Crypto.com Arena
Crypto.com Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in downtown Los Angeles. Opened on October 17, 1999, as Staples Center, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along Figueroa Street, and has since been considered a part of L.A. Live. Owned and operated by Anschutz Entertainment Group, it is the home venue of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association and Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League —which are both owned in part by AEG's founder Philip Anschutz, as well as the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks.
The Los Angeles Clippers also played in the arena from 1999 to 2024, before leaving for their new arena, Intuit Dome, located in Inglewood.
From 1999 to 2024, it was the only arena in the NBA shared by two teams, as well as one of only three North American professional sports venues to have hosted two teams from the same league. The venue is also frequently used for major concerts, and has been the most frequent host of the Grammy Awards ceremony since its opening.
Crypto.com Arena will host the gymnastics competition and boxing finals during the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Description
Crypto.com Arena has of total space, with a by arena floor. It stands tall. The arena seats up to 19,067 for basketball, 18,145 for ice hockey, and around 20,000 for concerts or other sporting events. Two-thirds of the arena's seating, including 2,500 club seats, are in the lower bowl. There are also 160 luxury suites, including 15 event suites, on three levels between the lower and upper bowls. The arena's attendance record is held by the fight between World WBA Welterweight Champion Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley with a crowd of 20,820, set on January 25, 2009.Star Plaza
Outside the arena at the Star Plaza are 13 statues of famous Los Angeles athletes and broadcasters. Additionally, the Los Angeles Kings Monument was erected in Star Plaza in 2016. The Kobe and Gianna Bryant Memorial Statue was erected in 2024. A third statue of Kobe Bryant, honoring his number 24, is planned. In November 2024, the Lakers announced plans to honor former player and coach Pat Riley with a statue in Star Plaza in 2025.Following is a list of statues on display:
History
The arena has been referred to as "the deal that almost wasn't." Long before construction broke ground, plans for the arena were negotiated between elected city officials and real estate developers Edward P. Roski of Majestic Realty and Philip Anschutz. Roski and Anschutz had acquired the Los Angeles Kings in 1995 and in 1996 began looking for a new home for their team, which then played at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood.Majestic Realty Co. and AEG were scouring the Los Angeles area for available land to develop an arena when they were approached by Steve Soboroff, then president of the LA Recreation and Parks Commission. Soboroff requested that they consider building the arena in downtown Los Angeles adjacent to the convention center. This proposal intrigued Roski and Anschutz, and soon a plan to develop the arena was devised.
Months of negotiations ensued between Anschutz and city officials, with Roski and John Semcken of Majestic Realty Co. spearheading the negotiations for the real estate developers. The negotiations grew contentious at times and the real estate developers threatened to pull out altogether on more than one occasion. The main opposition came from Councilman Joel Wachs, who opposed utilizing public funds to subsidize the proposed project, and councilwoman Rita Walters, who objected to parts of it.
Ultimately, the developers and city leaders reached an agreement, and in 1997, construction broke ground on the new building, which opened two years later. It was financed privately at a cost of US$375 million and was named for the office-supply company Staples, Inc., which was one of the center's corporate sponsors that paid for naming rights. Staples' 20-year naming rights deal was renewed in 2009. The arena opened on October 17, 1999, with a Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band concert as its inaugural event.
On October 21, 2009, the arena celebrated its tenth anniversary. To commemorate the occasion, the venue's official web site nominated 25 of the arena's greatest moments from its first ten years with fans voting on the top ten.
The Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League and the South Bay Lakers of the NBA G League were also tenants of Staples Center; the Avengers folded in 2009, and the D-Fenders moved to the Lakers' practice facility at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, California for the 2011–12 season.
During the 2010 NBA and NHL offseason, the arena was renovated with refurbished locker rooms for the Lakers, Kings, and Clippers, and the installation of a new US$10 million HD center-hung video scoreboard and jumbotron, replacing the original one that had been in place since the building opened in 1999. The Panasonic Live 4HD scoreboard was officially unveiled on September 22, 2010, as AEG and Staples Center executives, as well as player representatives from the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings were on hand for the presentation.
