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LA Clippers’ Partnership With Aspiration Will Create A Healthier, More Sustainable Community

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The Los Angeles Clippers have announced a new multi-year partnership with Aspiration, a leading financial services platform designated to help people and businesses put automated, sustainable impact into their hands and integrate it into their daily lives.

This deal marks Aspiration as the founding partner of the Intuit Dome, a state-of-the-art basketball arena set to become the Clippers’ home in October 2024.

Aspiration is headquartered in Marina del Rey, CA, and is devoted to creating a cleaner and safer environment. With an opportunity to become one of the first partners for what’s expected to be the greatest basketball and indoor concert venue to date, it was a perfect match for a company looking to make a real difference.

When Clippers owner Steve Ballmer addressed a crowd of reporters and fans during the Intuit Dome groundbreaking ceremony, the significance of building an efficient venue for consumers was chief among his points. In addition to the highly-anticipated arena having a world-class visual experience and comfortability, Ballmer expressed his desire for this new venue being eco-friendly.

With this partnership, Aspiration will work diligently with the Clippers to achieve sustainability in the Intuit Dome, which will be the world’s first climate positive arena. Together, the two sides will launch innovative programs and commit to making improvements in the local community in regards to the fight against climate change.

In a press release, the Clippers presented various ways Aspiration will assist them in ultimately setting a “new standard for social responsibility in sports.”

“There is a responsibility associated with building the best arena in the world,” Ballmer said in the release. "Aspiration becoming our first Founding Partner supports the stake we are planting in the ground to make Intuit Dome the most sustainable arena in the world.”

The new building will operate 100% carbon-free from day one, and will be the only sports arena built with 100% embodied carbon concrete, which actively reduces the carbon input into the neighborhood and surrounding community.

According to the Clippers, it was important for them to ensure this new venue will be LEED Platinum certified, the highest classification available. On top of being naturally ventilated, it will be fully electric by way of batteries and solar power with adequate on-site energy storage to power a basketball game or concert in the event of a blackout. With 3x the normal battery power for an arena, the Intuit Dome will have 9MWh of on-site energy storage, including 2 MW of solar.

As mentioned at the groundbreaking, the arena will have no net new greenhouse gas emissions.

Joe Sanberg, co-founder of Aspiration, sees the Clippers’ vision for the future of sports venues and understands this will be a major step in the right direction.

“Today, the Clippers are raising the bar for every major sports franchise in the world," Sanberg said. "By committing to a sustainable future, this team is proving that its massive cultural influence can extend to harnessing meaningful and ongoing action against the climate crisis by embedding Aspiration’s sustainability services throughout the fan experience. As a Clippers fan, I am proud to be partnering with them to define a new era of climate action in major league sports — and I hope that the rest of the NBA follows their example.”

The team will consult with Aspiration’s Sustainable Impact Services, a B2B arm that offers software and services that enable companies to integrate the fight against climate change into their daily customer experience. This new partnership will also help install the first “Planet Protection Fund,” which will be a program designed to help fans offset their own carbon impact whenever they purchase a ticket for games at the Intuit Dome.

Additional proposed sustainability programs are planned to benefit Southern California businesses, entrepreneurs and students. As much as Aspiration is getting involved to help the Clippers, the two organizations are prepared to merge their efforts into the community. Aspiration will also engage with the Clippers’ Mentorship Assist Zone program, which provides underserved Southern California youth with education and exposure to career opportunities.

“Our relationship with Aspiration is aspirational; how do we do more?” said Gillian Zucker, LA Clippers President of Business Operations. “It’s not enough anymore to just do our part as a company. We need to use our platform to create a movement around the importance of protecting our planet.”

According to the press release, the new venue will include different initiatives to help achieve full sustainability, preserve the environment, and hopefully make an impact for companies to follow in the future.

The Intuit Dome will feature a comprehensive waste reduction program to eliminate landfill waste onsite and extensive programs to improve regional air quality. The Clippers have committed to the annual monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions and transportation impacts for the arena starting in 2024, a first for a large-scale venue, and this will ensure sustainability goals and promises are met.

As part of the environmentally-friendly approach, the Clippers say their new arena will save more than four million gallons of water per year through a low-water strategy, “with an additional 3.5 million gallons of potable water saved through the use of grey water.”

Transportation services will also play a large role in this deal. The Clippers’ transportation management program will reduce vehicle trips by 15% and they will have 330 electric vehicle charging stations on site.

The Clippers are also partnering with the Port of Los Angeles. Along with purchasing 26 fuel-friendly ships for the Port, they are determined to help minimize boat emissions, improve regional air quality, and create a ZERO-Waste Program with recycling and composting.

While the Intuit Dome sparked this partnership, it doesn’t end with efforts to build the most sustainable arena. The goal is to create a better environment and way of life.

“We are excited to be the first Founding Partner of Intuit Dome, and we recognize that this is a great opportunity to further integrate sustainability and carbon negativity into the operations of this iconic franchise,” said Andrei Cherny, Co-founder and CEO of Aspiration. “The LA Clippers are proof positive of Aspiration’s core philosophy: People and businesses can do well while also doing good.”

As Intuit Dome’s first Founding Partner, Aspiration will receive physical and digital signage elements and activations that promote sustainability, hospitality elements and become the presenting partner of the Clipper Nation MVP Program, which offers exclusive benefits to season ticket holders.

The vision of Steve Ballmer and his new partners has never been more direct. The Clippers might be in the sports and entertainment business, but with great opportunity comes immense pressure to help the surrounding communities. By utilizing resources such as Aspiration, the Clippers are setting an example for others to follow.

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