Crypto.com Arena (originally and still commonly known as Staples Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in downtown Los Angeles. Opened on October 17, 1999, as Staples Center, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center along Figueroa Street, and has since been considered a part of L.A. Live. Owned and operated by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), it is the home venue of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL)—which are both owned in part by AEG's founder Philip Anschutz, as well as the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks.
The Los Angeles Clippers also played in the arena from 1999 to 2024, before leaving for their new arena, Intuit Dome, located in Inglewood.
From 1999 to 2024, it was the only arena in the NBA shared by two teams, as well as one of only three North American professional sports venues (alongside SoFi Stadium in nearby Inglewood, and New Jersey's MetLife Stadium) to have hosted two teams from the same league. The venue is also frequently used for major concerts, and has been the most frequent host of the Grammy Awards ceremony since its opening.
Crypto.com Arena will host the artistic gymnastics competition and boxing finals during the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Contents
Description
Crypto.com Arena has 950,000 square feet (88,257.9 m2) of total space, with a 94-foot (28.7 m) by 200-foot (61.0 m) arena floor. It stands 150 feet (45.7 m) tall. The arena seats up to 19,067 for basketball, 18,145 for ice hockey, and around 20,000 for concerts or other sporting events. Two-thirds of the arena's seating, including 2,500 club seats, are in the lower bowl. There are also 160 luxury suites, including 15 event suites, on three levels between the lower and upper bowls. The arena's attendance record is held by the fight between World WBA Welterweight Champion Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley with a crowd of 20,820, set on January 25, 2009.
Star Plaza
Outside the arena at the Star Plaza are 14 statues of famous Los Angeles athletes and broadcasters. Additionally, the Los Angeles Kings Monument was erected in Star Plaza in 2016. The Kobe and Gianna Bryant Memorial Statue was erected in 2024. A third statue of Kobe Bryant, honoring his number 24, is planned.
Following is a list of statues on display:
History
The arena has been referred to as "the deal that almost wasn't." Long before construction broke ground, plans for the arena were negotiated between elected city officials and real estate developers Edward P. Roski of Majestic Realty and Philip Anschutz. Roski and Anschutz had acquired the Los Angeles Kings in 1995 and in 1996 began looking for a new home for their team, which then played at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood.
Majestic Realty Co. and AEG were scouring the Los Angeles area for available land to develop an arena when they were approached by Steve Soboroff, then president of the LA Recreation and Parks Commission. Soboroff requested that they consider building the arena in downtown Los Angeles adjacent to the convention center. This proposal intrigued Roski and Anschutz, and soon a plan to develop the arena was devised.
Months of negotiations ensued between Anschutz and city officials, with Roski and John Semcken of Majestic Realty Co. spearheading the negotiations for the real estate developers. The negotiations grew contentious at times and the real estate developers threatened to pull out altogether on more than one occasion. The main opposition came from Councilman Joel Wachs, who opposed utilizing public funds to subsidize the proposed project, and councilwoman Rita Walters, who objected to parts of it.
Ultimately, the developers and city leaders reached an agreement, and in 1997, construction broke ground on the new building, which opened two years later. It was financed privately at a cost of US$375 million and was named for the office-supply company Staples Inc., which was one of the center's corporate sponsors that paid for naming rights. Staples' 10-year naming rights deal was extended for another 10 years in 2009. The arena opened on October 17, 1999, with a Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band concert as its inaugural event. The first Kings games at the arena was on October 20, 1999 where the Kings tied 2–2 in overtime against the Boston Bruins. The first Clippers game at the arena was on November 2, 1999 where the Clippers lost 92–104 to the Seattle SuperSonics. The first Lakers game at the arena was on November 3, 1999 where the Lakers won 103–88 against the Vancouver Grizzlies.
On October 21, 2009, the arena celebrated its tenth anniversary. To commemorate the occasion, the venue's official web site nominated 25 of the arena's greatest moments from its first ten years with fans voting on the top ten.
Events
Music
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band were the first act to perform at the venue on its opening in 1999. Dave Matthews Band famously played the venue twice in 2008, despite the first show being the day of founding member and saxophonist LeRoi Moore's death.
After the American singer Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, a televised memorial service was held at the arena on July 7. Its operator, AEG, had promoted the This Is It concert residency that Jackson had been scheduled to perform at The O2 Arena in London. Jackson had been rehearsing at the arena in the weeks prior to his death; he last had rehearsed there approximately 12 hours before his death (on the same day).
It hosted the 1st Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2000 and the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards. In 2011, Jenni Rivera became the first female regional Mexican musician to perform a sell-out at the arena.
Lady Gaga has performed three nights of her Monster Ball Tour at Crypto.com Arena, August 11–12, 2011. Later on brang the third date March 28, 2011 celebrating her birthday at the arena. On January 20–21, 2013 she brang her Born This Way Ball Tour. On July 21–22, 2014 she brang her artRAVE: The ARTPOP Ball marking her last shows at this arena.
Taylor Swift has performed 16 sellouts at Crypto.com Arena—the most of any performer at the venue. On August 21, 2015, prior to one of her performances on the 1989 World Tour, Kobe Bryant presented Swift with a banner commemorating this achievement, which was hung in the arena's rafters. The Taylor Swift banner, however, became the subject of a curse among Lakers and Kings fans, who suspected that the banner was contributing to their teams' respective playoff droughts. Eventually, the Kings began to hide the Taylor Swift banner during home games, and the banner was taken down entirely in December 2020.
