Map of the city of Inglewood, Calif., showing where the proposed new Clippers arena would be built.
Under a looming cloud of controversy, The L.A. Clippers of the National Basketball Association and the City of Inglewood, Calif., already home to the Forum and a new football stadium, have entered into a three-year exclusive negotiating agreement (ENA) that will allow the Clippers to explore building a new state-of-the-art basketball arena, training facilities and team offices in Inglewood, Calif.
The ENA, was unanimously approved May 15 by the Inglewood City Council. The deal calls for the Clippers to pay the city a nonrefundable $1.5 million which will fund the city’s administrative costs. If additional funding is required, the Clippers will provide the necessary resources. The new arena would be 100 percent privately funded and privately capitalized. No public dollars will be used for this project.
The city is considering a 20-acre site located south of Century Blvd. at Prairie Ave. and directly across the street from the future football stadium and entertainment district being developed by The Kroenke Group for the L.A. Rams and the L.A. Chargers, which is a year behind schedule and slated for a 2020 opening.
The ENA establishes a three-year timeframe during which the L.A. Clippers will develop the details of its proposed basketball facility. The City of Inglewood will conduct an environmental review including an evaluation of the proposed facility’s construction and operational impacts.
The Clippers have called Staples Center, Los Angeles, home since 1999. They share the downtown L.A. venue with the NBA's L.A. Lakers and National Hockey League’s L.A. Kings. The team’s current lease with Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), the owners of Staples Center, will expire at the end of the 2023-2024 NBA season.
“Today’s announcement is consistent with what Steve Ballmer and the Clippers leadership have said for years,” stated Gillian Zucker, L.A. Clippers president of business operations at a press conference. “We want to be regarded as the best. That requires setting the highest bar for our performance in every aspect of our business. To accomplish this goal, we must have options for the future.”
“The Clippers' lease expires in seven years,” she said. Zucker cited having to share Staples Center was the primary reason for the proposed move. “We had to play many Friday night games followed by Saturday night games at Staples Center, which is not optimal.”
“This agreement serves as an example of the team’s commitment to providing Clipper Nation with the best game experience in the NBA,” Zucker said. “It is another step in the journey toward building a championship culture that will deliver positive results for Clippers players, fans and the greater Los Angeles community.”
“The Clippers applaud the energy and vision that (Inglewood) Mayor Butts has for his city,” added Zucker. “His tenacity was instrumental in getting this exclusive negotiating agreement across the finish line.”
One already controversial provision of the new agreement would see the city confiscate what is now private property under eminent domain laws at a price that is consistent with current value, not the value it would achieve as part of a major entertainment complex.
Another sore point, say critics of the process by which the agreement came to be, is the way the agreement was discussed, debated, and ultimately decided upon by the mayor and the four city councilmen without any input from the public.
And while Butts, the city council and Ballmer have cause to celebrate, one group that definitely is not joining the party is would-be new-neighbor The Forum.
Citing violations of the Brown Act and the California Environmental Quality Act, attorneys for the Forum criticized the agreement, calling it a “backroom deal” and an “unprecedented agreement without a shred of public notice or public process.”
Forum attorneys wrote to Butts and the four city councilmen, saying “to our knowledge this action was done without the courtesy of any substantive discussions with the Inglewood community or, for that matter, our client.”
The letter went on to claim that The Forum “had no time to assess the proposed action or enter into discussions with the city or any of the parties involved,” and “fails to comply with requirements of law,” specifically an environmental review.
The Forum, which opened in 1967, was home to the Lakers and Kings until 1999. In 2012, it was bought by Madison Square Garden Company for $23.5 million and renovated as a concert-only venue by MSG Entertainment.