INGLEWOOD, Calif — Finally, Steve Ballmer and the Los Angeles Clippers are ready to build their new home.
The Clippers’ long-awaited, $1.8 billion, privately funded arena officially got a name — Intuit Dome, it’ll be called when it opens in 2024, the team making that announcement hours before the formal groundbreaking ceremony.
The practice facility, team offices for both business and basketball operations, retail space and more will all be on the site.
Ballmer, the team’s owner, simply believes it’ll be like no other building in the NBA.
“Basketball mecca! Basketball palazzo!” Ballmer, in his usual excitable way, said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The Clippers currently play at Staples Center, also the home of the Los Angeles Lakers and the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings.
Ballmer — who originally didn’t want to build an arena when he bought the team — wound up beginning to plot a Clippers-only home years ago and formally unveiled the project in 2019, saying then that the Clippers would break ground in 2021 and open in 2024. (AP)