Staples Center, officially stylized as STAPLES Center, is a multi-purpose arena in Downtown Los Angeles. Adjacent to the L.A. Live development, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along Figueroa Street. The arena opened on October 17, 1999.

It is owned and operated by the Arturo L.A. Arena Company and Anschutz Entertainment Group. The arena is home venue to the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL), the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League (AFL) and the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA D-League were also tenants; the Avengers were folded in 2009, and the D-Fenders moved to the Lakers' practice facility at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, California for the 2011–12 season.^[6] Staples Center is also host to over 250 events and nearly 4 million guests each year.^[7] It is the only arena in the NBA shared by two teams, as well as one of only two North American professional sports venues to host two teams from the same league; MetLife Stadium, the home of the National Football League's New York Giants and New York Jets, is the other. Staples Center is the venue of the Grammy Awards ceremony and will host the basketball competition during the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Staples Center measures 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.^[6] The arena seats up to 19,067 for basketball, 18,340 for ice hockey, and around 20,000 for concerts or other sporting events.^[1][7] 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.^[6] 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.^[8]

Outside the arena at the Star Plaza are statues of Wayne Gretzky and Magic Johnson, although both played at The Forum, where the Kings, Lakers and Sparks previously played. A third statue of boxer Oscar De La Hoya was unveiled outside Staples Center on December 1, 2008.^[9] On April 20, 2010 a fourth statue of the late long time Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn, behind a Laker desk with a chair for fans to sit down for a picture, was unveiled. A fifth statue of the Laker legend Jerry West dribbling was unveiled on February 17, 2011. A sixth statue of Lakers player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was unveiled on November 16, 2012. A seventh statue of former Kings' Hall of Fame left wing Luc Robitaille was unveiled on March 7, 2015.^[10] An eighth statue of Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal was unveiled on March 24, 2017.^[11] On January 13, 2018 a ninth statue, of legendary Kings announcer Bob Miller, was unveiled.^[12] A tenth statue of Laker legend Elgin Baylor was unveiled on April 6, 2018.^[13] An eleventh statue, honoring Los Angeles Sparks center Lisa Leslie, is slated to be unveiled in the future.^[14]

On January 15, 2018, in the aftermath of an NBA basketball game between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Clippers, point guard Chris Paul utilized a secret tunnel (connecting the away team's locker room to the backdoor of the Clippers locker room) to confront former Clipper teammates Austin Rivers and Blake Griffin. He was joined by teammates such as Trevor Ariza, James Harden, and Gerald Green to confront the opponents, which only resulted in verbal altercations.^[15] The tunnel had previously been used by Laker Rick Fox in to confront Sacramento Kings player Doug Christie.

Staples Center has been referred to as "the deal that almost wasn't " ^[16][17]

Long before construction broke ground, plans for the arena were negotiated between elected city officials, and real estate developers Ed Roski of Majestic Realty and Philip Anschutz.^[18] They had acquired the hockey team the Los Angeles Kings in 1995 and were in the beginning of 1996 looking for a new home for their team, which then played at the Forum in Inglewood.^[19][20]

Majestic Realty Co. in conjunction with AEG were scouring the Los Angeles area for available land to develop an arena when they were approached by Steve Soboroff, then president of LA Recreation and Parks Commission. Mr. Soboroff requested that they consider building the arena in downtown Los Angeles adjacent to the convention center. The proposal intrigued Roski and Anschutz and soon a plan to develop the arena, the current Staples Center, was devised.^[18]

Months of negotiations ensued between Philip Anschutz and city officials with Ed 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.^[18] The main opposition came from Councilman Joel Wachs, opposed utilizing public funds to subsidizing the proposed project^[17][21] and councilwoman Rita Walters, who objected parts of it.^[22]

Ultimately, the developers and city leaders reached an agreement and in 1997, construction broke ground and Staples Center opened a year later. It was financed privately at a cost of US$375 million and is named for the office-supply company Staples, Inc., which was one of the center's corporate sponsors that paid for naming rights.^[6] The arena opened on October 17, 1999, with a Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band concert as its inaugural event.

