LA CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 27, 2021

Steve Ballmer

Joe Sanberg

Press Conference

STEVE BALLMER: Tell me I'm allowed to take this off for speaking, so I'm happy to do that, then we'll slam it back on.

For those of you who don't know, I'm Steve Ballmer, chairman of the Clippers, and couldn't be more excited to have a chance to talk with you here today.

One of the key focuses for us in building the Intuit Dome is to really put the environment and the climate at the front and center of our design. I've had some interest, and then maybe a year or so ago I started reading more, and then my kids got at me. Whew, they got at me. Dad, are you really doing everything you can for the environment? It occurred to me the arena is actually one of the showcase things we get to do.

So we went back over the arena design and asked in every way what can we do to reduce our carbon footprint? With even a goal of actually having carbon footprint negative. I read about this. I'm still a Microsoft lover. I was reading about some of the stuff they're doing, and their goal is to not only be negative but to undo all of their previous carbon footprint.

And the question we posed to the architects is what is the maximum we can do? We already worked with the Southern California Air Quality Board, and there were a set of things we committed to, and then we added on to that. The pièce de résistance, as we went through this, is when we had a chance to really sit down and meet the folks from Aspiration, Joe Sanberg who runs Aspiration is here. He'll talk to you a little bit more about their company. We can talk about our partnership.

But to have our first founding partner be a company that focuses in on providing services to consumers and businesses to reduce or even go negative on their own carbon footprints was a great thing, particularly not only as we thought about our own building, but how do we help our fans do what they want to do? How do we help the Air Quality Board do what it is pushing us to do?

So it was great that Joe and the group at Aspiration was interested in working with us. We'll talk more about what we're doing, but I'm pretty keen on all of the projects, and we're keen to have these guys as a marketing partner. So with that, let me turn things over to Joe Sanberg.

JOE SANBERG: Thanks so much, Steve. There are a few people in the business world and in the sports world that I admire as much as Steve Ballmer. This is a true visionary and an original thinker, and those are rare and few and far between in this day and age.

It's visionaries and original thinkers who change the course of history. We're partnering with Steve and the Clippers to change the course of Los Angeles sports history and all global sports history, which is turning sports into a tool to fight the climate crisis.

We face this existential threat that you read about every day but that is very abstract for so many people until it hits your doorstep. More and more people are facing climate catastrophe at their doorstep, and they're wondering, what can I do about it? The vision of Steve and the Clippers is to give fans, to give sports, to give the NBA something very specific, automated, and actionable they can do right now while they're watching sports and enjoying the Clippers game to fight the climate crisis.

So Aspiration, in partnership with the Clippers, will be delivering tools to all Clippers fans to make their experience watching the Clippers carbon neutral and even carbon negative so that your choice of being a Clippers fan isn't just a choice of who you root for, but it's an expression of what you believe.

This is also, I think, what's so visionary about the Clippers and Steve Ballmer. The Clippers have their choice of partners, but they chose Aspiration. They chose Aspiration because this is an organization that is more than sports. It's an organization that is about contributing positively to this community and to this nation. That's what the Clippers are going to be increasingly known for in partnership with us.

And those things are symbiotic to winning championships. Those are the things that bring elite players to your teams. In this day and age, players want to associate with organizations that stand for more than just dollars and cents. Aspiration wants to stand with teams that are for more than just dollars and cents.

Now, we also had a choice of partners, and we didn't go out looking to partner with an NBA team. We went out looking for organizations that believe in using our everyday actions as people and businesses to create positive change in the world, and we happen to have found an NBA team and an owner in Steve Ballmer who believes in that.

Now, I don't think that my freshman year basketball player self in high school ever thought that this is how I'd be appearing on a dais with a basketball team, but I wouldn't trade it away for anything.

I conclude my remarks by saying this: Steve's made an investment in looking at the future and how Aspiration can support that, and we've also made an investment in our belief about what the future of Los Angeles sports is going to hold. In 20 years, there's no doubt in my mind that people are going to look back and see it was so obvious that the Clippers were going to be a championship organization across the board, from Steve to Gillian Zucker, who I've been so pleased to get to know through this process.

I speak on behalf of Aspiration's CEO, Andrei Cherny, who is my co-founder, Ben Jealous, one of our board members, our new partner, and our new partner InterPrivate Ahmed Fattouh, and others who are excited to join Clippers nation.

Q. I've got a question for Steve and for Joe: Steve, last week you unveiled Intuit dome. Lots of amenities, lots of toilet talk, fixtures. But one thing that really caught my ear was, again, the carbon footprint, which you kind of mentioned here. Can you go into a Little further detail, what Intuit Dome, how that's going to function, and becoming environmental and being responsible isn't always the cheapest way to go, as we have all learned? Do you have to use different materials? Is there a process of building an arena that is not going to have a carbon footprint whatsoever?

STEVE BALLMER: There's a ton of stuff that needs to happen, most of which I had no clue about eight, nine months to a year ago.

