The Clippers are tired of sharing a complex with the Lakers and Kings and are looking for a new home. If you believe what the rumor mill has been churning up this week, their answer might be to share a complex with the Rams and Chargers in Inglewood.
Not everybody is thrilled with the prospect of adding a basketball arena to the Inglewood football stadium project.
"To add a basketball arena in there would stop everything right now," Inglewood’s mayor James T. Butts told ESPN, referring to the additional 18 to 24 months that it would take just to adequately review the environmental impact of adding the extra facility to the project, a time period during which any current construction would have to halt, too.
So what would be the advantage of the Inglewood site? It would allow the Clippers to drop their arena and practice facility into a large sports and entertainment complex that, the backers hope, will already be drawing in investment, development and foot traffic. There are also many more home games played per year by an NBA team than even two NFL teams combined (typically an NBA team will play 41 matches at home in a season, compared to just 11 in the NFL), so having the Clippers in the complex would be a boon to restaurants, bars and other businesses that spring up around the stadium by keeping them activated more often.
As it stands, the Clippers have a contract with the Staples Center that will keep them there through at least 2024.
Want more? Sign up here to stay in the know.