Finally Going To Staples Center (or VIP Status)

I’ve lived in LA for almost 14 years now. I’ve done a lot of stuff in those 14 years of living here. But until this past weekend, I had never been inside of the Staples Center. I’ve been near it and have gone to LA Live and the Convention Center. But I’ve just never seen anything at Staples Center.

So when one of my TIU friends shared online that they had box seats for a Sparks game, I jumped at the chance to go! My friend had gotten the seats through her job, she’s an assistant at CAA (for those of you not familiar with CAA, they are an agency that reps a lot of actors, musicians, and athletes). So I knew that the seats would be pretty awesome!

I took the light rail to Staples and my friend met me near by so we could drive in together (we didn’t want to not be able to find each other). We got there early since we were told that the doors opened 90 minutes prior to the game and lined up outside.

Staples Center

We kind of got the run-around by several employees of Staples Center. We switched where we had lined up 4 different times. And then we were told to finally go back to where we started, but we weren’t allowed in. They ended up opening the doors a little less than an hour prior to the start time and we headed up to the A-Level Suites.

There, we met Cruz, who honestly was the best employee at Staples Center! She gave us a little tour of the suite level and some of the different places we could hang out (sadly, many of them were closed since the game wasn’t that crowded). Then she led us to the suite we’d be sitting in. And I was shocked by how amazing our view was.

CAA Suite

We were pretty much dead center with a perfect view of the court! And we had the option to sit in regular style seats, at the bar seating, or a couple of different couches (there was a tv near the couches so you could still watch the game).

VIP Suite 2 VIP Suite

My friend and I were the only ones in the suite at that point and we knew it wouldn’t be catered, so we went in search of lunch. We ended up going back down to the main entrance where there was a CPK. We got a pizza and salad to split and went back up to the suite.

Eventually, a few other people joined us in the suite, but in total there were only 8 of us and I think the suite is meant for about 20.

Besides being my first time at Staples Center, this was my first professional basketball game ever! I have been to multiple college basketball games but never a professional one before. So I was pretty excited to watch the game. I’m still not 100% sure on all the different penalties, but I still enjoyed it.

Sparks Game

Plus, we got some pretty awesome hats as a giveaway for attending the game. We  had to search for the hats because they didn’t give them out at the VIP entrance, so we went to the main entrance and found some hats for us.

We Are LA

I think we looked pretty good in the hats.

With Catherine

In the end, the LA Sparks lost, but they played a good game and were winning until the last few minutes.

I had such an amazing time at the game. It was so nice being in the suite and having space without feeling like I was in the middle of the crowd. We were able to stand up and walk around if we wanted to and not worry about getting around other seats or blocking other’s views. I joked to my friend that by getting to sit there really did ruin me for any other events that I might go to in the future.

I’m so glad that I was able to go to this game with a friend, plus I got to know my new friend better. We had a really nice chat about the entertainment industry and her job at CAA.

This has motivated me to start making a list of other LA things that I haven’t done yet. I don’t know how many things I haven’t done yet, but I’m going to start looking around at lists of things to do in LA and see what I’ve missed that I really want to do (I think I’ll skip those bus tours of celebrity houses).

Maybe I’ll be able to create a nice LA bucket list that I can start checking things off of!

One response to “Finally Going To Staples Center (or VIP Status)

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