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In the NBA arena, this is trying to change the way fans cheer

In the NBA arena, this is trying to change the way fans cheer

6 minutes, 46 seconds Read

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — At what may be the most technologically advanced stadium in the world, one of the clearest signs that things are different can be heard in the restrooms.

Unlike many professional sports stadiums that broadcast game broadcast audio over restroom speakers, Intuit Dome, the brand new home of the Los Angeles Clippers, plays a different soundtrack to fans using its more than 1,100 touchless restrooms and urinals: pop music.

The choice was conscious. Although Steve Ballmer, the former Microsoft boss who has owned the Clippers since 2014, designed the $2 billion arena with all the bells and whistles, he primarily wanted to create a place for fiercely passionate basketball fans like himself. To achieve this, incentives were built into the design to get fans “back to their damn seats,” as Ballmer once said – including, but not limited to, the lack of restrooms at every play.

The Los Angeles Clippers host media members for a construction milestone with owner Steve Ballmer at the Intuit Dome site in Inglewood.
Steve Ballmer, chairman of the Los Angeles Clippers, during arena construction in March 2023.Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images file

The result is an arena with ambitions as high as the franchise's dreams of winning its first NBA championship. Intuit Dome wants to redefine fans' habits and change the way they are used to rooting for the home team.

“It feels a bit like an NBA Disneyland, as opposed to (Crypto.com Arena, the Clippers' former home shared with the Los Angeles Lakers), where it's a multi-team, multi-sport arena,” said Oscar Burrows-Rangel, a longtime Clippers fan. “This is dedicated to basketball and wherever you look you know you are at a basketball game. You know you're in a basketball arena. You know you’re here for the game.”

Across professional sports, the game can seem secondary as teams tend to court the spending of casual fans. Spacious corridors with a view of the courtyard invite you to stroll. When the Phoenix Suns completed their $240 million home arena renovation in 2021, they added what they called the largest sports bar in Arizona, a 60-foot-long bar in a corner of the concourse overlooking the court. Atlanta's State Farm Arena houses a bar accessible to its highest-paying customers, located on the arena's literal hardwood floor, just feet from the benches.

Ballmer also included large, breathtaking attractions, led by an acre-sized halo scoreboard with LED lighting. There is a place for pickup games on an 80,000-foot square in front of the main gate. Equally unique, however, are the design decisions that draw less attention but also impact the customer experience, said longtime Clippers fans who attended the regular-season opener against Phoenix on Oct. 23.

The Oculus in the new Intuit Dome is seen at tip-off during an NBA basketball game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, in Inglewood, California.
The Oculus at the Intuit Dome as the Clippers take on the Phoenix Suns on October 23rd. Ryan Sun/AP

When the game begins, even the most expensive field-level bunker suites at the Intuit Dome are not equipped with big-screen TVs — a nudge to lure fans to the suite seats if they want to watch James Harden run pick-and-rolls Ivica Zubac. To reduce the amount of time fans want to spend out of their seats, Ballmer pushed to increase seating comfort by increasing legroom and being closer to the action by having a fan in the 20th row about 45 feet closer to the field than the Clippers' previous arena, the team said.

Each of the 17,927 seats has a microphone to determine which fans are cheering the loudest – a measure that can later earn fans rewards – and a four-button controller. Inspired by Microsoft's Xbox, the directional controller is integrated into the armrest to allow fans to participate in games on the scoreboard during breaks in play. According to a team spokesman, after two preseason games and the Oct. 23 regular-season opener against Phoenix, just over 80% of the armrest controls had been used.

Ballmer has also admitted that he is obsessed with cutting lines. He said the number of restrooms and urinals is three times that of the average NBA arena. Concession stands feature facial recognition to allow fans who have linked their wallets to the arena's app to enter and exit, bypassing ticket booths.

“You kind of know you can go and come back without having to miss too much of the game,” Burrows-Rangel said.

To sit in “The Wall,” a 51-row section that stretches steeply from the opposing team's bench to the top row of the stadium, fans must pass a certification test to prove they are Clippers fans. Within The Wall is a 13-row fan area directly behind the basket with raised European soccer-style handrails to encourage fans to stand. Erica Okeith, who has watched the team since it played at the Los Angeles Sports Arena more than a quarter century ago, was among the fans who watched the first regular-season game against Phoenix from the fan section.

She had to agree to terms that reward rabid fans. The first 175 fans with sectional tickets who arrive at least an hour early will receive free parking. Additionally, early arrivals will be given seats closest to the field. But if you don't show up to reserve your fan area more than five times, you can have your passes canceled.

“I'm the type of fan that likes to stand up at games anyway, and other fans in other places in the arena usually don't like that,” Okeith said. “For me, it's an advantage that I know I can stand up and no one tells me to sit down or that I have a problem with it.”

NBA: Intuit Dome
Intuit Dome on October 31st. Kirby Lee/AP

Suns star Kevin Durant praised the wall design as “crazy” after playing in the arena in the first game of the regular season, and Okeith also noted the Clippers' players and acknowledged the fans in the section. It wasn't mandatory to stand during the game, but it was the intention, she said. Okeith noted that fans in other areas were following the example of the supporters' section's chants and movements and believes that will catch on.

Sitting in the upper rows of “The Wall” was 24-year-old Jason Holzgang, who has been attending Clippers games since 2005. When details about “The Wall” were announced years ago, Holzgang was skeptical about the home-field advantage it would provide. But already in his first game he felt his usual playing habits change.

“For me in The Wall, I'm like, 'I gotta keep screaming, I gotta keep screaming,' when normally I'd be more chilling,” Holzgang said.

Issues were still being ironed out in the arena's opening week of the regular season. Some customers reported difficulties with the smooth payment system at the take-and-go concession stands and were initially unable to leave the store as expected. Some who had their wallets and ages linked on the app, expecting to only be able to buy alcohol using facial recognition software GameFace ID, said they were told they needed their physical ID. After some merchandise and apparel items sold out quickly, the team sought to improve its real-time inventory tracking, the team spokesman said. Some fans noted improvements after the opening game, but others were vocal on social media about ongoing issues with how the app and touchless checkouts worked.

One of the key elements of watching a Clippers game that Ballmer wants to change involves what can and cannot be heard in other parts of the building. For years, large fan bases supporting opposing teams like Golden State, New York and Boston often drowned out the noise of home fans at Crypto.com Arena. That's why, for Daniel Albitres, it was one of the first signs that things could be different when news broke at The Wall on Oct. 23 that ushers had removed a fan who had tried to get a Suns shirt because he had violated the guidelines against wearing the opposing team's equipment in the fan area.

Albitres looked around and saw only the Clippers' equipment. That was a first.

“It’s nice to have a place where you know you have your fans,” Albitres said. “For the first time I saw someone with a different jersey get kicked out. It was probably the highlight of my day.

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