For example, I didn't know there was -- concrete production, I read, is a huge source of CO2 production. It's bad. But there is a concrete type where you can actually take CO2 out of the air and stick it in the concrete and go net negative on the production of that concrete.

Now, I think from what I remember from the architects there wasn't a vendor at the time that would do that really at scale in Southern California, so they had to get people to stand up and agree to do that. It is more expensive to do this carbon sequestration into the concrete. We said okay. Let's go ahead. Let's make the investment.

We have a solar farm, two megawatt solar farm on the top of the building. Kind of an obvious thing to do. Not inexpensive, but kind of an obvious thing to do. We decided to go double high on our storage capacity, so we have nine megawatts of storage capacity, which is important because it means we're capturing and able to use more of the solar power that comes off of the top of the building. That was, in my mind, a great thing.

One of the emotional decisions was to use gas or electric for cooking. I'm not a cook. I don't know the difference. Everybody said, you gotta understand, real chefs like gas. But gas is much worse, because with electricity you do have the option to we only want electricity produced from renewable sources. Now, you've pay a premium for that, but at least it bootstraps the market. We made the investment, we're going electric. As I said in the announcement, we think we can make a damn good hot dog with electric cooking, but I bet very few of you would have an electric range like I grew up with when I was a kid.

And just one more little point since you brought up the fixtures, we have a water management program to use where we can recycle water, low water usage, and we should cut nearly 9.5 million gallons of water usage during the year.

The list goes on and on. I'm going to stop there. But it was super important for us to build the building that way, and yet there were still issues. When we met with the Air Quality Board, their biggest issue, it turns out, what's our biggest carbon footprint by far? Is it the building? No. It's fans driving to the building. So we had to both prove that we would make nothing worse than the situation at Staples, and we had to agree -- with hindsight, I'm glad. At the time, I'm thinking what's going on here? Is this really right?

But I'm happy that they will audit. They're going to participate and participate in the audit then of greenhouse gas production by our fans. Then we meet Joe, and we've got this concept for a fund that are essentially fans can put into to eliminate their carbon footprint when they come to the game.

So if a fan wants to stand up, as Joe was saying, and make a difference, we will have an offer with Aspiration so that any fan can say, I want to be carbon neutral for this game.

Q. Joe, Aspiration is a pretty unique company in that field. I've not seen anybody do what you guys are doing. You mentioned there are tools for Clippers fans. I'm an environmental guy. I drive an electric car. I'm all about it.

JOE SANBERG: Do you have an Aspiration card?

Q. This is what I'm talking about. This is why I'm asking the man right here. Tell me about Aspiration. It's so unique. I've never seen anything in that space. Can you tell me how Clippers fans can take advantage of it and really where you got your love for the environment from.

JOE SANBERG: First, it's important to underscore that Steve Ballmer and the Clippers understand that change happens from the grass roots and the community. Change doesn't happen top-down. I think that's what so unique about this partnership is Aspiration and the Clippers are enabling Clippers nation to participate and lead in their own actions to fight against the climate crisis.

So here's how we're going to enable that. In Clippers tickets, there will be a planet protection contribution. You'll be able to opt-out if you want. We hope you'll stay in. You can opt-out. What it will do is take a piece of your ticket and contribute to a reforestation program we're running in nine countries around the world to plant trees that are going to offset the carbon emissions that come from your transportation to the game.

So our algorithms calculate the carbon footprint of your transportation to a Clippers game, and then with your planet protection contribution, we'll make that carbon footprint carbon neutral.

So unlike any other sporting event that you can see and attend anywhere in the country, when you buy a Clippers ticket, you are taking a positive climate action and going to watch the Clippers carbon neutral.

Now, briefly let me tell you about how we do that across the board at Aspiration. We take what you already do in your life, and that's using everyday financial products like banking accounts and credit cards and insurance products, and we turn them into positive climate actions by attaching to them automated sustainability tools that embed in what you're already doing anyway, effects to create positive climate change.

So with your Aspiration credit card, you can make all of your spending carbon neutral. Whenever you buy something on your Aspiration credit card, trees are planted to make sure the right amount of carbon is offset. You can use Aspiration's impact measurement, which is like a Fitbit, that shows you where the places you spend money on your Aspiration card treat their workers and the environment. So you can use your card to purchase goods and services at places that are doing the right thing by people and planet.

Then as the Clippers and Steve were illustrating, we also serve businesses to integrate into what businesses are doing already, climate action.

Here's the key insight across the board: To defeat the climate crisis, we need more than just folks like you and I who have been environmentalists all of our lives. We need people who have never thought about the climate crisis to take action. And the way you get people to take actions they've been taken before is you make it really convenient for them and you meet them where they're at. That's the key insight of Aspiration is we attach sustainability features to the things you have to do anyway, whether it's buy groceries, buy gasoline, or go to your favorite basketball team's event. We make those positive climate actions.

