NBA
How much money did it cost to build the Clippers’ new arena, the Intuit Dome?
The Clippers start the new season playing at the new Intuit Dome in Inglewood with the Suns the visitors for the opening game.
For the first time in the new season, the Intuit Dome opens it doors for a regular season NBA game as the LA Clippers leave behind their shared Crypto.com Arena and move to the new 18,000 capacity venue in Inglewood.
The new arena officially opened for business this summer with a series of concerts as Bruno Mars played to a packed house in August with Lady Gaga also performing at the concert as the pair offered a rendition of their “Die With a Smile” duet.
Billy Joel, Cyndi Lauper and Mary J Blige are also scheduled to play at the new Inglewood venue and the arena also set to be used as one of the basketball venues for the 2028 LA Olympic Games.
However, the main tennants of the new facility are NBA team Los Angeles Clippers with team owner Steve Balmer pushing for a considerable amount of time for a bespoke venue for his team to play at having shared facilities with rivals the Lakers for 25 years.
Intuit Dome costs
A reported $2 billion was used to build the arena and the Inglewood venue becomes the third most expensive sporting facility in the USA and Intuit only lags behind the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and SoFi Stadium, also in Los Angeles which are principally NFL stadiums.
Naming rights to the arena were quickly snapped up by Intuit, a California-based software company and TurboTax parent, for $500 million over 23 years.
“You all, fans and players together, deserve the ultimate home court,” Ballmer said during the construction groundbreaking in 2021. “We want the comfort and convenience of home, but the energy, excitement and enthusiasm of being able to smell the leather on the ball as it’s moving around the court.” Ballmer has also hailed the building as a basketball “mecca” and “palazzo.”
Two hotels are expected to open near the arena in June 2026; a five-storey Fairfield by Marriott adjacent to Intuit Dome’s east garage, and a fifteen-storey Arya Hotel south of the arena on 102nd Street