The Los Angeles Convention Center
The Staples Center is a multi-purpose arena in downtown Los Angeles, California, next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex. It was financed privately and is named for the Staples office supply company. The costs to build the arena were an estimated $375 million dollars, all of which were privately financed. It is home to five professions sports teams, the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers basketball teams, the AFL's Los Angeles Avengers, and the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks, and is the only arena to host five professional sports franchises.
The center measures 950,000 square feet and has an arena floor that measures 90 feet by 200 feet. The center provides seating for some 20,000 for a concert, 18,900 for basketball games, 18,100 seats for hockey and arena football. There are 2,500 club seats available and 160 luxury boxes and 15 event suites, on three levels between the upper and lower levels.
The Staples Center first opened its doors on October 17, 1999, and was host to a concert by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Outside the Staples Center you will find statutes of hockey great Wayne Gretzky and basketball legend Magic Johnson. In its first two years of operation, the Staples Center received the Pollister-CIC Arena of the Year award. Its easy to see that the Staples Center has distinguished itself from other arenas, since itself from the very beginning.
In addition to its previous awards, the Staples Center has also won New Major Concert Venue (2000), and was named Arena of the Year in both 2000 and 2001. It has since been nominated every year since it was first opened. Every year the center is host to some 250 events and 4 million visitors. Since the day it opened, the Staples Center has hosted some very prestigious events, such as; the 2000 Democratic National Convention, U.S. Figure Skating Championship in 2001, the 52nd Annual NHL All-Star Games, the Latin Grammy Awards, and the annual Grammy Awards since 2000, but not in 2003. It has also hosted pay-per-view events for the UFC, and also HBO concert events.
Developers broke ground in 2005, to connect the Staples Center to the Los Angeles Convention Center. This project is known as L.A. Live, and is designed to offer more entertainment, retail and residential programming in downtown Los Angeles. In addition to hosting sporting events and various top rated musical concerts, the Staples Center has become an iconic figure in downtown L.A., and continues to distinguish itself with national and both international appeal.
