Staples Center

Staples Center is a multi-purpose sports arena in Downtown Los Angeles. Adjacent to the L.A. Live development, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along Figueroa Street. Opening on October 17, 1999, it is one of the major sporting facilities in the Los Angeles metropolitan area and Greater Los Angeles Area.

It is owned and operated by the L.A. Arena Company and Anschutz Entertainment Group. The arena is home to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL), and the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League (AFL) and the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA D-League were also tenants until both franchises were discontinued. Staples Center is also host to over 250 events and nearly 4,000,000 visitors a year.

Description

Structure and architecture

Staples Center measures 950,000 square feet (88,257.9 m2) of total space, with a 94-foot (28.7 m) by 200-foot (61.0 m) arena floor. It stands 150 feet (45.7 m) tall. The arena seats up to 19,079 for basketball, 18,118 for ice hockey and arena football, and around 20,000 for concerts or other sporting events. Two-thirds of the arena's seating, including 2,500 club seats, are in the lower bowl. There are also 160 luxury suites, including 15 event suites, on three levels between the lower and upper bowls. The arena's attendance record is held by the fight between World WBA Welterweight Champion, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley with a crowd of 20,820 set on January 25, 2009.

Star Plaza

Outside the arena at the Star Plaza are statues of Wayne Gretzky and Magic Johnson, although both sports legends played at The Forum, where the Kings, Lakers and Sparks previously played. A third statue of boxer Oscar De La Hoya was unveiled outside Staples Center on December 1, 2008. On April 20, 2010 a fourth statue of the late long time Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn, behind a Laker desk with a chair for fans to sit down for a picture, was unveiled. A fifth statue of the Laker legend Jerry West dribbling was unveiled on February 17, 2011.

History

Staples Center in Los Angeles hosts the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA), Los Angeles Clippers (NBA), Los Angeles Kings (NHL), and Los Angeles Sparks (WNBA).

Construction broke ground in 1998 and the Staples Center was opened a year later. It was financed privately at a cost of $375 million and is named for the office-supply company Staples, Inc., which was one of the center's corporate sponsors that paid for naming rights.

The venue opened as the home of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers, as well as the NHL's Los Angeles Kings in 1999. The WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks joined in 2001, while the NBA D-League's Los Angeles D-Fenders joined in 2006. It became home to the AFL's Los Angeles Avengers in 2000 until the team's discontinuation in 2008. Staples Center was named New Major Concert Venue in 2000 and Arena of the Year in 2000 and 2001 by Pollstar Magazine and has been nominated each year since its 1999 opening.

The arena opened on October 17, 1999, with a Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band concert as its inaugural event. Since its opening day, it has hosted seven NBA Finals series, with the Lakers, three WNBA Finals, the 2000 Democratic National Convention, the 2002 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the 52nd NHL All-Star game, two NBA All-Star Games (in 2004 and 2011), the Pacific-10 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, since 2002, the WTA Tour Championships, from 2002-2005, UFC 60 in 2006, UFC 104 in 2009, the inaugural Latin Grammy Awards in 2000, the annual Grammy Awards, since 2000, with the exception of 2003, the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships, the Summer X Games indoor competitions, since 2003, as well as numerous concerts and HBO Championship Boxing matches. In addition to hosting WrestleMania 21, which held the venue's attendance record of 20,193 until it was surpassed in January 2009 by the 20,820 draw for the Shane Mosley vs Antonio Margarito Welterweight fight, it has also hosted Unforgiven 2002, Judgment Day 2004, No Way Out 2007, and SummerSlam for three consecutive years since 2009, as well as other WWE events. The Los Angeles Kings, of the NHL hosted the 2010 NHL Entry Draft at the arena in June 2010.

Night view of Staples Center and L.A. Live

The arena has hosted concerts by many famous artists, spanning many different genres. Mariah Carey kicked off the US leg of her Rainbow World Tour at the arena on March 16, 2000, this marked her first performance in the US, since 1993. Beyoncé performed at the Center during The Beyoncé Experience Tour on September 2, 2007, which was filmed and released as, The Beyoncé Experience Live. Taylor Swift performed at the arena during her Fearless Tour on May 22, 2009 and April 15–16, 2010. John Mayer was a special guest at the May 22 show, together they performed "Your Body Is a Wonderland" and "White Horse".Michael Jackson rehearsed for his This Is It concerts at the arena, before his death. On July 7, 2009, a public memorial for Michael Jackson was held at Staples Center. K-pop talent agency SM Entertainment held its annual SM Town tour for the first time in America at the venue on September 4, 2010 which featured the likes of BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls' Generation, SHINee, and f(x) thus becoming the first Koreans ever to perform at the venue.

Prior to the 2006-07 NBA season, the lighting inside Staples Center was modified for Lakers games. The lights were focused only on the court itself (hence the promotional Lights Out campaign), reminiscent of the Lakers' early years at The Forum. Initial fan reaction was positive, and has been a fixture on home games since. The Daktronics see-through shot-clock was first installed prior to the 2008-09 NBA season. The Clippers adopted the new see through shot clock prior to the 2010-11 NBA season. For Sparks games, the court used is named after Sparks legend Lisa Leslie, and was officially named prior to the 2009 home opener against the Shock on June 6, 2009.

On October 21, 2009, Staples Center celebrated its 10th anniversary. To commemorate the occasion, the venue's official website nominated 25 of the arena's greatest moments from its first ten years with fans voting on the top ten.

During the late summer of 2010, modifications were made to the arena, including refurbished locker rooms for the Clippers, Kings, and Lakers and the installation of a new high-definition center-hung video scoreboard, replacing the original one that had been in place since the building opened in 1999. The Panasonic Live 4HD scoreboard was officially unveiled on September 22nd, as AEG and Staples Center executives, as well as player representatives from the Clippers (Craig Smith), Kings (Matt Greene), and Lakers (Sasha Vujacic) were on hand for the presentation.

L.A. Live

Staples Center is only a part of a much larger 4,000,000-square-foot (371,612.2 m2) development by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) adjoining Staples Center and the Los Angeles Convention Center. The development, known as L.A. Live, broke ground on September 15, 2005. L.A. Live is designed to offer entertainment, retail and residential programming in the downtown Los Angeles area.