadium.
The construction finished and the Clippers played their first preseason game at the Intuit Dome on Oct. 14, beating the Dallas Mavericks 110-96.
The 18,000-seated arena has astronomically advanced features a 38,375 square feet Halo board that surrounds almost the entire ceiling. Trying to create a hostile environment for the away team, it also has 51 steep rows of seats called “The Wall” which is expected to be the rowdiest congregation of fans like a college student section.
Oct 17, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; A general view of the Intuit Dome before the NBA preseason game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Sacramento Kings. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
With it being the official regular-season opening night for the Clippers, the Suns will be the first team to experience what it is like being on the away side and listen to how loud it can get inside the newest arena the NBA has to offer.
Tip-off between the Clippers and Suns begins at 7 p.m. AZT.
Preview: Suns look to open season with road win over Clippers
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers the Phoenix Mercury, Suns and ASU Athletics for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
