Warriors co-Owner Joe Lacob yesterday said the cost of as much as $170M to rehabilitate the S.F. piers where the team's new waterfront arena would be located "is a lot higher than we originally started with," according to John Cote of the S.F. CHRONICLE. Lacob said, "It's a big number. But look, we're privately doing this, and we've made the decision we're going to do it. It's more expensive than we thought, but you only live once." Warriors co-Owner Peter Guber said that their "determination extends to navigating San Francisco's fractious politics." Guber: "We've become dyslexic. 'No' means 'on.'" The team is facing "a shrinking and aggressive time frame to get its arena project approved and built in time" for the '17-18 NBA season, when its lease at Oracle Arena in Oakland runs out. Former S.F. Mayor Art Agnos, a leading opponent of the project, said, "At some point, when they get a price, it may be too expensive." Current S.F. Mayor Ed Lee yesterday said that he "was confident the city's financial exposure would not increase." Lee: "I don't think the city can chip in more. I think the numbers are what they are. They rose the last six months. ... We want to support (the Warriors), but we also have limitations on the city. And they know" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 10/29).
BREAKING THROUGH: In S.F., Ann Killion wrote Warriors G Stephen Curry has had the team's top jersey in sales for three years, but nationally in the past 12 months he "leapt from 26th to 12th in the league." Curry on a trip to China this month was the "second-most popular player behind Kobe Bryant." He received the "second-loudest ovations and was greeted with screams when he was getting on and off buses at the hotels and arenas." Curry's jersey "was sighted everywhere." A Warriors exec said of Curry, "Other than Kobe, he was the Man." Killion noted Curry has "an appeal that makes him compelling to watch." He is a "soft-spoken, two-tattooed player in a look-at-me league." Curry is on the cover of SI's NBA preview, "one of only three athletes to be on the cover twice this year." He also will be "featured in ESPN commercials, including one in the ESPN RV" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 10/27).
