The Warriors provided a first look at the soon-to-open Chase Center, and on display was a $1B-plus venue that "looks ready for prime time" and features "reminders of previously announced marketing partnerships," according to John King of the S.F. CHRONICLE. A select crowd of 120 media members yesterday got a glimpse at the "massive scoreboard illuminated with nearly 75 million LEDs -- a scoreboard so large that it has several smaller scoreboards attached." There were also "comfortably padded seats that are several inches wider than the hard plastic ones at Oracle Arena." The team also unveiled the “player campus” -- a training facility "large enough to hold a restaurant-like dining area for the players and a screening nook for game films." The locker room itself is "round, beneath a wood-slat ceiling intended as an homage to the shadowy ribbed rafters of Oracle Arena." Media members also saw "multiple lounges and seating areas," and "nearly all were branded." The venue "doesn’t open until Sept. 6, when Metallica performs with the San Francisco Symphony" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 8/27).
CHECK THE SCOREBOARD: THE ATHLETIC's Anthony Slater noted he was "most impressed by the massive scoreboard." In total it is 9,699 square feet, the "largest video board in the league." It "towers over the court and nearly stretches as long as it." Slater: "It kind of reminds me of a mini version of AT&T Stadium in Dallas." The board "won’t bring in extra fans just to see it." But for Warriors fans "accustomed to Oracle’s aged video board and the old arena’s low-tech feel, this will be like going from one of those old SD box TVs to a 90-inch HD plasma" (THEATHLETIC.com, 8/26). In San Jose, Jim Harrington writes, "The scoreboard is as big as a house and, hanging down from the center of the building, would make it really hard for thousands of music fans to view the action onstage at concerts." Fortunately, the scoreboard is "fully retractable." Thus, it "will be out of sight when Chance the Rapper, Eric Church, Janet Jackson and other superstar acts perform at the venue." Complementing that scoreboard will be a "huge outdoor screen -- measuring 74 feet by 42 feet -- where Warriors games will be shown for people who might not even be going into the venue" (San Jose MERCURY NEWS, 8/27).
ALL THE BELLS & WHISTLES: In S.F., Bruce Jenkins writes from a basketball standpoint, the venue "feels damn close to perfect." Every seat in the 18,064-capacity arena has "excellent sight lines." Jenkins: "This place is all about basketball and concerts." The upper-concourse seats are "way up there -- but that was the case at Oracle." In a "smart move, the team has made sure those grab-the-binoculars fans have all the food options offered on the main concourse" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 8/27). NBCSPORTSBAYAREA.com's Monte Poole writes, "Chase Center may be a 15-mile drive from Oracle Arena ... but exists on an entirely different planet." It is a "spectacular, state-of-the-art facility," a "monument to its own magnificence." It is "neither garish nor excessive." If there is "anything to knock, it is the segregation of seating based on finances." Though that "applies to every arena ever built, it's particularly overt at Chase" (NBCSPORTSBAYAREA.com, 8/26).
TWITTER REAX: ESPN's Nick Friedell: "Chase Center is by far the nicest arena I’ve ever seen. The amount of money this arena is going to bring in is unlike anything the NBA has ever seen. Like a cash register that won’t stop ringing." A's VP/Technology Vince Vengapally: "@ChaseCenter has a nice feel to it." S.F.-based KGMZ-FM's Damon Bruce: "First look ... very impressive." SFBay.ca's Taylor Wirth: "A lot of amazing art on display." The scoreboard in particular sparked social conversation. S.F. Examiner's Ryan Gorcey: "Yoda was wrong. Size matters." S.F.-based KQED-FM's Scott Shafer: "Helluva scoreboard!" Sacramento-based KXTV-ABC's Lina Washington: "The heightened entertainment package is something this team is the most proud of."
