The Oakland City Council "is stalling approval of a
contract with the Warriors, in part to negotiate for a
guarantee" that the team will "finally become the Oakland
Warriors," according to Renee Koury of the SAN JOSE MERCURY
NEWS. City Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente: "To have the
name of Oakland televised every time they have a game gives
us a marketing tool we need and exposure we need." Team
Owner Chris Cohan has agreed to "only" consider changing
the name in January. Warriors General Counsel Robin
Baggett: "Our priority right now is finishing the arena
(reconstruction) and selling tickets and winning some games.
We just finished (creating) our new logo. ... We told them
we won't change the name during this period of time." Koury
wrote that some city council members want to include a name
change in a proposed deal that would turn over management of
the arena to the Warriors and drop PSLs "in favor of using
money from high-priced tickets to pay off the public's debt"
(SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 7/25). In S.F., Glenn Dickey takes
issue with De La Fuente's action, calling the issue of the
team's name "a phony one. ... The Warriors draw from the
entire Bay Area, not just Oakland. The name is much less
important than the fact that the Warriors chose to rebuild
in Oakland, when they could have moved to San Jose, San
Francisco or even out of the area" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 7/28).
