Clippers Might Relocate... To Inglewood (UPDATE: And A New Logo To Go With It)

[Roscoe Sheed]

Ballmer should just buy out msg and be done with Dolan

The Madison Square Garden Company owns the New York Knicks, Rangers and Liberty along with other properties and minor league teams, so Ballmer would be prohibited from buying the company since no owner can be in possession of two NBA teams to specifically avoid conflicts of interests.

I don’t mean buy out all of msg- I’m talking about buying the forum from them

[Ranma]

I don’t mean buy out all of msg- I’m talking about buying the forum from them

As I alluded to earlier in this thread, I suspect Ballmer probably made an offer to MSG and was likely turned down, which prompted him to ally with the mayor of Inglewood to work around that. Even if Ballmer didn't pursue the Forum, which doesn't make sense given the circumstances, I'm fairly certain I heard that Kroenke tried to buy the Forum with the Rams arena project in mind when he secretly bought the land that was formerly Hollywood Park.

If I recall correctly, wco81 previously reminded me that MSG invested tens of millions of dollars in renovation to have the Forum serve primarily as a venue for musical acts when I proposed the same exact move you're advocating for. Given all of that, I doubt the Forum was ever for sale after MSG took ownership of the property.

Maybe Dolan is angling to make Ballmer pay an exorbitant premium for the Forum. Even as the richest owner in North American professional sports, there's a limit to everything and I doubt Ballmer wants to lose out in a game of brinkmanship with a fellow owner in Dolan.

In any case, I actually still want the Clippers to buy the Forum and, if the organization wins out in the lawsuits in moving forward with its current arena project, it would give Ballmer the upper hand to provide further incentive and pressure for Dolan to concede and sell the Forum to the Clippers.

[Ranma]

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[mkwest]

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[wco81]

Does Staples have concerts too?

And isn't there some Disney concert venue as well?

LA is a huge market but can it support that many concert venues or would one or more have to go out of business or lose events so that the Clippers new arena would have those events?

Also are the Kings and Ducks demanding new arenas too?

[Clemenza]

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That's news to me cause I kinda had a gut feeling that the Clipps would inquire to see if the Ducks wanted to move into the new arena as well cause there's a rumor that they're in search of a new arena also. Oh well no biggie.

[Clemenza]

Does Staples have concerts too?

And isn't there some Disney concert venue as well?

LA is a huge market but can it support that many concert venues or would one or more have to go out of business or lose events so that the Clippers new arena would have those events?

Also are the Kings and Ducks demanding new arenas too?

Clippers arena would be a godsend for the team but concert wise there's too many venues out here especially in this current climate where albums don't sell like they used to. Staples, Anaheim Pond, Hollywood Bowl, The Forum, The Rose Bowl, Nokia, The Roxy, The Mint, Troubadour, The Wiltern, Echoples, plus about twenty more venues big and small. Its overstaturated plus only a handful of artist can sell out an arena or stadium these days.

[mkwest]

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Lakers explored leaving Staples Center for return to Forum, emails reveal

The day before the Clippers announced plans to explore building an arena in Inglewood, business mogul Irving Azoff floated an idea to Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and top advisor Linda Rambis about a move that could undercut the Clippers and prompt a seismic shift in the Los Angeles sports landscape.

“Heres my dream,” Azoff emailed Buss and Rambis on June 14, 2017. “Rebuild the forum from scratch. Lakers plus music. boom.”

The Lakers now say that vision won’t be realized, and they are believed to be discussing an extension to their Staples Center lease that runs through the 2024-25 season.

Participants in the email thread between Azoff, Buss and Rambis refer to Clippers owner Steve Ballmer as “Ballz” or “Balls,” express shock about his plan to build an arena, and appear to mock the chances for success.

“We were blind sided and not involved in the process,” Azoff emailed Buss and Rambis on June 14, 2017. “It’s a long way to fruition but we should talk about how it impacts the lakers, forum, etc.!”

After discussing former Lakers player, coach and executive Jerry West joining the Clippers front office, Buss savaged the potential arena.

“They are all crazy,” she wrote. “This is a joke. Why would Adam let this happen?”

“Adam” is presumably NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.

“He has no vote unfortunately,” Azoff responded. “It will be a long legal fight.”

Buss used a nickname for Azoff when she wrote back.

“We need to see you Nugget!!” she wrote. “Didn’t Ballz see what we did to my brother?? He will have nothing but Clippers basketball. Whoopee.”

Nathan Fenno, LA Times

[QRich3]

haha jeez they are really nervous about it, it seems.

