Steve Ballmer.
Steve Ballmer
at Clippers/Microsoft
Steve Ballmer hasn’t won a championship since buying the Los Angeles Clippers, but he finally got the NBA franchise out of its big brother’s house.
Since moving to L.A. in the mid 1980s, the Clippers have been the forgotten child of L.A., in the shadow of the Lakers and their multiple pro basketball championships. At Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center), the Clippers were the third tenant on the lease, behind both the Lakers and the Kings of the National Hockey League.
Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft worth an unfathomable $125 billion, bought the Clippers in 2014, and embarked on a mission to build the team a new home in Inglewood, far from Crypto.com Arena in Downtown L.A.
However, Madison Square Garden Company (run by New York Knicks owner James Dolan) owned the land that Ballmer wanted. A years-long battle ensued between the two owners and the City of Inglewood, which featured several lawsuits and perhaps the most contentious mayoral race the city of about 105,000 has seen.
But the battle ended when Ballmer purchased the adjacent Forum arena — coincidentally, the home of the Magic Johnson-era Lakers — from MSG for a whopping $400 million in 2020. Industry analysts opined that Ballmer overpaid for the smaller arena to persuade MSG to drop its lawsuits fighting the Clippers’ planned arena a half-mile away. (MSG paid just $24 million for the Forum about eight years prior, and completed $100 million in renovations.)
The arena sale and the end of the lawsuits opened the door for the Clippers to plant its flag, and crews quickly started building Ballmer’s new arena, which has been named the Intuit Dome, plus a surrounding sports complex. Shortly thereafter, other developers arrived with plans for new hotels and commercial projects around the complex.
After a few years of construction, the Clippers’ lease officially ended at Crypto.com Arena this past summer, and the franchise opened the Intuit Dome. In all, the complex spans 26 acres and will soon feature office space, retail and a hotel.
The Clippers’ regular season tips off on Oct. 23 at the Intuit Dome, so we know where to find Ballmer that day, as he will undoubtedly be watching courtside.
The Intuit Dome will also host basketball games during the 2028 Olympics.
