Welts noted a hotel and 29 retail locations and restaurants will be located around Chase CenterGETTY IMAGES
Warriors President & COO Rick Welts said Chase Center is "right there at the finish line" ahead of its planned fall opening, and the new venue will be a "little bit of a model for how you will see arena and stadium development going forward." Welts, appearing on ESPN Radio's "Golic & Wingo," said Chase Center "isn't jut going to be a building, you're going to have to do a lot of other things, and in our case (with) no public money." Welts: "We've had to have a different formula and had to make it work without any public funding and that's hard to do, but you can do it with these other developments, with office buildings. We just announced a new hotel we're building adjacent to the arena. There are 29 retail locations, mostly restaurants, surrounding the place. It's actually going to be another city within San Francisco and one of the great metropolitan areas in the world" ("Golic & Wingo," ESPN Radio, 3/26). Welts also said a "big part of the success of an NBA team is the atmosphere you have in your arena." He said in Oracle Arena, the Warriors had the "most amazing run and the most amazing crowd, and we wanted to replicate everything we possibly could" in Chase Center. Welts said the team went from 19,500 seats to 18,000 to "create an environment that's going to be second to none for the players and second to none for the fans" ("Get Up," ESPN, 3/26).
LONELY AT THE TOP: On his feelings of people wanting to get rid of super teams like the Warriors, Welts said, "I have never looked back at the Showtime Lakers and said, 'The league would have been so much better if they had a shorter run,' or (looked) at Jordan's Bulls and (said), 'If he just won a couple fewer championships, it would have been a much, much better league.'" Welts: "Our league, in particular, is built on these dynastic moments in our history and each one of them has brought new people to the game and has broadened the appeal of the NBA across the world. We're that team at the moment and we're hoping to keep that going for a long period of time, but I think it's very much in keeping with the history and success of the NBA what you're seeing from the Warriors right now" ("Golic & Wingo," ESPN Radio, 3/26).
