Old Sites Become Empty Nests

Will the Fabulous Forum still be fabulous after the Lakers and Kings--its marquee tenants--move downtown to the Staples Center? And will the Sports Arena stand even emptier than it does now after the Clippers join the Lakers and Kings in the new arena?

The Sports Arena won’t be completely deserted. The USC men’s basketball team, which plays its home games at the Sports Arena, intends to remain at its current home for the foreseeable future, according to USC Sports Information Director Tim Tessalone.

“Now, with the Clippers leaving, that opens dates for our women’s team, and we are planning to do that for the 1999-2000 season,” he said.

Speculation that the men’s basketball team will leave the Sports Arena for an arena to be built on campus at Figueroa and Jefferson “is extremely premature,” Tessalone said.

Little is certain about the future of the Great Western Forum or the Sports Arena after the Staples Center opens in the fall of 1999. And no one is willing to guess whether the two buildings will try to make a go of it by pursuing other tenants such as ice shows, circuses and concerts, or will meet other, undetermined fates.

“There is nobody on the face of this earth who could answer that specifically,” Bob Steiner, a spokesman for Laker owner Jerry Buss, said when asked what the Forum’s future holds. “It’s foolish to try and speculate what will happen.

“If it isn’t purchased, there is a very real possibility Jerry Buss will try to operate with whatever events he can do. If a football stadium gets built at Hollywood Park, we could become a parking lot.”

Tim Leiweke, president of the Kings and point man for the club in arena plans and negotiations, said the Sports Arena might be used as a backup for the Staples Center if the new arena runs into scheduling logjams.

Said Lee Zeidman, vice president of operations for the Staples Center: “That would work because the Staples Center and the Sports Arena are less than three miles apart and staff could move back and forth pretty easily.”

However, Clipper spokesman Joe Safety said that scenario appeared unlikely.

“We don’t anticipate having to make use of that,” he said.

Yet, having a second building nearby has worked well for the CoreStates Center in Philadelphia, home of the NBA 76ers and NHL Flyers. The teams’ old home, the Spectrum, is across the street and used for practices, minor league hockey games, concerts and an assortment of events.

“The beauty of having two facilities is it gives you 104 Fridays, 104 Saturdays and 104 Sundays,” said Peter Luukko, who is president of the CoreStates Complex and was a regional vice president for Spectacor based at the Coliseum and Sports Arena.

“We’ve also done major concerts at the Spectrum and Disney on Ice at Christmas. We had an opportunity to book Phish and Dave Matthews and we put them at the Spectrum. It’s not like we have ‘A’ and ‘B’ buildings. We’re doing a Van Halen concert at the Spectrum during the hockey playoffs. We can guarantee a date there in May, which we can’t do at CoreStates.”

Luukko said the 40-year-old Sports Arena had some advantages, but he said it was long past the time for the Sports Arena and the Forum to be replaced.

“It was a very flexible building for its time. We were able to do a lot of flat shows other buildings couldn’t do because of the floor space,” he said.

“But as more and more buildings get built, like CoreStates and [AmericaWest Arena in] Phoenix, buildings like the Forum and the Sports Arena are becoming outdated. The Forum is not that much better than the Spectrum. It served its purpose.”