The LA Clippers are on the verge of no longer having to share the Crypto.com Arena with the Lakers for home games after owner Steve Ballmer boasted that his team’s new arena has three times more restrooms than the current league average.
Players and officials gathered at the site Tuesday to commemorate the installation of the final steel beam, but the Clippers boss seemed more enamored with the arena’s toilet facilities.
Showing up at the near-completed Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California on Tuesday, the former Microsoft executive was particularly pleased that fans will no longer have to go without using the bathroom when their team is on track next season plays.
‘Toilets!’ shouted Ballmer. “1,160 toilets and urinals! Triple the NBA average! We don’t want people queuing. We want them back in their damn seats at the end of halftime or before the game.
The 66-year-old American businessman previously shared that he has become “really obsessed” with the number of toilets his team’s new home will have at the arena’s groundbreaking event in 2021.
“Toilets, toilets, toilets!” he added.
The LA Clippers will host 2024 NBA games at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California
The arena can accommodate up to 18,000 fans and is being built by infrastructure consultancy AECOM
The arena will also include a large outdoor area with multiple basketball courts for fans to use
Part of the roof of the Intuit Dome was built in February and could be seen from the street (pictured).
Construction workers use cranes to place a steel beam on the roof of the Intuit Dome on Tuesday
The Clippers have never won an NBA championship since entering the league first as the Buffalo Braves and then as the San Diego Clippers before eventually relocating to the City of Angeles in 1984.
Expected to be completed by 2024, the Intuit Dome is located near the LA Chargers’ SoFi Stadium and is said to have cost $2 billion to build.
In 2019, the Clippers announced that their new home will accommodate up to 18,000 fans. The seats are being designed by multinational infrastructure consultancy AECOM.
In addition, the arena will include a practice facility, sports medicine clinic, team offices, retail space and a large outdoor area with multiple basketball courts for fans to play pickup basketball.
Technology will also be everywhere, such as some that would allow fans to leave their seat, go to an indoor concession stand, grab a drink or a snack and then — if they do what Ballmer hopes — to return straight to her seat.
There would be no cashier, no one to take the order and the customer’s account would be automatically charged. Aside from the paying part, it would be like opening the fridge at home, getting a drink, and going back to the couch.
After last season, Ballmer announced that it was finally time for the Clippers to step out of the Lakers’ shadow and find their own home, as both teams have shared the Crpyto.com Arena, better known as the Staples Center, since 1999 .
The arena is primarily associated with the Lakers, where the Purple & Gold have won six championships.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer (arm outstretched) showed players his team’s new arena on Tuesday
The 66-year-old former Microsoft executive even shot a basketball on center court
Balmer, James T. Butts Jr., Mayor of Inglewood, and Clippers players were seen signing a mural
“We’re nobody’s little brother, we’re a real team,” Balmer, whose $90 billion makes him the eighth richest person in the world, told ESPN.
“At the end of the day we still have to win games, we have to win championships. If we can give that to Clipper Nation and fulfill my responsibilities as a steward, then I feel good.”
The Harvard graduate was even seen taking footage of the arena’s construction site on Tuesday before signing a mural with current team players including stars Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and Russell Westbrook.
The Clippers currently hold an overall record of 34-33 this season and are the eighth seed in the Western Conference — the final automatic playoff berth.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/nba/article-11833375/Clippers-owner-Steve-Ballmer-bizarrely-obsessed-new-arenas-toilets-roof-completed.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is bizarrely obsessed with the new arena’s toilets now that the roof has been completed
