Clippers D-League team increases league size to 26 teams for 2017-18 season
The NBA G-League, as it will soon be known thanks to a Gatorade sponsorship, will now include 26 teams as the Los Angeles Clippers have purchased the Agua Caliente franchise.
The Agua Caliente Clippers, as the Los Angeles Clippers’ developmental affiliate will now be known, ensures that the Clippers’ NBA prospects won’t be far. The new Clippers D-League team’s home arena is just 40 miles away from Los Angeles.
The team will play its home games at the Citizen’s Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California, according to a press release. The name of the team is important to both the venue and the business of the franchise.
The Agua Caliente part of the name comes from the local band of Cahuila native Americans, which bears the same name. The tribe owns and operates a casino as well as other businesses in the Ontario area, and is the presenting sponsor of the team.
Citizen’s Business Bank Arena lists a capacity of just over 10,000 for basketball games. 24 home games are on the Agua Caliente Clippers’ schedule for 2017-18, for which season tickets are already on sale.
Outside of the Gatorade sponsorship which increases the exposure and profitability of developmental teams, there are other business and on-court considerations for NBA teams that have spurred an unprecedented investment into the D-League. At the end of the 2015-16 season, 38 percent of NBA players had played in D-League games. Two current members of the Los Angeles Clippers, Brice Johnson and Diamond Stone, have D-League experience.
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Acquiring a D-League team, especially one so close, is also a new opportunity to market the Clippers brand. The geographic area that Ontario dominates has a population of over 4 million people, who could all be considered potential Clippers fans now.
While the price that the Los Angeles Clippers paid to acquire the franchise has not been disclosed, what’s clear is that the franchise has invested in developing not only its on-court prospects, but also developing its brand in a new market as well.