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.
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