Owners of The Forum concert venue filed a claim for damages Wednesday against the city of Inglewood for quietly entering into a deal to build a new Los Angeles Clippers arena just down the street.

The Madison Square Garden Co. claims Inglewood Mayor James Butts used a bait-and-switch strategy to coerce Forum executives into clearing the way for the project on a Century Boulevard parcel across from the NFL stadium now under construction. They say Butts persuaded them to give up their leasehold in April on part of a parking lot to make way for a new business-technology park.

Instead, in June, city officials shocked MSG by announcing their deal with Clippers owner Steve Ballmer for a 18,000- to 20,000-seat arena that would likely also host concerts on the site 11/2 miles south.

“The mayor made it extremely clear that he needed that piece of land back for a kind of ‘Silicon Beach,’ ” said Marvin Putnam, a partner with the law firm Latham & Watkins, which filed the damage claim that serves as a precursor to a lawsuit. “They’re attempting to flat-out trick people.”

Butts declined to comment, and there is no proof that he made those statements. But when Madison Square Garden Co. relinquished the parking lease to the city, its approved contract states that the land would not be used for anything that would hurt the Forum’s business, according to documents.

“We, along with the hundreds of hardworking men and women who work to bring top-flight entertainment events to the Forum, are stunned that the city is moving forward with a plan that is in direct conflict with its existing and clear-cut written commitments to our venue,” Forum officials said in a statement.

The Inglewood City Council approved the exclusive-negotiating agreement with Ballmer on June 15, which was secured with a $1.5 million payment to the city.

The deal gives the two parties three years to negotiate for the new arena at the corner of Century Boulevard and Yukon Avenue.

Ballmer wants to move the NBA team from Staples Center, which is shared with the Los Angeles Lakers and Kings, to a new state-of-the-art facility. The team’s Los Angeles lease is up in 2024.

Butts said in June that the deal wasn’t brought to light sooner because it didn’t need to be.

“Now that there is a commitment of interest, (there’s) plenty of time to engage the community if we decide it necessary,” Butts said. “(This is the) same process we did for MSG and the Forum. In fact, for the Forum, there was no community stakeholder outreach.”

But the City Council called a special meeting Friday morning to redo its June 15 approval of the exclusive-negotiating agreement.

Attorneys for the Forum had argued that the approval was done without enough public transparency.

Putnam said the firm will still press forward with a lawsuit if the city doesn’t cancel the deal.

“The city just announced they’re going to rehold the hearing,” Putnam said. “They said: ‘We don’t believe we did anything wrong, but we’re going to redo (the City Council hearing).’

“We believe fraud has been committed here.”