The Clippers’ practice facility will be named Honey Training Center in rights deal
When Clippers players returned to Los Angeles for intrasquad pick-up games this month, they found a far different practice facility than the one they left in April.
Following an offseason remodel greenlighted by team owner Steve Ballmer, the 11-year-old Playa Vista building has a renovated locker room, larger weight and training rooms, and a new space for media.
Soon, the building also will feature a new name.
The Clippers on Friday will announce the renamed Honey Training Center as part of a corporate sponsorship deal with Honey, a tech firm founded and based in Los Angeles that finds discounts for online shoppers, according to a person with knowledge of the agreement. The logo of the seven-year-old company also will be displayed on the Clippers’ practice courts and jerseys the team wears during practices.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed but it lasts at least four years and the team will receive a “multimillion-dollar investment,” the person said.
About half of NBA franchises have sold naming rights in connection with their practice facility, with the Golden State Warriors and Clippers joining those ranks this week.
Clippers officials have previously said they don’t envision remaining at their current facility past the 2023-24 NBA season, planning instead to move into a new training center in Inglewood that would be connected to a proposed Clippers arena financed by Ballmer.
The Clippers formally begin the upcoming season Sept. 29 before continuing training camp in Hawaii. After exhibition games in Honolulu against the Houston Rockets and China’s Shanghai Sharks, the Clippers finish their preseason schedule with games in Los Angeles on Oct. 10 and Oct. 13, and in Vancouver, Canada, on Oct. 17.
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