Crypto.com Arena Renovation Revealed: Outdoor Terrace, VIP Tours, and Doritos-Themed Restaurant

Crypto.com Arena hosted the first game of the 2024-2025 NBA season on Tuesday night (October 22), where the arena's tenants, the Los Angeles Lakers, took on the Minnesota Timberwolves. The night featured the first appearance by a father-son duo (LeBron James and son Bronny James) in NBA history — while the 25-year-old arena also showed off its new, nine-figure renovations.

A quarter of a century is a long time for any entertainment arena to remain culturally relevant, but Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center) has completed its third round of multi-million dollar renovations to keep pace with technological advances and a new era in fan enjoyment .

During the Oct. 22 game, the arena — at the center of the LA Live entertainment campus — unveiled its new outdoor space, revamped food and beverage offerings and cutting-edge technology designed to reduce wait times throughout the facility. The arena's first outdoor area, the City View Terrace, offers concert and game-goers the opportunity to enjoy food and drink with a backdrop of downtown Los Angeles while viewing the game or concert taking place inside. The terrace has plenty of food and drink stands and is open to all ticket holders.

For floor or ice ticket holders, the arena has revamped the exclusive Chairman's Club to become the Delta SKY360° Club. On Wednesday (October 23), the Crypto.com Arena senior representative of guest services and security Daniel Snyder took the media on a tour of the redesigned space, which includes a private bar in a lounge area accessible only to premium seat holders and friends and family of the team or game. For the first time in its history, the Crypto.com Arena will also offer VIP tours to the general public, allowing guests to access backstage areas such as the Delta SKY360° Club.

This season, founding partner Coca-Cola also continues to expand its presence with the newly unveiled Coke Studio, a 3,300-square-foot music studio and event space at Crypto.com Arena that will host concerts, artist appearances, podcast recordings and more. Coca-Cola supports the arena's sustainability initiatives, including the r.Cup program, which replaces single-use cups with reusable ones to help further the arena's commitment to waste reduction. As part of this program, Coca-Cola products, along with other non-alcoholic beverages, will be served in reusable r.Cup containers.

The arena's new food offerings include chef and TV host David Chang's spicy fried fuku chicken and chef and restaurateur Ludo Lefebvre's two new concession stands: the Mediterranean-focused Ludobab and Trois Familia, a fusion of Lefebvre's French background with local Mexican cuisine. Elsewhere, Fresh Brothers will become the arena's official pizza partner with a new concession stand (replacing Blaze Pizza), while Big Mozz is the arena's newest official mozzarella partner.

One standout of the new offerings includes the first Doritos restaurant, Doritos After Dark. Located at the main arena entrance in Star Plaza, Doritos After Dark serves late-night dining favorites with the taste and crunch of Doritos for appetizers and entrees. Special items include the Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili Ramen-Rito (a burrito filled with Doritos and ramen) and the Doritos Nacho Cheese Crunchtastic Vanilla Cone (an ice cream cone with a chocolate shell covered in cheese chips). On November 15th, for one night only, Doritos After Dark will move out of the arena and into a one-of-a-kind Doritos Night Market pop-up in a free, immersive, neon-filled atmosphere open to all from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at LA Live's Peacock Place.

New technology has also been installed in the arena. This includes Evolv, a leader in AI-based security technology, which enhances fan safety with the release of the Evolv Express control system at all entrances. This state-of-the-art technology allows fans to move through security checkpoints more quickly and efficiently, differentiating potential threats and most everyday metal objects such as cell phones and keys. By improving entry, Evolv is designed to help fans spend less time waiting in line and more time enjoying the event.

Once inside, fans can also skip the lines with Amazon's Just Walk Out technology, which has been installed in multiple locations inside the arena, along with the all-new Exo self-checkout at the Team LA Store, which has also been remodeled. Now, all items in the Team LA Store include RFID technology, which allows fans to leave all their merchandise on a scanner that hits everything in an instant. The technology is currently only available at sporting events, as tour merchandise has yet to be streamlined with RFID technology.

The Crypto.com Arena is set to host programs tied to some of the biggest and most prominent sporting events in the next decade. Among other events, it has been selected to host the 2025 Grammy Awards (the 22nd time the arena has hosted music's biggest night), the 2027 NCAA Division I men's regional basketball and the men's and women's gymnastics competitions for the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2028.