After a couple of years without a new venue in the Big 4 sports, the Los Angeles Clippers opened the Intuit Dome this season. I planned to go early in the season as the Raptors were visiting and coincidentally, the other members of the Club 124 group decided to make that their weekend for our meetup. I used to organize these gatherings but after we were snowed out for the Islanders in 2021, I handed the reins over to Matt, who admirably handled the hassle of getting group tickets, which involves a more laborious process than you might be used to. You see, the Intuit Dome doesn't use hard tickets, or even electronic tickets. Instead, it uses face recognition to get you into the dome and allow you to move around inside. It is definitely something that takes getting used to.
Anyway, my friend Sharpy also joined for the trip and we ventured over early Saturday afternoon to take a look at the exterior of this $2 billion enormity, which is located across from Hollywood Park, just a short drive from LAX. In fact, one of the approach paths takes you right over the venue. If you are so inclined, you could even walk an hour or so here from the airport, though I would not recommended doing so as the area along Century Boulevard can be a bit rough.
There is a large plaza out front (above) which is open to the public and provides a few attractions, such as Sails, an artwork by Glenn Kaino that combines the nautical theme of the Clippers with basketball nets.
The entire plaza is shown below from the top of the stairs that leads to one of the main parking lots. This is where most fans park and the plaza is quite busy before and after the game.
Out in front of the plaza is another artwork, this one showing two hands in front of a basketball that is part of the building behind them. There are several other pieces of art around the plaza so get there before the sun sets to see them all.
Out in front of the plaza is another artwork, this one showing two hands in front of a basketball that is part of the building behind them. There are several other pieces of art around the plaza so get there before the sun sets to see them all.
We held our pre-game dinner across the street at the Century Bar and Grill and it was great to see so many familiar faces after such a long time. We spent a couple of hours retelling our sports travel stories before returning to the Dome about an hour before tip. Below are those members of Club 124 that made the trip.
You see the round things atop the poles in the photos below? Those are the facial recognition screens which allow you in. How do they recognize your face? You have to download an app, sign up, and provide a picture of yourself. You also have to provide a credit card as all concessions are based on facial recognition and there are no cashiers. Once you do this, you get $10 in food and beverage credit. What happens if you don't want to participate in this somewhat dystopian experiment? I don't know exactly, but there are people without smartphones and there has to be something they can do. To be fair, there was no waiting so maybe this is the way to go; beats spending 15 minutes in line as we still do at Barclays Center and Yankee Stadium.
After entering, we found ourselves in the huge lobby. From here, you can go through a set of doors to enter the lower concourse.
At least I think that is what it is. Compared to typical arenas that have a lower and upper bowl and concourses for each, Intuit Dome is labyrinthian. I like to explore new venues and we wandered up and down and finally entered the seating bowl.
The first thing you will notice is the gargantuan scoreboard, similar to that at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. This is a double-sided Halo Display that dominates your view when you are at the top of the seating bowl as you can see below (the shot is taken from our group seats).
There are dozens of seating choices here and I'm not going to enumerate them all. I do like the design of the seating bowl, however, particularly along the sides as it is quite steep which is better for us vertically challenged chaps.
We were able to walk around the seating bowl with no problem. There are no ushers to check your tickets that we noticed, though it was still early.
Across the way is The Wall, where all sections from the first row to the last at the very top are reserved for Clippers fans. The one section directly behind the basket is called the Wall Supporters Section. If you are wearing opposition gear, you are not even allowed in to this area and as we were sporting our Raptors championship T-shirts, we could not get in to take a picture from there.
In the second half, the Raptors were shooting free throws at that net and the fans in The Wall held up the dreaded Maple Leaf, which as all Canadians know, is the most distracting thing to us. Sadly, it seemed to work as you will see later.
We managed to get quite low in the seating bowl, and probably could have stayed here if we found an empty pair of seats.
The shot below gives a good idea of the overall structure of the entire seating bowl those corner seats at the top are also part of The Wall.
We returned to the corridors, walking through the maze and reached an area which required a separate facial scan. I figured we would be rejected but somehow, we got in. I thought it was a club area, but couldn't find anything particularly special other than the space and some tables.
