The long saga of Clippers Arena continues — this time with Steve Ballmer going over the top with investing in the City of Inglewood, the planned site of the arena’s construction. It’s one more step toward building a true home for the LA Clippers.
It seems like it’s been a decade since we’ve heard about the plans for Clippers Arena, to the point that Lakers owner Jeanie Buss’ bizarre team-up with Knicks owner James Dolan has faded in memory. We’ll always remember “Ballz” though.
But let’s remember that while Buss and Dolan were busy with their mean girls text group, to the point of suggesting selling the Lakers half of the Forum for no reason other than to hurt a team that’s doing nothing to them, LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has been busy, with more details emerging about his financial commitments to the City of Inglewood.
It’s now emerged that Ballmer has negotiated a $100 million community benefits plan with officials from Inglewood, which has been revealed at an Inglewood City Council meeting likely by the time you read this. An eye-popping $80 million will go toward affordable housing — in a region that is desperately in need of such.
Furthermore, $12.75 million will be going toward school and youth programs, which, between the lines, is not only being a good neighbor when you’re building a massive arena, but you can also write that off as a long-term marketing budget line, if we’re truly being honest.
To compare, before that, the largest amount spent on community benefits in California in association with a sports arena’s construction was for the Golden State Warriors’ Chase Center. They spent $18 million in transit and child impact fees to San Francisco.
This follows Ballmer’s foundation’s $10 million donation to the LA Parks Foundation for renovations of all Los Angeles public basketball courts. Which, as the story goes, Steve took one look at the city’s binders detailing the level of work needed on each public court, got off a flight and said “let’s do them all.”
The arena itself is planned to contain a corporate headquarters, team training facility, a sports medical clinic, community courts and a Jurassic Park-like outdoor screen for fans to be able to watch outside. Ballmer’s “billion-dollar plus” plan, along with his community benefits plan, abstains from using public money, funding the operation entirely himself.
If even half of what’s planned actually comes to fruition, there will never be a better time to be an LA Clippers fan.
Of course, to the surprise of no one, a founder and former CEO of Microsoft has that cash to burn. Even if Donald Sterling thinks that’s crazy.