From the time Ballmer bought the Clippers he never wanted to play second fiddle to the Lakers.
The reality is the Staples Center is the Lakers arena and the Clippers just play there. He has been trying to move but he is being blocked by Knicks owner James Dolan of all people.
MSG and Dolan own the Forum and was promised no one else could build anything near by. Here is how Ballmer is trying to deal with that.
LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is in advanced negotiations to purchase The Forum in Inglewood, California, from the Madison Square Garden Company, an acquisition that would clear a major hurdle in the Clippers’ efforts to construct a new home arena in the vicinity, according to league sources.
The current owner of The Forum, MSG, which also owns the New York Knicks, has been locked in a protracted legal battle with the city of Inglewood and Ballmer for the better part of two years over Ballmer’s parcel, which sits a mile from The Forum.
MSG, whose executive chairman and chief executive officer is embattled Knicks governor James L. Dolan, alleged that the city violated an agreement not to promote competition to The Forum by working with the Clippers to develop an arena nearby. MSG also claimed the city deceived MSG by convincing it to cede land near The Forum for a technology park that was ultimately sold to Ballmer, in what MSG characterized as a back-room deal. Murphy’s Bowl LLC, the entity owned by Ballmer to advance the Clippers project, intervened in the proceedings to represent the Clippers’ interests in their arena project.
Ballmer, who purchased the Clippers for $2 billion in 2014, has long sought to be the sole owner of a basketball complex, not an occupant in a multipurpose arena. The Clippers have long regarded themselves as a “third tenant” at Staples Center, where they receive a smaller share of proceeds from suites and club seats than the Lakers and Kings and a lesser say in scheduling.
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