We made our way to the seats at center court for the obligatory photo and again, we could have stayed here as there were unsold seats both on the secondary market and TicketMaster itself. But as we had left the group, we decided it was better to move up and spend the game (or at least half of it) with them.
Below is one of the concourses, which took us to our seats in Tier 1, behind the basket opposite of The Wall.
Each seat has a charging station as well as controls for games on the Halo Display. I actually go to games to watch the game, but nowadays most fans seem to go for the distractions. I didn't bother to figure out how these work.
At halftime, with that $10 in concession credit burning a hole in my phone, I went to a nearby stand, walked in, picked up $13.85 worth of stuff, and left. Later that night, I checked my credit card and found it to be charged $3.85, as it should have. That's impressive if a bit creepy. Also, if they are saving money on cashiers, maybe they could lower the price of concessions?
After that, Sharpy and I decided to explore some more, and this time, there were people checking tickets at the club entry. So we went back upstairs, ending up at The Lofts, a small circle of seats just below the upper bowl. There was no face scanning here, and the guy at the door let us in, suggesting that we would not find a seat. There was free food in here, and surprisingly, we did find a very comfortable seat with a better view of the game (above) and even came with free popcorn box (below).
We spent the second half here, mainly because I did not want to miss any action trying to figure out how to get back to our original seats - we could see them, but there was no quick way to get back up there.
Overall, Intuit Dome is very impressive but can be confusing for first time visitors. I'd like to return and take my time to document everything as one hour is just not enough to understand the layout. It will be interesting to see how the facial recognition develops over time and whether other venues will follow suit. At any rate, if you are planning a visit, download the app and fill out your info to save any hassles on game day and save $10 as well.
The Game
The Raptors came in at 2-6 after a two-point loss in Denver, while the Clippers won in Sacramento the night before to move to 5-4. Unfortunately, Leonard was not dressed for this one, still suffering from an injured knee. The first quarter was good with nine lead changes, though LA scored the final 7 points to take a 28-22 lead.
In the second stanza, Toronto was down 33-31 when the Clippers scored four straight from downtown, but the Raptors fought back to get within five at 52-47 at the break. It was an entertaining half of basketball with only 15 fouls and 9 total turnovers committed, but Toronto's poor three-point shooting (5/16 compared to 8/17 for LA) was the difference.
The Raptors scored the first two points of the third quarter but they could get no closer as the Clippers responded every time they made a little run. It was 81-70 as the fourth quarter started, and midway through the lead was still 9. Then the Raptors surprised us with an 11-2 run that tied that game at 93 with 3:30 to go. Could they pull off the upset? Former Raptor Norman Powell sank a running three to make it 100-95 Clippers but again Toronto came back, tying the game at 102 on an Immanuel Quickley three-pointer with 39 seconds left. After a Clippers timeout, Powell was fouled but made only one freebie, giving Toronto a chance to take the lead. But Quickley missed a layup and the Raptors fouled again. This time Harden missed 1 of 2 and again the Raptors had a chance to take the lead; this time RJ Barrett missed the layup and again the had to foul. Unbelievably, Powell missed 1 of 2, so it was 105-102 with 9 seconds left. Of course, the best thing to do up 3 is to foul, and the Clippers did that bringing Jakob Pöltl to the line. He made the first and then intentionally missed the second, grabbing his own rebound and trying for a quick basket. But the shot bounced out and that was the game, a tough loss for a team that is going nowhere fast.
Despite the outcome, it was a good game that came down to the wire. The Raptors had 19 extra shots from the floor mainly because the Clippers were awarded a lot more free throws (32-21). The Raptors made only 12 of their shots from the stripe and those missed 9 points were the reason they lost.
Notes
This was my 45th NBA and 192nd Club 124 venue, with 68 of those obviously being inactive or not regularly used. In terms of only home venues in the Big 4 and not double counting Staples, Met Life or SoFi, this was the 180th, with them neatly spread out: 50 MLB, 50 NHL, 40 NBA, 40 NFL.
I will visit the Utah Hockey Club in March and then the Athletics in July of next year, but both of those are places I have already been to. The next new Club 124 venue is scheduled to be the New Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park in 2026. As the first Club 124 members hail from Buffalo, that will likely be the next official meetup and I can't wait!
Best,
Sean
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