Q. I'm just curious, you kind of touched on it there, but beyond the Intuit Dome, what does it mean for you personally and the company to help improve the surrounding community in Inglewood? Was there anything that stuck out with Steve and the meetings you had with them that said, this guy's dedicated to helping the community as well?

JOE SANBERG: Yes, absolutely. Steve Ballmer is one of the most underappreciated, unheralded philanthropists of our time. I know that because he has quietly been an ally of some of the most important social justice movements that I've been involved in to fight poverty, to fight racial injustice, to fight economic inequality, and he always does it without taking any credit.

So I'm not going to blow his cover too specifically, but I will just underscore that to be aligned with someone of those values is very special. From soup to nuts, everything about this dome is about making sure this community wins and is better off.

The environmental movement intersects with the movement for racial justice, and I think what's so self-aware about everything occurring around this dome is that it's confronting head on the fact that communities that are hit worst by the climate crisis are communities like Inglewood, and therefore, as we fight the climate crisis, the communities that we have to prioritize are communities like Inglewood.

For too long, the question of the climate and the environment has been a question of luxury tackled by people who are looking for a pet project to embrace over cocktails, but the reality is that the climate crisis hits the worst low-income people and people of color.

We're so proud to be partnered with the Clippers and Steve Ballmer in making sure that, as we defeat the climate crisis, Inglewood and the communities that surround Inglewood are at the front of our fight. So you're going to be hearing a lot from us in the coming years about how we're partnered to make sure that Inglewood is thriving and one of the first communities to exit some of the despair that's happened because of the climate crisis.

STEVE BALLMER: Just one or two adds. Part of what we're doing is putting together a fund to do sustainability educational programming, maybe we'll come up with a little bit better name, that tries to help educate and benefit businesses and entrepreneurs here in Southern California. Let's just say starting with the Intuit Dome area and then moving out to Inglewood and surrounding areas. That's an investment we'll make in addition to putting in a thousand EV chargers in Inglewood, 330 in the building.

My favorite, we're going to buy 26 -- I guess they're tugboats -- for the Port of L.A. that are sort of more environmentally friendly. My wife and I actually did a tour down at the Port of L.A. in Long Beach and noxious gas -- there are neighborhoods with noxious gases. It's just unbelievable. That is a problem. They get in the way of kids learning and their opportunities.

So I thought it was cool when the guy said, hey, buy tugboats. Why do I love it? Because it's very tangible. Planting trees is tangible, but tugboats, I love tugboats. I think you're supposed to call them ships, but I'll call them tugboats.

Q. Steve, a two-part question here. Is the team fully vaccinated entering training camp? If not, what's your outlook that the team will be fully vaccinated for opening night?

STEVE BALLMER: We're very careful under the rules of the Players Association to honor the privacy of our guys. I know Lawrence Frank had some commentary on that. I have nothing particularly to add. It was two parts, and I don't remember the second part.

Q. If the team, you think, will be fully vaccinated for opening night?

STEVE BALLMER: I won't make a prediction.

Q. It's obviously very exciting to have this project to look forward to in three years. You have to actually get to the three years. What is the challenge for you, or do you even see it as a challenge to balance building a whole arena, a dome in Inglewood, with what you are trying to do with basketball operations in the current day?

STEVE BALLMER: I don't think there's much conflict between what we're doing on the basketball side in the short term and what we're trying to do with Intuit Dome, just to take away any notion that there's some pressure. We're trying to win, win, win, win, win. That's our goal. That's what we live for. That's why we're here to start training camp. We're all in.

In parallel, and there's no financial tie. We're going to invest in our team, whatever we need to to put ourselves in a position to win, and we're going to invest in this building. Now, three years is a long time, particularly in basketball terms. When I first purchased the team, I'm not sure I really understood that, but things change a lot.

If I go back and say how many players are on our team that were on our team three years ago, that's not a very big number at all. No one, yeah. I had to do my final tally to make sure it was no one. So things will change -- I mean, I'm not saying we'll change any of our guys now. We love our team, and we try to get guys signed up to longer term deals, which I think we did well this off-season, Lawrence Frank and his team.

But at the same time, we're going to invest to win, and we're going to invest in the building. What does that really mean? I don't know. I've never been through a mass construction project. Frankly, the little construction projects we did on our house and our beach house, little by this standard, my wife, who is very on top of those, I don't know the first thing about -- now, I have a partner who does, Dennis Wong, but I don't know.

So I hear, oh, my gosh, there's a relocation of a utility that we weren't expecting, and I don't know whether I'm supposed to pull out the last five hairs I have on my head or this is natural in the construction process, but I'm excited to have a chance to learn about that. I think that's where we're -- if we're going to see things, it's going to be along that path, if you will.

But pretty parallel. I think our guys are excited that we're investing in the future of our team, and we did consult on some of the designs with some of our players. For example, I could tell you our players were excited about our new halo scoreboard because I was worried. Okay, the guys are used to looking up in a certain way for replays on ref calls. Would it be okay if we put them in slightly different places? So we had a little player input as well on the design of the building across a number of things.