# Staples Could Boot Clippers



## Sean (Jun 7, 2002)

by Jerry Crowe

The Clippers' days in Staples Center could be numbered.

Owner Donald T. Sterling's team might be jettisoned when its lease runs out after this season, the chief executive of the company that owns the arena said in an interview published Monday in the Los Angeles Downtown News.

"We actually could make more money if, instead of 40 Clippers games, we had five concerts," Tim Leiweke, president of the Anschutz Entertainment Group, was quoted as saying. "So, those are some of the decisions we're going to have to make. The Clippers' issue is in negotiations now. Their lease is up after this year.

"And ironically, shockingly, we've got to make a decision as to whether we even want them back. We're not sure."

The Clippers, who charge a fraction of what the Lakers charge for tickets, sold out six of 40 games in Staples Center last season, two against the Lakers.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/baske...t12,1,6009.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-nba


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

Arenas and I are talking about this right now. This is a foregone conclusion in my mind, that they will have to find new digs.


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## Weasel (Oct 18, 2003)

The Clippers better not move out of L.A. because of this or else I will not be a happy camper.


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## Sean (Jun 7, 2002)

I doubt Sterling will move the franchise out of LA. More than likely the best option is to have the Clips play out of the Pond in Anaheim. 

Now if the NBA were to allow a team in Vegas, then I could see Sterling moving the team there as he owns a whole lotta property up there.


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## arenas809 (Feb 13, 2003)

HKF and I were talking about this...

Clips will have to find a new home, the end.


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## Sean (Jun 7, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Hong Kong Fooey</b>!
> Arenas and I are talking about this right now. This is a foregone conclusion in my mind, that they will have to find new digs.


Were you discussing it here in another thread? My bad if I missed it. I can merge them if you show me the other thread.


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## Weasel (Oct 18, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>arenas809</b>!
> HKF and I were talking about this...
> 
> Clips will have to find a new home, the end.


When you say new home, do you mean a new arena or a new city?


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Weasel</b>!
> 
> 
> When you say new home, do you mean a new arena or a new city?


Arena. Not new city. New place to play the games in the LA area.

Sean, no, we were talking about this online, somewhere else. The thread is fine.


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## Darius Miles Davis (Aug 2, 2002)

Do you guys think a move to Anaheim and The Pond would be in the best long term interest of the franchise? I don't live there, so I don't really understand the situation, but from the outside it makes sense to me.

First off, they could actually have a chance to establish an identity if they played in a different facility. Long term I think it would lead to a larger, more loyal fanbase. Second of all, this wouldn't be considered a major move. It's not even a move out of Los Angeles.

Anyway, that's what I recommend.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

If they move to Anaheim, they won't turn a profit in my mind. It's one of the reasons the Rams left and that Disney is trying to sell the Angels. 

Anaheim has a lot of rich peeps there, but the fanbase is very fairweather. It's better to find a place to build a new arena for the Clippers. Even if it means destroying the old LA Sports Arena and erecting a new one for the Clippers. I don't think a long term move to Anaheim is a good investment.


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## Weasel (Oct 18, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>Hong Kong Fooey</b>!
> I don't think a long term move to Anaheim is a good investment.


Agreed, the Clippers staying in LA is the best choice. There are plenty of Clippers fans in Anaheim but the Clippers are a LA type team, if that makes sense.


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## Sean (Jun 7, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Hong Kong Fooey</b>!
> Sean, no, we were talking about this online, somewhere else. The thread is fine.


What? Somewhere else? you go elsewhere? I'm hurt.  

Before Staples Center, the Clippers played some of their games in the Pond and the support was good for the few games that they did play there. It gives them a real home court ans seperates them the other LA team. I wouldn't mind seeing them move to the Pond, but like HKF said, the profitability for the Pond is not necessarily the best. I can't see anyone, especially Clipper ownership, willing to put up for a new arena in LA, just for the Clippers. The Sports arena, where they used to play pre-Staples, would have to be totally re-done and those costs might come close to starting from scratch. Sterling better figure out something relatively quickly.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Sean</b>!
> 
> 
> What? Somewhere else? you go elsewhere? I'm hurt.
> ...


Agreed. Sterling needs to come up with contingency plans. The Pond is no Staples and the Staples is the type of place where the Clips could fill half the arena and still turn a profit. Not so in the Pond.


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## Damian Necronamous (Jun 10, 2002)

KICK EM OUT! KICK EM OUT!!!!

