Los Angeles

Report: Clippers Owner Steve Ballmer Negotiating To Buy Forum

March 2, 2020 / 8:45 AM PST / KCAL News

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INGLEWOOD (CBSLA) — In an attempt to end an ongoing legal battle, Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is in advanced negotiations to purchase The Forum in Inglewood as part of his plans to build his own arena in the same area, according to a report Sunday.

General view of the audience at WE Day California 2016 at The Forum on April 7, 2016 in Inglewood, Calif. (Getty Images)

Ballmer is attempting to buy The Forum from the Madison Square Garden Company, according to ESPN's Kevin Arnovitz.

Back in July of 2017, MSG -- also owner of the New York Knicks -- sued the city of Inglewood for giving Ballmer the go-ahead to build his own arena about a mile-and-a-half south of the Forum.

The Forum -- which was renovated in 2013 -- is a popular venue for concerts. MSG contends that Ballmer's new arena would then be in direct competition with The Forum for those concerts.

In its lawsuit against the city, MSG contends that in April of 2017, Inglewood Mayor James Butts tricked MSG into giving up its lease on a nearby parking lot by telling MSG it would be used for a new business-technology park. Instead, in June of that year, the city announced it had approved Ballmer's new proposed $1.2 billion arena project.

The 18,500-seat arena would anchor a 22-acre sports and entertainment complex that would include a corporate Clippers headquarters building, team training facility, sports medicine clinic, community courts, park spaces, educational facilities, restaurants and shops.

Ballmer's NBA arena would be entirely privately funded, with no taxpayer dollars.

Neither the Clippers nor MSG would confirm Arnovitz's report.

Ballmer is looking to move the Clippers out of their current home at Staples Center when their lease expires in 2024. The Clippers have shared Staples with the Lakers and Kings since it opened in 1999.

The arena would be located on the southeast corner of Century Boulevard and Prairie Avenue, just across from SoFi Stadium -- the new home of the NFL's Rams and Chargers, which opens this summer. However, the arena will not be part of SoFi Stadium's own Hollywood Park entertainment complex.