What’s shiny silver during the day and gives off an eye-popping lights show after dark, cost $2 billion to build, is powered by the sun, and promises to give 17,700 fans each a perfect view of a stellar show?
Nope, it’s not the latest starship from SpaceX.
Welcome to the posh new palace on Prairie Avenue — Inglewood’s new Intuit Dome, the latest jewel in the crown of the Hollywood Park sports and entertainment complex.
The area opens Thursday night with a performance by Bruno Mars. The NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers arrive on Oct. 23 against the Phoenix Suns.
The building’s creators say the dome will change the fan experience in Southern California forever. Here are five things your need to know about the new arena:
1. Leave the cash. Load the app.
Everything, and we mean everything — access to the venue, paying for concessions and parking — is controlled via the Intuit Dome App. You’ll want to download the app onto your iPhone or Android device before heading to the Dome.
When creating your profile with the app, you can choose Game Face ID to use facial recognition, allowing you to leave your phone in your pocket, according to the Intuit Dome’s website. Or use Identity Pass to store your tickets and payment information. So, just tap your phone or smartwatch at the Dome’s Zoom Thru Devices to gain access to the Dome. You can also pay for food or merchandise this way without having to stand in line.
All that high tech means, leave your money at home. The arena is cashless.
2. Let the music play
Thanks to the dome, there may be even more music in town in the years ahead.
The Forum won’t be a competitor to its new neighbor for musical performers and touring shows. It’ll be a partner.
The proximity of the Forum initially created a legal snag for the project, with then-owner Madison Square Garden Co. suing the Clippers and Inglewood, claiming the new venue violated a non-competition clause of the Forum’s operating agreements with the city. In 2020, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer found a unique solution to resolve the lawsuit — by purchasing the Forum from MSG for $400 million.
Intuit Dome has already landed a series of high-profile concerts and is expected to be a go-to site for top performers. Mexican music icon Marco Antonio Solis performs on Sunday. Next up: Twenty One Pilots on Aug. 27-28; Slipknot on Sept. 13-14; Usher on Sept. 21, 22, 24 and 25; Weezer on Oct. 11; and Billy Joel on Oct. 12.
However, the Forum will continue to be primarily a music venue with a diverse array of acts. Kings of Leon perform there on Aug. 22, Billy Strings on Aug. 23-24 and Santana and Counting Crows on Aug. 28.
Olivia Rodrigo is actually playing both rooms — Aug. 14, 16 and 17 at the Forum and Aug. 20-21 at the Dome.
And don’t forget the big dog: SoFi Stadium, which has hosted such monster acts as the Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift.
3. Home, sweet hoops
Actually, the new dome wasn’t built mainly for music. The room’s main tenant will be the NBA’s L.A. Clippers, which Balmer also owns. Coincidence? Not.
The Clips have been renters at Crypto.com Arena, with the legendary Lakers as their landlords. Since coming to La La Land, they’ve never had a home they could call their own. Until now.
They’ve also never won an NBA title — the Lakers, between Minneapolis and L.A., have 17 of those — but we’ll see how much difference this home-court advantage will make.
They’ll start by creating a “Clippers fans only section,” which already has a nickname before any fans’ posteriors have occupied any seats. “The Wall” is 51 rows — with the baseline adjacent to the visitor’s bench. You have to be a Clippers fan to sit there and you won’t be allowed to wear the garb of the visiting team, or any other NBA team for that matter.
Want to take your seat on The Wall? Hang on there, rookie. You’ll need to meet certain protocols to prove your fandom by becoming “Chuckmark certified” here. (What’s with Chuck? Chuck the Condor is the official mascot of the Clippers and he’s an intentionally goofy, but fiercely loyal bird).
Another perk for diehard Clippers’ fans: Flagship, the team’s first independent retail store in the Intuit Dome Plaza.
4. Silver, but green
Arena owners have vowed to make the new venue environmentally responsible.
Waves of solar panels line the arena’s roof, fueling its 11 megawatts of battery storage cells.
The arena is 100% electric, keeping its “carbon-free” promise. It even features 300 charging stations for electric cars.
Owners say the site’s waste reduction program will keep it from generating any waste that would end up in a landfill.
They also aimed to be drought-conscious by installing water-efficient fixtures and creating a first-of-its-kind rainwater collection system.
5. Try to keep your eyes on the game. We dare you.
The dome will be home to the coolest scoreboard this side of, well, SoFi Stadium, just down Prairie Avenue.
Sure, you paid a bundle to watch the game, but you may find yourself focused on the first-of-its-kind Halo Board.
It’s the largest-ever doubled-sided halo display ever installed in an NBA-sized arena setting. It’s smaller than the 120-yard long, double-sided screen at NFL-sized SoFi, but the new, cutting-edge Intuit scoreboard boasts advancements that aim to connect fans deeper into the event experience.
The new screen is 44,000 square-feet all told, consisting of 233 million LEDs. It would take more than 3,500 60-inch television screens to make up the size of the Halo Board, if you’re counting (or want to win a bar bet). It’s more than 600 feet in circumference and tops out at 519,000 pounds.
City News Service contributed to this report