The Clippers’ plans for a billion-dollar arena complex moved closer to reality Tuesday after Inglewood’s City Council voted unanimously to approve the environmental impact report for the project.

The approval came seven months after the release of the report, which spanned thousands of pages and required nearly two years to complete, found that the 28-acre Inglewood Basketball & Entertainment Complex would bring traffic and jobs to the intersection of West Century Boulevard and South Prairie Avenue while ruling it would not contribute to gentrification of its surrounding area.

Murphy’s Bowl LLC, a Clippers-controlled company backing the privately financed project, hopes to begun construction by mid-2021 and open the complex’s anchor, an 18,000-seat arena, in time for the 2024-25 NBA season. The Clippers’ lease at Staples Center, the team’s home since 1999, ends in 2024.

As part of a presentation Tuesday to the City Council, the project’s developer, Wilson Meany, played a nearly 13-minute video in which Clippers coach Doc Rivers, owner Steve Ballmer, president of business operations Gillian Zucker, and Hall of Fame player and team advisor Jerry West exhorted the approval.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.