In addition to the 18,000 seat arena, the venue would also include a practice facility, sports medicine clinic, team offices, retail space and a large outdoor plaza with basketball courts that are open to the public. The practice facility would be, the team offices and the sports medicine clinic. An additional are set aside for retail and for the outdoor plaza.
As the new venue could also host concerts, it was reasoned the Inglewood Basketball and Entertainment Center could provide direct competition with The Forum. As of July 2019, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer was still pursuing building the arena. Several lawsuits were filed to attempt to prevent the construction of the arena, which would ensure no nearby arena would compete with The Madison Square Garden Company-owned Forum. In December 2018, the Clippers filed a countersuit against The Madison Square Garden Company alleging that they tried to prevent competition with The Forum. In March 2019, leaked emails revealed that Irving Azoff attempted to lure the Los Angeles Lakers back to The Forum after their lease at Staples Center was up. Despite nothing coming of the proposal, Azoff's proposal to re-purpose The Forum was seen as a way of preventing the LA Clippers from building their own arena in Inglewood and ensuring that the Madison Square Garden Company got an unfair advantage over rival AEG, which already owns part of the Lakers. In November 2019, a judge tossed a lawsuit by Uplift Inglewood seeking to stop the arena's construction. In December 2019, the California Air Resources Board approved the new arena, after evaluating the arena's environmental impact. In March 2020, Steve Ballmer announced his intent to purchase The Forum for $400 million, ending the lawsuit. The Forum will continue to host concerts, and all venue employees who held jobs under the Madison Square Garden Company were offered jobs by Ballmer. The Inglewood Basketball and Entertainment Center, intended by Ballmer to serve as the new home for the LA Clippers, will be built as originally planned.
Construction
On July 25, 2019, the Clippers released new images of the proposed arena. Construction is planned to begin in 2021 and be completed in fall 2024, following the expiration of the Clippers' lease with the Staples Center.
