Los Angeles Clippers chairman Steve Ballmer is planning a starry bash to celebrate his team’s new home at Intuit Dome.
Ballmer, 68, has wrangled a roster of high-profile names — including pop star Meghan Trainor, actress Sophia Bush and comedian Chelsea Handler — to toast to the innovative concert and sports space when it officially opens in Inglewood, Calif., on Thursday, Pvnew is told.
To kick off the evening, the businessman and Gillian Zucker, CEO of Halo Sports and Entertainment, will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the campus’ 80,00-square-foot outdoor plaza with special guests including Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts, Clippers player Kawhi Leonard and head coach Tyronn Lue.
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Afterward, Trainor, 30, Bush, 42, Handler, 49, and more celebrities will descend upon the Intuit Dome — situated just south of the area’s famed SoFi Stadium — for the venue’s first-ever red carpet.
More notable names from LA’s entertainment, sports and arts communities are expected to make appearances as well.
The event will end with Grammy winner Bruno Mars christening the stage with a lively performance. The singer, 38, is scheduled to play another show on Friday, marking his first LA gigs since 2018.
“We wanted … a performer who was a showperson, someone who would really effectively help us bring the building to life,” Zucker, 55, the Clippers’ president of business operations, told PvNew in April when Mars’ shows were announced.
“There’s so many unique things about the building — the halo scoreboard, the interactivity with the crowd, our LED lights that are built into the seats, the various different things that just haven’t existed in other buildings before — and we wanted to make sure that we had a performer who would take advantage of all of those things.”
The Clippers broke ground on the arena in September 2021. According to USA Today, the team — who have played at Downtown LA’s Crypto Arena for years — spent $2 billion on the project.
In March, Ballmer shared his enthusiasm for the Intuit Dome’s bathrooms in particular.
“Toilets!” the former Microsoft leader exclaimed in a video shared via social media, during which he was speaking to commemorate the steel topping of the arena’s roof being finished.
“1,160 toilets and urinals! Three times the NBA average! … We do not want people waiting around. We want them back to their damn seats.”
