Steve Ballmer’s LA Clippers strike huge deal with TurboTax owner

The Los Angeles Clippers announced on Friday a sponsorship deal with financial software company Intuit, which will hold title rights to the team’s new $1.2 billion arena, scheduled to open in Inglewood in 2024.

The Clippers will call their new complex the Intuit Dome, providing the company with increased brand awareness with signage on and around the 18,000-seat, all-electric arena.

Intuit is a financial management tech company that trades on the Nasdaq and has a $156.4 billion market cap. The company’s products include TurboTax, Credit Karma and QuickBooks.

Terms of the agreement with the Clippers were not made public, but National Basketball Association sources told CNBC the deal is a 23-year agreement that eclipses $500 million.

By comparison, Chase Bank struck a 20-year, roughly $300 million naming-rights deal with the Golden State Warriors. And Staples paid entertainment firm AEG over $100 million when it struck its naming-rights agreement for the downtown Los Angeles building in 1999. The company renewed the pact in 2009 and now has lifetime rights to the Staples Center, which is currently home to the Lakers and Clippers.

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and team president Gillian Zucker gave CNBC and other media a preview of the Intuit Dome on Thursday. The arena will feature a double-sided Halo video board with 44,000-square feet of LED lights, plus technology that allows fans to purchase concessions and automatically be charged without using cash or cards.

The Clippers estimate the Intuit Dome will generate roughly $260 million in annual economic activity for Inglewood, including over 7,000 full-time and part-time jobs. The Clippers also committed to a $100 million community benefits package that will include investments in after-school programs, services for seniors, libraries and housing. An official groundbreaking of the Intuit Dome will be held Friday afternoon.

“We’ve designed a product that I’m very proud of,” Ballmer told CNBC. “But we’re sitting here celebrating, and we’ve got three years before this thing is done,” he added. “We’re just at a milestone along the way.”

Ballmer said the exterior design of the arena is symbolic of a basketball splashing through a net. He also expressed enthusiasm about using the National Football League concept via “pioneering the feel of end-zone suites.” The Intuit Dome will leverage four courtside cabanas directly behind the courtside baseline where Ballmer is seated. It will also include 10 backstage bungalows — private suites on the floor level.

“This stadium is about being optimistic about our team,” Ballmer said.

“It’s about being optimistic about our fans — get in the building, pump up, make energy,” Ballmer added, clapping his hands as if he just experienced a game-winning shot. “Your energy can feed our team to greater success.”

The Intuit Dome didn’t come cheap.

Aside from the over $1…