"see what we did to my brother"?? It honestly seems she's way in over her head. The MSG lobby against the arena doesn't seem like it's going anywhere, it got some bad press for Ballmer among people that doesn't read past the headline, but it doesn't seem like it's altering the construction plans much, is it?

I'd love to read all of the emails lol

[WC NBA Fan]

Not sure why Jeannie is so against this. I know that the Lakers, unlike the Clippers who have a horrible lease and get nothing from Staples, have a % investment in Staples & actually make money off the Clippers but if the Clippers leave, that's actually more dates for them to fill with concerts and other events so it evens out.

More to the point, Lakers fans hate sharing with the Clippers more than Clip fans hate sharing with them so she should be happy that her fanbase is getting what they want assuming the Clips go through with the move.

[BenchOnaQUEST]

(...)
More to the point, Lakers fans hate sharing with the Clippers more than Clip fans hate sharing with them so she should be happy that her fanbase is getting what they want assuming the Clips go through with the move.

I think they've already gone through with the move. The new arena is already under construction.

[MartinToVaught]

And the Lakers wonder why the rest of the league hates them and doesn't want to make trades with them. The arrogance, classlessness and utter lack of professionalism are just unreal.

I don't even understand why they care about the Clippers getting their own arena. They should focus on their own team, which has been the joke of the NBA for years now.

[wco81]

Not sure why Jeannie is so against this. I know that the Lakers, unlike the Clippers who have a horrible lease and get nothing from Staples, have a % investment in Staples & actually make money off the Clippers but if the Clippers leave, that's actually more dates for them to fill with concerts and other events so it evens out.

More to the point, Lakers fans hate sharing with the Clippers more than Clip fans hate sharing with them so she should be happy that her fanbase is getting what they want assuming the Clips go through with the move.

That LA Times article says Staples is owned by AEG, which also owns 27% of the Lakers. So does the Buss family get a cut of revenues from Clippers and King games too?

I didn't realize Staples is 20 years old now. I would think the Lakers would want a new arena too, with potential for a lot of non-basketball revenues which they wouldn't have to share with other NBA teams.

Azoff said if the Lakers left for Inglewood, then Anshultz would get in bed with Ballmer.

I'm sure in general the Busses don't want their in-town rivals to get a shiny new arena while they play in an aging Staples.

Then again, they probably get really high prices for those court-side seats, even in an older arena, so why risk capital to build a new one?

[wco81]

(...)
More to the point, Lakers fans hate sharing with the Clippers more than Clip fans hate sharing with them so she should be happy that her fanbase is getting what they want assuming the Clips go through with the move.

I think they've already gone through with the move. The new arena is already under construction.

LA Times says the arena plans are undergoing environmental impact review.

Doesn't sound like ground has broken yet?

[Quake Griffin]

Comment about the brother seems fake AF to me.

Jussie Smollett level writing.


They’re definitely out of bullets over there.
They are looking poised to be bad and poorly run for a long time.

[esqtvd]

And the Lakers wonder why the rest of the league hates them and doesn't want to make trades with them. The arrogance, classlessness and utter lack of professionalism are just unreal.

I don't even understand why they care about the Clippers getting their own arena. They should focus on their own team, which has been the joke of the NBA for years now.

attaboy



Actually, if I'm "Ballz" [the Laker nickname for Ballmer], I look into throwing some Ballmer Bucks towards [legally] getting the Lakers out of Staples and back to the Forum. A hundred million is much cheaper than building my own thing, which will have to compete for concert dates with a half-dozen other venues in LA. Plus the Clippers occupy downtown and everything to the east of it.

OTOH, Ballz still lives in Seattle. Being next to the airport is all that really matters.

[WC NBA Fan]

The funniest thing about this is that during the discovery phase of something that is supposed to hurt Ballmer's arena efforts, all this dirt is being exposed about the Lakers via the Buss/Azoff emails. I swear that they sound drunk based on everything we see in those emails.

In the early days of the Ballmer ownership reign of the Clippers, there were rumors that he'd buy the Kings and take over Staples from AEG. In that case, I'd be 100% behind the Lakers going back to Inglewood but if the Clipper move goes through, I hope the Lakers stay right where they are in their hockey building for good.

[Wammy Giveaway]

Somebody needs to do a picture that shows an interesting comparison:

Lakers have Balls, Clippers got Ballmerz.

I don't have the heart to make something like this. I'll leave the memeing to the pros.

[QRich3]

After discussing former Lakers player, coach and executive Jerry West joining the Clippers front office

I really wish these leaked too, to read all the salt thrown around about Jerry coming here and doing well

[Akklaim1]

Jeannie had PJ's balls on her face.