LOS ANGELES • Opened in October 1999, the Staples Centre in downtown Los Angeles is an iconic multi-purpose arena which is home to the Lakers and the Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

But, tired of living in the shadow of the Lakers, the Clippers broke ground on their new arena in Inglewood, California, on Friday.

The 18,000-seat Intuit Dome, which, according to the NBA website will "feature a team practice facility, retail space and more", is slated to be ready in time for the 2024-25 season.

The team announced an arena-naming agreement with American software company Intuit on Friday without revealing the terms of the deal.

CNBC reported that it is a 23-year pact worth more than US$500 million (S$674 million).

The Los Angeles Times and Sportico pegged the price tag of the arena's construction at US$1.8 billion, while ESPN reported it as more than US$2 billion.

"We needed to say, 'We're our own guys. We don't play in the same place as the other guys. We're going to have our own identity'," Clippers owner Steve Ballmer told ESPN, regarding the need for the team to have their own home.

"We're going to build our own building, more of our own identity, more of our own personality."

After moving from San Diego to Los Angeles ahead of the 1984-85 season, the Clippers won just one play-off series up till 2010-11.

Since then, they have made the play-offs in nine of the past 10 seasons.

Last season, the Clippers reached the Western Conference Finals for the first time, losing to the Phoenix Suns 4-2 after star Kawhi Leonard got hurt earlier in the post-season.

Moving forward, Ballmer hopes for bigger and better things at the Intuit Dome, which he said will have more legroom and more toilets than any other NBA arena, and where all concession orders will be placed online.

"I feed off the energy in the building," he said.

"But people go away and they get late to games or they don't get back from half-time (due to limited toilets). I really want to make sure people are in their seats so... that energy, we feed off of it."

REUTERS