Dive Brief:

• The NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers are evaluating contractors as part of the team’s plan to build a new privately funded arena and mixed-use project in Inglewood, California, according to VenuesNow. The Clippers currently play at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, but the team's lease there expires in 2024. 
• The three groups reportedly in the running for the construction management contract are the joint venture of AECOM Hunt and Turner Construction; another joint venture consisting of Mortenson and Clark Construction; and, on its own, PCL Construction, which completed the $350 million Banc of California Stadium for the Los Angeles Football Club last April. AECOM Hunt is building a new $2.6 billion stadium for the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, also in Inglewood, and Mortenson-Clark is building the Golden State Warriors’ $1 billion arena project in San Francisco. 
• The Clippers have a three-year negotiating agreement with the city of Inglewood, but Madison Square Garden Entertainment, which owns the nearby Forum, has filed a lawsuit to stop the project, claiming that a Clippers arena would violate its development agreement with the city, according to Arena Digest. MSG claims it was tricked into handing over a lease for the potential arena site. The Clippers have filed a countersuit and have asked the court to validate its negotiating agreement with Inglewood.

Dive Insight:

If the Clippers are successful in building the venue, it would be one of three large arenas in the Los Angeles area, according to Forbes. The site would also host a Clippers practice facility and corporate offices, as well as medical offices, retail, restaurants and community space, evidence of the steady trend of sports teams wanting to offer their fans more than just the typical game day experience. 

Rams owner Stan Kroenke has supercharged that concept. The new Rams and Chargers stadium, which is near the Clippers’ proposed site, is just one part of the $5 billion Los Angeles Stadium and Entertainment District at Hollywood Park. In addition to the stadium, which will hold up to 100,000 people, the district that Kroenke has planned will also include a 6,000-seat performing arts center; almost 800,000 square feet of office space and 900,000 square feet of retail; 300 hotel rooms; 2,500 residences; 25 acres of park and recreational space open to the public; and restaurants and conference space. 

But some teams don’t need the Kroenkes’ budget to launch the effort of winning a wider audience. In December, Columbus, Ohio’s Major League Soccer team, the Columbus Crew —  along with state and local officials and a group of private investors —  announced plans for a new arena, mixed-use development and the conversion of the team's current stadium into a multi-use community sports and training complex. This could result in $1 billion of spending, which would include $230 million that the private investors are putting toward construction of the new stadium.