Staples Center

The Staple Center is a multi purpose sports arena in down town Los Angeles, California. It is located near the Los Angeles Convention Center complex and is owned by the L.A Arena Company. The arena was built to replace the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California. It opened on October 17, 1999.http://hockey.ballparks.com/NHL/LosAngelesKings/newindex.htm

The arena is home to four professional sports teams. The Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA, the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL, and the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA. The arena will host the 2011 NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, February 20, 2011. It is the second time that the arena is hosting the game.http://www.nba.com/history/allstar/allstargame_recaps.html

The Staple Center has hosted numerous functions and concerts including ten Grammy Awards shows and the first Latin Grammy Awards in 2000.http://www.life.com/image/731599 The first major political event hosted by the arena came in 2000, when it was home to the Democratic National Convention. The arena was also the location of Michael Jackson's funeral on July 7, 2009.http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b132523_jackson_memorial_set_staples_center.html

In addition to sports teams that call Staples Center home, it has played host to other major sporting events. The 2002 NHL All-Star Game and 2004 NBA All-Star Game both took place at the arena. Staples Center has hosted the Pac-10 Basketball Championship every year since 2002. The WTA Tour held its year-end championships at Staples Center from 2002-2005 as well.http://www.nba.com/lakers/tickets/staplescenter.html