Saving face at Intuit Dome

BLUE LIGHT SPECIAL: The exterior of the Intuit Dome, the Los Angeles Clippers’ new arena, glows in the night in Inglewood, California. (All photos Don Muret/Staff)

Frictionless system still has its glitches

INGLEWOOD, California — Three months after Intuit Dome opened its doors for two Bruno Mars concerts, the futuristic arena that Los Angeles Clippers and tech billionaire Steve Ballmer touts as a totally frictionless experience remains a work in progress, which is understandable given the extensive new technology in place.

VenuesNow had the opportunity to sample the NBA arena on Nov. 9, which was the Clippers’ seventh regular-season home game and 12th overall at Intuit Dome, including preseason. The biggest glitch was a case of mistaken identity through facial notification technology for payments that drive the fan experience, which forced a reset of the process for trying to buy a beer at a belly-up concession stand.

A few hours before tipoff, tickets were distributed to our foursome and online registrations completed for the Intuit Dome mobile application and the Identity Pass, tied to the new technology.

Prior to leaving the hotel for the Raptors-Clippers contest, a thrilling 105-103 win by the home team, multiple attempts to secure an advance parking pass for the event were unsuccessful. We found out why after entering the parking deck, where we were told by a parking attendant that the license plate reader system was not operational yet. We handed them a credit card to pay $70 for parking, the first point of friction before entering the arena.

As we walked toward the arena entrance, we encountered the venue’s screening system, installed inside the parking deck, an unconventional and rather odd spot to run the procedure. But hey, it’s an unconventional building, so roll with it, eh?

Security consultant Dan Donovan, whose clients include Intuit Dome, said the arena’s screening system is a unique case due to the bridge that runs over the street and into the plaza. As a result of the layout, the secured perimeter was pushed out further to the parking deck next to the venue, Donovan said.

After going through security, we spotted Aran Rush, Intuit Dome’s assistant general manager, who told us the parking deck was the final piece of arena operations to go live, delaying the mobile parking technology. It’s unclear when that piece of the game day experience will be activated.

At that point, we walked down a flight of stairs to the plaza to take in the arena’s high-tech exterior up close and personal.

The see-through, spaceship-shaped facade encasing the building marked by bright blue LED lights provides a striking appearance for an NBA arena. Kudos to the AECOM design team for coming up with the innovative concept.

Then came the fun part, trying to figure out which Clippers-embedded technology to use for scanning game tickets. The ticketing lanes were a busy space defined by Intuit Dome branded barriers set up in a haphazard display.

There are two ways to access tickets upon entry to the building. Do we click on the Intuit Dome app or bring up the Identity Pass, which is tied to our facial profile? Another point of friction. For us, it was the Identity Pass, as a Clippers employee working the “gates” informed us after we initially called up the Intuit Dome app to have our tickets scanned.

The technology gets easier to grasp, we surmised, multiplied by the more events you attend at the arena.

Inside the building, we walked past an enclosed room separated by a glass wall called “The Answer Portal Powered by Ticketmaster,” in which several people hovered over mobile phones and laptops with intense looks on their faces. The room reminded us of the Apple Store at the local mall, which is typically teeming with customers. The Answer Portal is the Intuit Dome’s version of customer service without the human touch, to answer questions, whether it’s addressing ADA accessibility needs, seating upgrades, and overall, how to navigate all the technology required to attend an event at the arena.

Concessions are another story. As we approached the 310 Bar, for example, there were no menu boards attached to back walls, a sign of the times as frictionless systems powered by artificial intelligence evolve in food and drink. To access concessions, whether it’s the belly-up bars or the grab-and-go markets powered by AiFi, fans must find the Identity Pass on their mobile phones and press the device against a circular-shaped reader, which recognizes the individual and triggers the gate with a green light, opening to the stand.

At that point, there was a tech glitch in the Identity Pass for Jordan, part of our party whose face was misidentified at the bar for another person named Christian. After passing through the initial gate access point that ID’d him correctly, Jordan had to go back outside the gate and rescan his pass at the reader before approaching the bartender a second time, who asked him to remove his black baseball hat. He was re-identified as Jordan at the second access point, essentially regaining his true identity.

The question remains, who’s Christian and what triggered the mixup in facial ID?

For those who like to know how much they’re paying for food and drink before the transaction is completed, it’s easy to miss small menu boards attached to the wall apart from some concession areas. Apart from that mode of information, price points are set up in hard-to-read displays set up on the counter to buy beer, and for hot food, tiny labels attached to warming trays to pick up hot dogs, cheeseburgers, nachos, waffle fries and other items.

Levy runs the food at Intuit Dome. The grab-and-gos give off an impersonal vibe without the flavor and flair of branded concepts at other arenas. The location we visited was out of waffle fries, which found us peering through the warming stations to get the server’s attention. One order of fries was placed in the warming tray. They were lukewarm, but the cheeseburger was tasty, as well as the hot dog and butter toffee popcorn. The Modelo brew was cold as it should be, served in an aluminum cup.

For merchandise, there was a line going out the door of one of the Clips Shop locations on the main concourse, part of which was confusion over how to access it, according to those waiting patiently to enter the team store.

Inside the lower bowl, the seats in Main Level 12 (as well as most of the seating bowl) have one design flaw in VenuesNow’s opinion. The cupholders are part of the armrest, making it a bit awkward to pick up the beverage for a drink.

In most sports venues, cupholders are placed in front of your seats instead of having to reach back to grab the drink, which can be cumbersome with greater risk of spilling on your seat neighbors. It’s one more point of friction in the ease of quenching thirst department. We’re told by insiders that the Clippers went against the suggestion by DreamSeats, the arena’s seating vendor, to install the cupholders where they should be for maximum comfort, fronting the patron.

The massive double-sided halo board, spanning about one acre, is the arena’s centerpiece, as well it should be. The sheer size of the structure is awe inspiring, yet it doesn’t feel like it’s a distraction to watching the game.

The promotional videos were outstanding, especially the one showing ocean waves crashing down, moments before Clippers players magically appear, culminating in the Clippers logo tied to the slogan “Make Waves.”

For “Oh Canada,” the Canadian national anthem, the halo board popped with flowing images of the country’s flag, the signature red maple leaf.

Our seats faced to the right of The Wall, a section of 4,500 seats behind the basket where the visiting team shoots in the second half. The 300 seats closest to the floor are filled with the Clippers’ most fervent fans that pay $1,000 for a season ticket. Most of them stood throughout the game, chanting and taunting the Raptors, yelling “USA!” and holding up signs with images of maple leafs, as if they would distract Toronto’s players.

The Raptors shot 51% from the free-throw line for the game, so make up your own mind on that aspect of The Wall’s intimidation factor.

For the game as a whole, the best piece of entertainment came from the Kid Clippers, a group of dancing youngsters that put on a terrific performance during a timeout, completing a routine worthy of an Olympic gold medalist.

In that respect, some things are better left untouched by technology.