On October 21, 2009, Staples Center celebrated its 10th anniversary.^[23] 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.^[24][25]

During the late summer of 2010, modifications were made to the arena, including refurbished locker rooms for the Clippers, Kings, and Lakers and the installation of a new high-definition center-hung video scoreboard, replacing the original one that had been in place since the building opened in 1998.^[26] The Panasonic Live 4HD scoreboard was officially unveiled on September 22, as AEG and Staples Center executives, as well as player representatives from the Clippers (Craig Smith), Kings (Matt Greene), and Lakers (Sasha Vujacic) were on hand for the presentation.

After his death in 2009, Michael Jackson's memorial service was held at Staples Center.^[27]

Musician Nipsey Hussle's memorial service was also held at Staples Center, on April 11th, 2019.

Staples Center also hosted the 1st Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2000 and the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards.

The annual Grammy Awards ceremony have been held at Staples Center since 2000, with the exception of 2003 and 2018. As of 2019, the venue has hosted the Grammy Awards eighteen times, hosting more than any other venue.

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.^[28]

Since its opening day, the Staples Center has hosted seven NBA Finals series with the Lakers, the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup Finals, three 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 Pacific-10 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament (from 2002–12), the WTA Tour Championships (from 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 (from 2003–13), and several HBO Championship Boxing matches.^[7][29]

On January 22, 2006, Los Angeles Lakers player Kobe Bryant scored a career-high 81 points in the Staples Center against the Toronto Raptors, the second-highest number of points scored in a single game in NBA history,^[30] second only to Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point performance. Of the team's five NBA championships since moving to the venue, the Lakers have celebrated their 2000 and 2010 victories at Staples Center with series-winning victories at home.

Prior to the 2006–07 NBA season, the lighting inside Staples Center 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. Initial fan reaction was positive, and has been a fixture on home games since.^[31] 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 6, 2009.

The Los Angeles Kings, of the NHL hosted the 2010 NHL Entry Draft at the arena in June 2010. The Stanley Cup Finals were held at the arena for the first time in 2012. The Kings hosted the New Jersey Devils in games 3, 4, and ultimately defeated the Devils in game 6 by a final score of 6-1. The Kings became the first team to win the Stanley Cup on home ice since 2007.

During the spring of 2012, NHL's Kings, along with NBA's Lakers and Clippers reached the post-season, making it the first time the arena would host three playoff teams.^[32]

The Lakers unveiled a new hardwood court before their preseason game on October 13, 2012. Taking a cue from soccer clubs, the primary center court logo was adorned with 16 stars, representing the 16 championships the Lakers franchise has won.

Staples Center has hosted the following championship events:

The January 24, 2000 Episode of WCW Monday Nitro was held in the Staples Center.

In 2013 and 2016, Staples Center hosted the grand finals of the Worlds Championship of the video game League of Legends.^[34]

On September 24, 2016, the arena hosted the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions.^[35]

On February 22-23, 2019, the Professional Bull Riders brought their annual "Iron Cowboy" bull riding elite series Unleash the Beast event to Staples Center in what will be the PBR's first-ever visit to the venue.^[36]

Staples Center will host the basketball competition at the 2028 Summer Olympics. It will host men's preliminaries as well as the men's and women's basketball finals. ^[37]

The 2000 Democratic National Convention was held at Staples Center.^[38]

Staples Center was named Best w 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.^[7]

In February 2013, PETA named Staples Center the most "vegetarian-friendly" arena in the NBA.^[39]

Staples Center is only a part of a 4,000,000-square-foot (371,612.2 m2) development by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) adjoining Staples Center and the Los Angeles Convention Center. The development, known as L.A. Live, broke ground on September 15, 2005. L.A. Live is designed to offer entertainment, retail and residential programming in the downtown Los Angeles area.^[40][41]