On January 15, 2018, in the aftermath of an NBA basketball game between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Clippers, point guard Chris Paul utilized a secret tunnel to confront former Clipper teammates Austin Rivers and Blake Griffin. Paul was joined by teammates Trevor Ariza, James Harden, and Gerald Green to confront the opponents, which only resulted in verbal altercations.
Following the death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others in a helicopter crash in January 2020, a number of media outlets picked up on a phrase used by some, referring to the arena as "The House That Kobe Built", due to his historic 20-year career with the Lakers. On August 24, 2020, Los Angeles City Council president Herb Wesson announced a proposal to rename the stretch of Figueroa Street around Staples Center to "Kobe Bryant Boulevard".
In September 2021, the Clippers broke ground on a new arena in Inglewood, California, known as Intuit Dome, which became its new home arena in 2024.
On November 16, 2021, it was announced that the naming rights to Staples Center had been acquired by Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com, renaming it Crypto.com Arena effective December 25, 2021. The deal was reported to be valued at $700 million over 20 years, in comparison to the $116 million paid by Staples under its previous 20-year agreement—making it the most valuable naming rights contract in all of sports. The name change was met with opposition and many fans still refer to this arena as Staples Center. Former Lakers star Shaquille O'Neal stated on his podcast that he was "glad" that the arena's name had been changed, as he felt that "Staples Center belongs to Shaq and Kobe forever."
In 2022, the arena began to undergo a multi-phase renovation, expected to be completed in 2024; the first phase over the 2022 NBA and NHL offseason included new video boards and ribbon displays, and updated concessions. There are plans for the City View Terrace to be converted into an indoor outdoor deck, a new area known as the Tunnel Club, Chick Hearn Court to be converted into a pedestrian plaza between the arena and the rest of L.A. Live, and updated player facilities such as locker rooms.
Events
Music
were the first act to perform at the venue on its opening in 1999. Dave Matthews Band famously played the venue twice in 2008, despite the first show being the day of founding member and saxophonist LeRoi Moore's death.After the American singer Michael Jackson died in 2009, a televised memorial service was held at the arena. Its operator, AEG, had promoted the This Is It concert residency that Jackson had been scheduled to perform at The O2 Arena in London. Jackson had been rehearsing at the arena in the weeks prior to his death; he last had rehearsed there approximately 12 hours before his death.
It hosted the 1st Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2000 and the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards. In 2011, Jenni Rivera became the first female regional Mexican musician to perform a sell-out at the arena.
Lady Gaga has performed three nights of her Monster Ball Tour at Crypto.com Arena, August 11-12, 2011. Later on brang the third date March 28, 2011 celebrating her birthday at the arena. On January 20-21, 2013 she brang her Born This Way Ball Tour. On July 21-22, 2014 she brang her artRAVE: The ARTPOP Ball marking her last shows at this arena.
Taylor Swift has performed 16 sellouts at Crypto.com Arena—the most of any performer at the venue. On August 21, 2015, prior to one of her performances on the 1989 World Tour, Kobe Bryant presented Swift with a banner commemorating this achievement, which was hung in the arena's rafters. The Taylor Swift banner, however, became the subject of a curse among Lakers and Kings fans, who suspected that the banner was contributing to their teams' respective playoff droughts. Eventually, the Kings began to hide the Taylor Swift banner during home games, and the banner was taken down entirely in December 2020.
Mexican musicians Gloria Trevi and Alejandra Guzmán played two sellout shows at the arena in 2017. Rapper Nipsey Hussle's memorial service was held at the venue on April 11, 2019. As part of Super Bowl LVI festivities, the arena hosted the "Super Bowl Music Fest" in February 2022, headlined by Halsey, Machine Gun Kelly, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani, Miley Cyrus, and Green Day.