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06-09-2002, 10:15 PM
LOS ANGELES -- The NBA All-Star Game will be held in Los Angeles in 2004, the first time basketball's showcase event will be played in the area in 20 years.
"The NBA is pleased to bring our premier basketball event to Los Angeles," commissioner David Stern said in making the announcement Friday.
The game will be at Staples Center, where the Los Angeles Lakers are playing the New Jersey Nets in the NBA Finals.
The league's Los Angeles Clippers, the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks and the NHL's Los Angeles Kings also call the arena home.
"Los Angeles is looking forward to showing off our great city to basketball fans from all over the world," Mayor Jim Hahn said.
The last NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles was played at the Forum in Inglewood in 1983, when the East beat the West 132-123 and Julius Erving of the Philadelphia 76ers was the MVP.
The all-star activities the weekend of Feb. 13-15 will climax with the annual game matching the best players from the Eastern Conference against the best from the Western Conference.
Built in 1999, Staples Center has played host to the 2000 Democratic National Convention, the 2002 U.S. figure skating championships, and the Academy Awards and Grammy Awards
"As a student of the NBA, I can now say that our arena's roster of world-class events is now complete with the addition of this very extraordinary weekend of sports and entertainment," Staples president Tim Leiweke said.
George Kirkland, president of the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the All-Star Game should bring Los Angeles an extra 20,000 "room nights" -- a reference to hotel bookings. He said the NBA All-Star Game in Philadelphia this season had an estimated financial impact of $50 million on that city.
That might be a conservative estimate for Los Angeles, Kirkland said.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2002, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
"The NBA is pleased to bring our premier basketball event to Los Angeles," commissioner David Stern said in making the announcement Friday.
The game will be at Staples Center, where the Los Angeles Lakers are playing the New Jersey Nets in the NBA Finals.
The league's Los Angeles Clippers, the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks and the NHL's Los Angeles Kings also call the arena home.
"Los Angeles is looking forward to showing off our great city to basketball fans from all over the world," Mayor Jim Hahn said.
The last NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles was played at the Forum in Inglewood in 1983, when the East beat the West 132-123 and Julius Erving of the Philadelphia 76ers was the MVP.
The all-star activities the weekend of Feb. 13-15 will climax with the annual game matching the best players from the Eastern Conference against the best from the Western Conference.
Built in 1999, Staples Center has played host to the 2000 Democratic National Convention, the 2002 U.S. figure skating championships, and the Academy Awards and Grammy Awards
"As a student of the NBA, I can now say that our arena's roster of world-class events is now complete with the addition of this very extraordinary weekend of sports and entertainment," Staples president Tim Leiweke said.
George Kirkland, president of the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the All-Star Game should bring Los Angeles an extra 20,000 "room nights" -- a reference to hotel bookings. He said the NBA All-Star Game in Philadelphia this season had an estimated financial impact of $50 million on that city.
That might be a conservative estimate for Los Angeles, Kirkland said.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2002, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved