After some delays, Chase Center in S.F. is "scheduled for construction in the Mission Bay district," and Warriors President & COO Rick Welts is "hoping to break ground early next year and have the arena ready" by the start of the '19-20 NBA season, according to Anthony Slater of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. Welts said, "We've suffered a two-year delay from the plan we originally had. But yeah, we didn't know where the challenges would come from, but there's no project that's been built in San Francisco of this type of importance that hasn't had some kind of challenges. It's incredibly expensive, cost us a lot of money in delays. ... When we made the switch from the pier to this site, really all the opponents that had opposed us on the pier, they all have been incredibly supportive since we moved to a land-based site in Mission Bay. So there has been no political opposition." When asked if he was worried about the potential for stalling to happen again, Welts said, "We’re not taking anything for granted. It’s a process. We’re taking it all very seriously. But one of the important things that happened before (the Mission Bay Alliance) sued us was that we reached an agreement with UCSF. ... They are operating three hospitals, a campus and they -- we, the city, UCSF -- spent a lot of time negotiating an agreement that regulates traffic. So getting UCSF to endorse the project was a huge piece of that." Welts added, "We're going to look for ways to keep a significant footprint in Oakland. That story is yet to be written. We're working on some things to ensure that we truly present ourselves as the Bay Area's team and the things we do off the court are throughout the Bay Area" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 9/22).
MAN IN CHARGE: Slater also profiled Welts, writing the longtime NBA exec is "linked prominently to the Warriors' rapid rise." Welts should be "included right near the top" of the list of people important to the Warriors' success. On his first day, Welts "gathered everyone from business ops into a conference room." He "warned of an impending culture change." He said that too much losing had "bled into every corner of the organization." Welts estimated that within 18 months of his arrival, the club "probably turned over" 50% of the staff. He then went about "identifying the deep-rooted issues, both small and large." He said that perhaps the biggest was the organization's "preference for isolation" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 9/22).
