Snazzy start to the season for Crypto.com Arena.
Not only have the Kings and Lakers each won their first three games played on home ice, but the arena certainly has a different look and feel to it here this fall, following a serious set of renovations, Part 3 of 4 overall.
It’s funny to look back at the first set of renderings from 2021, when the renovations were originally announced. There were supposed to be three phases of changes that eventually turned into four, with the final set of arena changes, which impact the Kings’ team space more so than the front-facing parts of the building, set to come next summer, following the conclusion of the 2024-25 seasons for the Kings and Lakers.
Armen Dembekjian, Senior Vice President, Projects & Event Productions at Crypto.com Arena, joined the All The Kings Men podcast for a runthrough on all of the changes at Crypto.com Arena here entering the 2024-25 season. And there have been many.
This season was certainly the most drastic of the improvements.
It’s hard to miss that scoreboard, isn’t it?
Trust me. I am from New York and I have rooted for the New York Yankees for my entire life. Watching them lose the World Series, in front of thousands of people rooting for exactly that, in extremely high definition…..I have noticed the scoreboard. I have found that my face broadcasts better in standard definition, but hey, gotta roll with the punches sometimes in this league.
AD on New Scoreboard
It’s one continuous screen, whereas before it was four screens, essentially with edges, four rectangles on the center hung, and now it’s one continuous Daktronics board. This is just something that we, over the last three years we added the three ribbon boards that loop the entire building, we’ve added the two hustle boards flanking the Laker banners on the South end of the arena, and then now we got to the scoreboard and replaced that. That board was 13 years old, I believe, give or take, so it was time. The old board was at the end of life, you couldn’t find parts and pieces. With technology, you buy your TV, you go home, yeah. So same thing. We got to keep up and we’ve got to put the best product out there.
Two Amazing Home Openers at https://t.co/mht717x15U Arena 🤩🏀🏒 pic.twitter.com/B9CuqC9o1C
— Crypto.com Arena (@cryptocomarena) October 25, 2024
Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Dembekjian added that the board was ultimately installed in less than two weeks, while usually, it’s a month-long process. Crypto.com Arena doesn’t have a month off, though, and the Olympic break in the WNBA schedule provided the best window to install it over the summer. Due to concerts, the arena had around 10 days to install the thing and make sure it was functional for the return to action of the Los Angeles Sparks. It certainly is functional.
Beyond the scoreboard, when you simply remove three sections from the upper concourse, people are going to notice.
City View Terrace was in need of a revamp and it certainly got one. I took a walk there for the first afternoon game of the season, as the Kings hosted Utah last weekend, and the space looks sweet. Glass doors now separate fans from an indoor/outdoor experience, with a bar inside and bars plus food outside. Plenty of outdoor seating space and a lot of really cool seating options indoors too, with full views of the game. There are both reserved seatings areas and first-come, first-serve areas and the space overall is not ticketed, meaning that any fan can enjoy it.
If for nothing else than experience, it’s a very unique space, taking advantage of the fact that Los Angeles is a 12-month outdoor experience, something only Winnipeg can match in the NHL. Maybe they’re 12 months indoors, not sure. Either way, a really cool space.
AB on City View Terrace
We took out those four sections in the end zone, cleared up the ceiling. The windows were regular, 10 feet tall and now they’re 30 feet so. To get those high ceilings, it just opens up the space, put the bar in the center. There’s two rows of seating in front of the bar and one row of bar stools behind it, there’s some communal tables, areas to hang out at where upper concourse didn’t have that before, and now they have this nice, premier area that they can hang out at and you have high ceiling glass, 30 feet tall, that you can see the outside, you have the downtown skyline. On the City View Terrace, there’s a brand new, fixed, built in bar, where before it was just a temporary bar that we had up there, and now it’s an actual bar that’s got TVs on it, where you’re waiting in line for a drink, you’re watching the game, before that didn’t exist. [Before] you’re trying to rush to get your drink and run back to the seat, you don’t have to rush now. New furniture, cabanas, all that stuff, it’s that LA rooftop feel.
Lots of other changes as well, as broken down in the episode. Main Concourse has a new look and feel to it for sure. It’s the area that Dembekjian said takes “more of a beating” than any other floor. Now it’s been remodeled, using apoxy instead of tile, and the space was revamped to both fix past issues and hopefully retain its form going forward.
“The Main Concourse takes more beating than any other floor, if you think about it, everybody has to come through the Main Concourse before they go up to any other level,” he said. “So, apoxy is just, it’s more durable, it’ll last longer and the when there’s special events, the Grammy’s, things like that, there’s load-in, there’s road cases, beer kegs, all kinds of things like that, that’ll just hold up longer, much better than a tile would.”
The building also has a new sound system in place for the coming season, along with new, enhanced lighting in certain areas.
“The speakers we had in there were 25 years old, the buildin’gs 25 years old, 25 year anniversary, so just changing all that out, putting up new speakers to get better coverage everywhere,” Dembekjian said. “Lighting at the entrances, next time you come in, at the two entrances, Figueroa side and the Chick Hearn Court side, there’s the ceiling, a lighting design now that just makes them more modern. Again, trying to fast-forward 25 years, keeping up the building.”
The timing here was certainly important, as the Kings rebranded over the summer, meaning that every LA Shield that was plastered throughout their building needed to be changed. Every font that matched the shield needed to be updated. That takes time, it’s a process and put the importance specifically on this summer, as the rebranded stuff was added to an already deep list of upgrades. More on all of that in the ATKM episode, if you’re looking for some non-Kings content between now and tomorrow’s return to your regularly scheduled program!
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