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Warriors Owners Hope Move To S.F. Will Help Increase Revenue, Lure Free Agents

The Warriors plan to "move to a new waterfront arena in San Francisco and have scheduled a news conference Tuesday to disclose the details," according to Thompson II, Rosenberg & Woodall of the CONTRA COSTA TIMES. The details were "still being worked out as the team and city on Monday continued to negotiate a deal to build an arena on Piers 30 and 32 in time" for the '17-18 NBA season. A conceptual deal "would launch a lengthy, cumbersome process to build a new arena." Officials would still "need to find hundreds of millions of dollars to fund the arena and clear several environmental planning hurdles." Most or all of the funding "would reportedly need to come from private sources." The team is still on the hook for $95M in "outstanding debt owed to Oakland from renovating Oracle Arena, though they could pay down that obligation with game-day revenues over the next five years plus non-NBA income from events such as concerts" through '27. The Warriors left S.F. for Oakland in '71 (CONTRA COSTA TIMES, 5/22). In S.F., Phillip Matier notes a new 17,000-19,000-seat arena "would be built on Piers 30-32 near the foot of the Bay Bridge, a short walk from downtown." Warriors co-Owner Joe Lacob said yesterday, "It is going to happen -- let there be no doubt." Plans for the site "also include 100,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space." In addition, the team is "seeking control of a port-owned, 2-acre lot across the Embarcadero from the pier, which is also now used for parking." Team execs have said that the model for the deal is the '96 agreement between S.F. and the MLB Giants, "who were granted a 66-year lease of port land to build their new stadium." The Warriors have "set a tight time frame, hoping to break ground in two years and finish the arena in another three years." The team has brought in "two City Hall veterans to help steer the project to approval, Jesse Blout and Michael Cohen, who each served a stint as former Mayor Gavin Newsom's economic development chief" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 5/22).

BIG RISKS, BIG REWARDS? In S.F., Heather Knight in a front-page piece writes the Warriors owners can be called "crazy or incredibly courageous," but are "certainly quick moving, big spending, risk taking, enamored with San Francisco and filled with big ideas." They are perhaps the "counterpoint to the more conservative and careful" 49ers Owners the Yorks. Lacob said, "You don't achieve success by standing still. You really have to place a few bets." Knight writes, "What the Warriors lack in success and swagger on the court, their owners and president make up in spades." Warriors President Rick Welts said of Lacob, "Nothing puts a bigger smile on his face or lifts him up more than when somebody tells him you can't do something." Lacob said that the Warriors' move to S.F. is his "riskiest venture yet, especially because he's skipping a controversial ballot measure to seek public funding." He also hopes to bring a "women's basketball team back to the Bay Area" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 5/22). A S.F. CHRONICLE editorial states, "It's a tall order, and there will be plenty to dissect and discuss before construction begins. Nothing comes easy in San Francisco, especially when the words 'development' and 'waterfront' are involved." But the Warriors are "showing an appreciation for the city's sensitivities as they roll out their proposal." An indoor arena on the waterfront, with a "foundation of 41 NBA regular-season games, offers far more possibilities than a football stadium for attracting other events and ancillary economic activity." The city's contribution "will be relatively modest." S.F. Mayor Ed Lee said that the team "would receive a 'very friendly' long-term lease for the piers on which the arena will be built." Welts "rightly noted that the arena would fill a 'void in the portfolio' of facilities San Francisco has to offer." Many concerts, conventions and other events "end up in Oakland or San Jose -- or bypass the region altogether -- for lack of a suitable venue." The editorial: "The Warriors' move is right for the team, right for San Francisco" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 5/22).

CUTTING TIES: In S.F., Chip Johnson writes, "It doesn't matter what Oakland city officials promise or believe. It is a safe bet that by 2017 the team will again be known as the San Francisco Warriors." Oakland Assistant City Manager Fred Blackwell said, "We have always been aware that they are exploring all their options, including a San Francisco site. We continue to believe that Coliseum City offers the best new home to the Warriors, Oakland A's and Oakland Raiders." Johnson writes in the Warriors' case, it is "not about attendance figures, adequate facilities or the age of Oracle Arena, where the team has played" since '71. It is about "panache and style and public perceptions." Oakland's "hard-edged image complements the Raiders' bad boy reputation, but it was always viewed by Warriors owners, past and present, as an albatross weighing down the team's standing." Johnson: "Emotionally, the loss of the Warriors in Oakland is no great shakes. The team never embraced the city" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 5/22). A S.F CHRONICLE editorial states, "The Warriors should celebrate their return to a world-class city by dropping that clunky, amorphous, second-class name 'Golden State.'" Lacob suggested that "'Golden State' would remain in its name for the foreseeable future, and 'possibly forever.'" Lee said that the "lame-name issue was 'not discussed at all'" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 5/22).

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir wrote the Warriors are "no different from most other teams when it comes to their financial desires." Their owners "covet a better arena to make more money and increase the value of their franchise." If it means "moving to another city, even one quite close by, they would be following a longtime trend in sports" (NYTIMES.com, 5/21). In S.F., Gwen Knapp writes the Warriors owners "apparently have come to see the NBA's free-agency market as something of a real-estate game." Lacob said yesterday, "We went through a year of negotiations in free agency and we whiffed. It does appear that it matters to major free agents where they play." Warriors co-Owner Peter Guber said, "If there is not a world-class venue, that is a factor." Guber and Lacob also stressed that they "are not banking solely on a new arena's appeal to free agents." The revenue from other events at the arena, "and any companion restaurants or bars, theoretically could pad the team payroll and cover any luxury tax." But Knapp notes, "On the whole, players who care about glamour will want L.A. over the Bay Area." For now, Lacob and Guber "seem determined to do a relatively soft sell on the effect of the proposed arena on free agents" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 5/22).

SEEING IS BELIEVING: In San Jose, Mark Purdy writes, "In this case, history tells us that building any new sports facility in the Bay Area is a very hard thing to do." Even if the Warriors' arena proposal is "moved off the piers, perhaps to the Mission Bay area south of AT&T Park in cooperation with the Giants, the project is still no slam dunk." Purdy: "Supposedly, this time around, the San Francisco politicians and Mayor Ed Lee are all in favor of the Warriors' vision. We'll see if that support holds when constituents and environmentalists start filing objections" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 5/22). CSNBAYAREA.com's Ray Ratto wrote, "As Sacramento has taught us, declaring one’s interest in something and actually achieving it are two wildly divergent things." There is "no guarantee that the Warriors will get the arena at the pier, or that they won’t have to go ball-rack-in-hand back to the Giants for the alternative proposal, which might be cheaper but leaves them either as partners with or tenants of the baseball team." Ratto: "Two relatively intolerable positions to the Warriors, we can assure you" (CSNBAYAREA.com, 5/21).

LOOKING FOR LARRY: CSNBayArea.com's Matt Steinmetz reported what the prospective move "has a lot to do with is -- believe it or not -- the specter of Larry Ellison." Steinmetz: "By starting this process right now of trying to build a downtown arena, they’re signaling to the league and all the other owners is that in order to get an arena built that they’re going to need to have the whole Bay Area as their domain. A lot of this has to do with the ... threat of Larry Ellison possibly eventually buying a team with the hope of moving it to San Jose or the Bay Area ("Chronicle Live," Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, 5/21).

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