The first time you step into a brand-new arena, everything feels bigger: the lights, the sound, the screens, the energy in the seats before the action even starts.
What most fans don’t see is what it takes behind the scenes to make that experience feel seamless.
For Jason James, that behind-the-scenes work is personal. He calls himself “born and raised a construction splicer,” and he wears that like a badge of honor. It represents years of hands-on work, problem-solving, and pride in building the backbone of how places stay connected.
A true hometown guy, James roots for any team that represents L.A. So, when the Clippers got their own home, he didn’t just want to be there for opening night. He wanted to help build what would power the experience inside it. Getting to return later and see the finished venue is a rewarding full-circle moment.
A huge project, built by a lot of hands
From day one, the Intuit Dome project felt big to the people working on it – not just because of the size of the building, but because of what it was being built to do.
Business Field Services Systems Technician Carlos Barriga describes the excitement of seeing the scope up close and then watching it come together piece by piece. His day-to-day work takes him and his team into customer locations – from movie studios to sports arenas – where they help provision broadcast video services. Intuit Dome was that same kind of mission, just on a much larger stage with higher expectations.
Planning engineer Allan Goya explains that multiple teams owned different portions of the build, and the only way to deliver the final result was through collaboration: teams aligning, sharing information, and building toward the same goal.
Business field services manager Drexel Jones emphasizes that point: projects like this don’t happen without teams operating as one unit. It takes steady communication between construction and engineering, clear updates on where things stand, and close attention to what the customer actually ordered – because the details matter.
The work fans never notice
Some of the most important work is the kind you’ll never notice while you’re walking the concourse or watching the screen. And that’s exactly the point.
Goya describes the behind-the-scenes problem-solving that happens long before opening night: identifying pathways into the building, placing additional fiber, and designing the equipment required to support the venue’s services. It’s not the flashy part of the story, but it’s the foundation that helps everything run the way it should when the arena is full.
Pride that follows you home
Barriga says the best part sometimes comes later – like when he’s watching a game or show and realizes he helped deliver the services that support that experience.
For James, that pride goes beyond the job site. He talks about telling his family what he’s working on, answering their questions, and feeling proud to be part of technology that keeps pushing forward. And when you’re finally in the finished venue – seeing the branding and the systems in action – it hits even harder: a tangible reminder that you helped bring something major to life.
At the end of the day, the biggest part of an arena like Intuit Dome isn’t just the building. It’s the experience – and that experience is made possible by real people showing up, working together, and caring about getting it right.