:rock:


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## Weasel (Oct 18, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>Damian Necronamous</b>!
> KICK EM OUT! KICK EM OUT!!!!
> 
> :rock:


 Hmm there are so many things I can respond to this with, let me just leave it as:


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## RhettO (May 15, 2003)

Wishful thinking: Maybe this predicament will cause Sterling to finally turn the franchise over to a new owner who can turn things around. Maybe he's starting to realize that the "profit-first, winning-distant second" mentality won't work forever.
With that aside, I don't want to guess about how well ticket sales would be in Anaheim, but I for one would love to have them at the Pond.


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## arenas809 (Feb 13, 2003)

This is about money, the entertain group that owns Staples knows they can make more money hosting other events in place of Clippers games...

From the Clippers end, there's more money to be made playing in Staples than there is playing in the pond...

The team needs its own arena, no Anaheim, no Staples...


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## Sean (Jun 7, 2002)

*Arena Talk Seen as a Ploy*

By Jerry Crowe, Times Staff Writer

The Clippers had nothing to say Tuesday regarding an insinuation by their landlord that they no longer are wanted in Staples Center.

Though they were thought to be amused, they declined to comment on a story published Monday in the Los Angeles Downtown News in which Tim Leiweke, president of the Anschutz Entertainment Group, said that the Clippers might be jettisoned from the arena when their lease runs out after this season.
They said privately that they considered it a negotiating ploy.

Meanwhile, Leiweke declined through Staples Center spokesman Michael Roth to expound on his statements. Said Roth: "We continue to be in negotiations on a lease extension with the Clippers."

Leiweke was quoted as telling the Downtown News, "We actually would make more money if, instead of 40 Clippers games, we had five concerts. So, those are some of the decisions we're going to have to make. The Clippers' issue is in negotiations now. Their lease is up after this year.

"And ironically, shockingly, we've got to make a decision as to whether we even want them back. We're not sure."

The Clippers moved from the Sports Arena before the 1999-2000 season, signing a six-year lease with Staples Center, which opened five years ago this month.
At the same time, the Lakers and Kings signed 20-year leases with Staples Center.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/baske...,1,2691865.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-nba


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## yamaneko (Jan 1, 2003)

What about the forum?


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## Sean (Jun 7, 2002)

the Forum is being used by a church now. I don't know if they own it, but they do use it.


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## Sean (Jun 7, 2002)

*CLIPPER REPORT: Staples Center Renewal Close*

By Jerry Crowe, Times Staff Writer

Agreement on a long-term lease keeping the Clippers in Staples Center is imminent, the arena's chief executive said Sunday.

"We would like the Clippers to stay and … I think we're going to work this out," Tim Leiweke, president of Anschutz Entertainment Group, told radio station XTRA. "I think we'll have something in the next week, at the very latest.

"And it will be a long-term deal."

The Clippers were optimistic but declined to comment.

The Clippers were mildly miffed but generally amused when Leiweke suggested in a story published this month in the Los Angeles Downtown News that they might be jettisoned from the arena when their lease runs out after this season.

Leiweke was quoted as telling the newspaper, "We actually would make more money if, instead of 40 Clippers games, we had five concerts. So, those are some of the decisions we're going to have to make. The Clippers' issue is in negotiations now. Their lease is up after this year.

"And ironically, shockingly, we've got to make a decision as to whether we even want them back. We're not sure."

Leiweke had declined to expound on his comments, his spokesman Michael Roth saying only: "We continue to be in negotiations … with the Clippers."

The Clippers saw his comments as a negotiating ploy.

"Though I love the newspaper, I don't believe you use the newspaper to negotiate," Leiweke said Sunday. "And in fact, it was a quote in the Downtown News. I certainly wouldn't have used that newspaper to negotiate."

He denied threatening to render the Clippers homeless.

"I didn't say evict," he said. "What I said is that, obviously they had a decision, we had a decision. Their lease is up."

The Clippers moved from the Sports Arena before the 1999-2000 season, signing a six-year lease with Staples Center, which opened five years ago this month.

At the same time, the Lakers and Kings signed 20-year leases with Staples Center.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/baske...,1,2365311.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-nba


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## yamaneko (Jan 1, 2003)

I wish this could have happened in a year or two. Reason being, id like to see the clippers return to San Diego (even though im moving next week from san diego to la). Before you completely discount that, think about it. If the chargers bolt San Diego which they have been trying to do, and go to LA, San Diego will be left without a professional franchise other than the padres. San diego has always been a football town, which is why the clippers werent successful down here 20 years ago. However, with no other pro sport down here other than indoor soccer and baseball, and with the money the city would save in not having to build the chargers a new stadium that they want, they could instead team with sterling, and build a state of the art arena to replace the san diego sports arena. This will never happen now, since they will be resigning with the staples, but it would have been nice to have the "san diego clippers" again.


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