Ballmer definitely balled out.
This is what retirement looks like for former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the eighth-richest person in the world: buying the Los Angeles Clippers and then building them the Intuit Dome, a spaceship of a stadium that opened Thursday night in Inglewood to cap off a decade-long project.
The 18,000-seat arena, which will host the 2028 Olympic basketball games, sports some serious tech:
• The jewel in its crown, the Halo video board, cost nearly $100 million. It’s a double-sided, 44,000-square-foot wraparound screen that hangs high above the court so fans in any seat can watch clear gameplay.
• There are 20 cashier-less food spots with checkout via tap-to-pay or facial scan.
• And being the least demure fan in the house will be rewarded: Each cushioned seat has decibel meters that can detect fan rowdiness, with the loudest receiving discounts on snacks and merchandise via the Clippers app. (Each seat also has a phone charger.)
As Microsoft’s largest individual shareholder, Ballmer chose to finance the arena by himself (rare!) and spared no expense on the fan experience: The seats boast the most legroom of any NBA stadium, high-altitude t-shirt cannons democratize merch opportunities for people in the nosebleeds, and the entire section behind one basket is reserved for Clippers diehards.
Ballmer definitely balled out.
This is what retirement looks like for former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the eighth-richest person in the world: buying the Los Angeles Clippers and then building them the Intuit Dome, a spaceship of a stadium that opened Thursday night in Inglewood to cap off a decade-long project.
The 18,000-seat arena, which will host the 2028 Olympic basketball games, sports some serious tech:
• The jewel in its crown, the Halo video board, cost nearly $100 million. It’s a double-sided, 44,000-square-foot wraparound screen that hangs high above the court so fans in any seat can watch clear gameplay.
• There are 20 cashier-less food spots with checkout via tap-to-pay or facial scan.
• And being the least demure fan in the house will be rewarded: Each cushioned seat has decibel meters that can detect fan rowdiness, with the loudest receiving discounts on snacks and merchandise via the Clippers app. (Each seat also has a phone charger.)
As Microsoft’s largest individual shareholder, Ballmer chose to finance the arena by himself (rare!) and spared no expense on the fan experience: The seats boast the most legroom of any NBA stadium, high-altitude t-shirt cannons democratize merch opportunities for people in the nosebleeds, and the entire section behind one basket is reserved for Clippers diehards.
