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."
October starts with a gov't shutdown averted, some promising data on Covid cases, Facebook whistleblower, Tom Brady returns to Foxboro and the Super Bowl halftime show is set.
Cheddar recommends "BMF" on Starz, "Midnight Mass" and "Squid Game" on Netflix, and the first two seasons of "Succession" on HBO Max.
Jill and Carlo try to make sense of the various happenings in Congress, including what's in these two big spending packages that Dems are trying to get passed. Plus, a big win for Britney Spears in court, YouTube throws down the ban hammer on anti-vax videos and more.
Even as the number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the U.S. has rapidly increased, support from banks has lagged behind. Cheddar's Michelle Castillo reports on the ongoing challenges for some business owners who may also be dealing with the issue of being undocumented.
Video-sharing tech platform YouTube on Wednesday announced immediate bans on false claims that vaccines are dangerous and cause health issues like autism, cancer or infertility.
The approval for Pfizer's vaccine in kids could be delayed slightly, Biden gets involved in Dem negotiations, why everything so expensive, all the devices Amazon announced, and the James Bond movie is finally coming out.
Alex Bell, a Post-Doctoral Scholar at UCLA, joins 'Cheddar Reveals' to discuss how exposure to innovation influences who becomes an inventor and how much genius has been lost over the years.
Jill and Carlo talk government shutdown, spending showdowns, vaccine mandates, Facebook and more. Plus, should felons whose actions changed history be granted clemency? Debate!
Kelly has been convicted in a sex trafficking trial after several accusers testified in lurid detail how he subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage.
“Dear Evan Hansen” may have been a hit on Broadway, but the filmed adaptation of the Tony-winning show is off to a slow start at the box office in its first weekend in theaters.
