STAPLES Center President Talks 20 Years of L.A. Sports
The iconic STAPLES Center in Los Angeles is celebrating its 20-year anniversary this week.
Founded in 1999, the arena has grown into a world-class facility — on par with New York’s Madison Square Garden and London’s O2 Arena — and is now home to four professional sports teams, including the NBA’s Lakers and Clippers.
Yet opening STAPLES two decades ago in the less-than-thriving downtown City of Angels was a risky bet.
“The success of STAPLES Center was never guaranteed,” said Lee Zeidman, the president of STAPLES Center and L.A. Live, an adjacent entertainment center. “Nobody went downtown. It rolled up its carpet and closed at 5 p.m.”
Today, STAPLES draws enormous crowds to its events, which range from basketball to hockey to the Grammy Awards. In total, the arena has held 5,000 events, welcomed 75 million fans, and sold over 20 million beers.
The arena is also gearing up for a major event in the sports world next week: the NBA’s October 22 opening night matchup between the teams that call it home: the Lakers and the Clippers.
“We will be the center of the NBA universe,” said Zeidman, who was the arena's first full-time employee 20 years ago. “It is one of the most anticipated opening night games in the history of the NBA."
Brittan Heller, founder of the Center for Digital Civil Rights and a fellow at the Atlantic Council, joins Cheddar News to discuss the rise of sexual assault in the metaverse.
President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, have kicked off the first White House Easter Egg Roll since before the coronavirus pandemic, welcoming 30,000 kids and adults for the all-day event.
A container ship the length of more than three football fields has finally been pried from the muddy bottom of the Chesapeake Bay more than a month after it ran aground.
Christine Moore, a celebrity hat designer and featured milliner for the 148th running of the Kentucky Derby, joined Cheddar News to talk about how her headwear became a staple of race day fashion and what Derby watchers can come to expect at this year's horse racing event. “It's always go big or go home," she said. "And it's also very Southern belle style for the first leg of the triple crown, which is the Kentucky Derby." The race will be held on Saturday, May 7.
Content creator, rising musician, and star of the TikTok and Netflix reality show "Hype House," Alex Warren joined Cheddar to talk about overcoming the many challenges in his life in his rise to fame and discussed "Locked In," his new podcast. “All I had was a camera and a computer to my name, and it only made sense to film my experience of going house to house of my friends and saying this is what I can do in this situation," he said, explaining how he got his start.
With more than 6 billion views on YouTube and 12 million followers on social media, Xavier Mortimer is an award-winning, internationally-acclaimed magician and social media star. The former Cirque du Soleil performer joined Cheddar News to discuss his rise to fame on social media amid the pandemic. “Well basically my show closed overnight, and I had nothing else to do," he said. "I started to film videos at home and they took off on TikTok and Instagram." Mortimer also talked about "The Dream Maker," his Las Vegas magic show and even performs a little trick for Cheddar.