Mexican musicians Gloria Trevi and Alejandra Guzmán played two sellout shows at the arena in 2017. Rapper Nipsey Hussle's memorial service was held at the venue on April 11, 2019. As part of Super Bowl LVI festivities, the arena hosted the "Super Bowl Music Fest" in February 2022, headlined by Halsey, Machine Gun Kelly, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani, Miley Cyrus, and Green Day. As part of the 2026 FIFA World Cup festivities, the arena hosted a "countdown concert" on June 10, 2026 and featured Major Lazer, Davido, Ava Max, and Bia.
Sports
The venue opened in 1999 as the home of the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers (NBA), and Los Angeles Kings of the NHL. The Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA joined in 2001, while the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA D-League joined in 2006. It became home to the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League in 2000 until the team's discontinuation in 2009.
On June 21, 2003, the arena hosted the boxing event Lennox Lewis vs. Vitali Klitschko, which was Lennox Lewis' final title defense before retiring. Klitschko was leading on the scorecards however the fight ended as a 6th-round TKO due to a sustained cut over Klitschko's eye.
Since its opening day, the arena has hosted seven NBA Finals series with the Lakers, the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup Final, five WNBA Finals, the 2002 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the 52nd and 62nd NHL All-Star game, three NBA All-Star Games (2004, 2011 and 2018), the Pac-10 Conference men's basketball tournament (2002–12), the WTA Tour Championships (2002–05), UFC 60 in 2006, UFC 104 in 2009, UFC 184 in 2015, UFC 227 in 2018, the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships, the Summer X Games indoor competitions (2003–13), and several HBO Championship Boxing matches.
On January 22, 2006, Los Angeles Lakers player Kobe Bryant scored a career-high 81 points in the Crypto.com Arena against the Toronto Raptors, the third-highest number of points scored in a single game in NBA history, behind Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point performance and Bam Adebayo's 83-point game. Of the team's six NBA championships since moving to the venue, the Lakers have celebrated their 2000 and 2010 victories at Crypto.com Arena with series-winning victories at home.
Prior to the 2006–07 NBA season, the lighting inside the arena was modified for Lakers games. The lights were focused only on the court itself (hence the promotional Lights Out campaign), reminiscent of the Lakers' early years at The Forum. The initial fan reaction was positive and has been a fixture on home games since. The Daktronics see-through shot clock was first installed prior to the 2008–09 NBA season. The Clippers adopted the new see-through shot clock prior to the 2010–11 NBA season. For Sparks games, the court used is named after Sparks player Lisa Leslie, and was officially named prior to the 2009 home opener against the Shock on June 23, 2006.
Esports
In 2013 and 2016, the arena hosted the finals of the League of Legends World Championship.
Professional wrestling
Along with hosting many episodes of Raw and SmackDown, such as the latter's 20th anniversary season premiere on October 4, 2019, Crypto.com Arena has also hosted the following WWE pay-per-views:
Unforgiven 2002
Judgment Day 2004
WrestleMania 21
No Way Out 2007
SummerSlam (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014)
Hell in a Cell 2015
No Mercy 2017
NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2018
Survivor Series 2018
NXT Stand & Deliver 2023
A broadcast of WCW Monday Nitro was held at the arena on January 24, 2000.
The arena hosted SmackDown and the 2023 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony on March 31 as well as NXT Stand & Deliver on April 1 and Raw on April 3, as part of WrestleMania 39 weekend.
The arena hosted All Elite Wrestling (AEW)'s Revolution pay-per-view on March 9, 2025, marking the first time the venue has hosted a non-WWE pro wrestling event in over 25 years.
Politics
The 2000 Democratic National Convention was held at the venue.
Celebrity memorials
The arena has hosted three public memorials for celebrities.
First, it was for the memorial of musician Michael Jackson following his death on June 25, 2009. The memorial took place on July 7, 2009. It included eulogies or performances from Smokey Robinson, Mariah Carey, Macaulay Culkin, Trey Lorenz, Queen Latifah, Lionel Richie, John Mayer, Stevie Wonder, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Jennifer Hudson, Berry Gordy, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Brooke Shields, Martin Luther King III, Bernice King, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Usher, Shaheen Jafargholi, Kenny Ortega, Judith Hill, Orianthi Panagaris, his siblings Marlon, Jermaine, and Janet, and his daughter Paris.
In 2019, a memorial took place at the arena for rapper Nipsey Hussle following his death on March 31, 2019. The memorial service took place on April 11, 2019. Attendees and performers included rapper YG, Stevie Wonder who sang "Tears in Heaven", his wife Lauren London, Jhené Aiko, Anthony Anderson, Marsha Ambrosius and Snoop Dogg who gave a eulogy. A hurst procession after the service followed through various South Los Angeles communities.
In 2020, it served as the location for the public memorial of basketball player Kobe Bryant following the death of him and his daughter Gianna, among others, in the 2020 Calabasas helicopter crash. It took place on February 24 (2/24, a reference to Gianna's and Kobe's basketball numbers) 2020. It was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and included eulogies from his wife Vanessa, Shaquille O'Neal, Michael Jordan, Rob Pelinka, Diana Taurasi, Geno Auriemma, and Sabrina Ionescu.
Awards and recognitions
Staples Center was named Best Major Concert Venue for 1998 and Arena of the Year for 1999, 2000 and 2001 by Pollstar Magazine and has been nominated each year since 2000. In February 2013, PETA named the arena the most "vegetarian-friendly" arena in the NBA.