Great Western Forum

Lore & Background

The Forum opened on December 30, 1967. Architect Charles Luckman's vision was realized by engineers Carl Johnson and Svend Nielsen. It was a groundbreaking structure without extensive internal support pillars that was unique in an indoor arena the size of the Forum. The arena's roof, a cable-suspended structure, has a diameter of approximately 407 feet (124 meters).

From 1967 to 1999, the Forum was home to the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL) before both teams joined the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena, then known as Staples Center. From 1997 to 2001, the Forum was also the home of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks until they moved to Crypto.com Arena as well. Alongside Madison Square Garden in New York City, the Forum has been considered one of the best-known indoor sports venues in the U.S., largely due to the Lakers' success and the Hollywood celebrities often seen there.

It was the site of the 1972 and 1983 NBA All-Star Games, the 1981 NHL All-Star Game, 1984 Olympic basketball, and the Big West Conference (from 1983 to 1988) and 1989 Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball tournaments. The venue has also hosted tennis and boxing matches, as well as major music concerts and political events. In 2000, the Forum was acquired by the Faithful Central Bible Church, who used it for occasional church services and leased it for sporting, concerts, and other events.

In 2012, the Forum was purchased by the Madison Square Garden Company (MSG), for $23.5 million; MSG announced plans to renovate the arena as a world-class concert venue. On September 24, 2014, the Forum was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. On March 24, 2020, Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer purchased The Forum from MSG for $400 million. The Forum has previously been known as the Great Western Forum, as well as The Forum presented by Chase, and was nicknamed The Fabulous Forum by long-time Lakers play-by-play announcer Chick Hearn. It is also known informally as the LA Forum to distinguish it from other places with the name 'Forum'.

Reader's Guide

On the site of a former golf course, the 'fabulous' Forum (as it was colloquially known to locals) was built in 1967 by Jack Kent Cooke (owner of the Lakers and founding owner of the Kings). The Canadian Cooke, who enjoyed ice hockey, was determined to bring the National Hockey League (NHL) to Los Angeles. In 1966, the NHL announced that it was adding six new franchises for 1967, and Cooke prepared a bid. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, which operated the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, supported a competing bid headed by Los Angeles Rams owner Dan Reeves—who already had a hockey team at the Arena, the Western Hockey League's Los Angeles Blades.

The Commission told Cooke that if he won the franchise, he would not be allowed to use the facility. In response, Cooke planned to build a new arena in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood. Nearly 30 years later, Cooke told Los Angeles Times sportswriter Steve Springer that he remembered 'one official representing the commission laughing at him' when Cooke said he would build in Inglewood. Cooke won the franchise, paying $2 million for the Los Angeles club, which he called the Kings.

According to Springer, 'Cooke went to Inglewood and built the Forum. Goodbye, Lakers. Goodbye, Kings.' The round, $16 million building was designed by Los Angeles architect Charles Luckman to be 'reminiscent of Roman coliseums.'

The arena seats 17,505 for basketball, 16,005 for hockey and up to 18,000 for musical concerts; although it has no luxury suites, it had 2,400 club seats for events. More than 70% of the seats are between the goals, and no seat is more than 170 feet (52 m) from the playing surface. The first Kings game at the arena took place on December 30, 1967 as an 0–2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. The first Lakers game at the arena took place on December 31, 1967, as a 147–118 victory against the San Diego Rockets.

During the Cooke era, the Forum hosted five NBA Finals in its first six years (1967–1973). The Boston Celtics celebrated both the 1968 and 1969 championships in the arena, the latter of which marked the final games Bill Russell ever played. The Lakers won the 1972 NBA Finals at the Forum in Game 5, while the New York Knicks' second championship was clinched in a Game 5 at the same venue in the 1973 NBA Finals the following season.

Did You Know?

• Elvis Presley played afternoon and evening shows at the Forum on November 14, 1970, with 18,700 and 18,698 paid admissions.
• The Jackson 5 broke attendance records at the Forum in 1970 with 18,675 paid admissions and a gross income of $105,000.