Today the Golden State Warriors officially announced that
they have every intention of becoming the San Francisco Warriors for 2017-18
season; everything is official but the name, which will come right before the
moving trucks show up. The polarizing
cheers and jeers started immediately and I don’t see them stopping anytime
soon. Fans in the East Bay are pissed
(and in some cases devastated) while supporters in the city, the North Bay and
on the Peninsula are toasting (champagne or white wine I’d imagine) the
move. Who would’ve thought that
the extra 15 minutes of travel time and a new/old logo would make such a huge
impact? Some say they are taking
the world away, some say they are just bringing it back and I say they’re just moving
it 15 miles down the road and making it better. The fact is that this is the Bay Area's team not Oakland's team. The Raiders and A's are Oakland teams, the Giants and Niners are San Francisco teams but the thing that is so great about the Warriors is that anyone in the Bay can love them, there are no boundaries to being a Warriors fan.
I’ll be in the arena pumped up and rocking my “City” jersey from
day one but will the rest of the faithful be there ready to intimidate opponents (circa 1992 or 2007) with me? The
people crying out against the move tell me I’ll be sitting with a bunch of
Facebooking, wine sipping, cheese nibbling yuppies while the ones in favor tell
me those are the ones who buy most of the season tickets already. I figure on most days I’ll be sitting
with the same hardcore fanatics I’ve spent most of my life with. Some days when I’m lucky enough to get
great seats I’ll be sitting with tourists, bankers and venture capitalists but that
happens at Oracle Arena too. The
divide starts clearing up after eight to ten rows in Oakland but at Lacober
Arena; my name for the place until someone comes up with a better one for me;
I’m thinking that divide won’t happen until you get to the way upper half of
the lower bowl. So far the debate
seems a little bit like the class warfare of American politics but we’re not
talking about the 99 against the one.
No one can question that the game day experience will
improve immensely because fans will no longer be showing up 10 minutes before
tip off and clearing the parking lot ten minutes after it ends. From now on we’re going to be filling
bars and restaurants before games and hitting the night scene after; hopefully
celebrating victories well into the playoffs. Now that’s what I call a “Great time out!” I never did that once at Oracle. Going straight home after we beat the
Mavericks in 2007 was a huge disappointment but in 2017 we’ll be hitting the
town 20,000 deep painting the town blue and yellow.
Will the fair weather fans get caught up in the views during games?
Make no mistake that our “Great time out” is going to cost
us. For season ticket holders,
holy shit, get ready for the biggest round of sticker shock ever. I don’t see how seat licenses start at
less then $20k and that’s before you buy the damn tickets. Real quick I’m just going to sum up
what my trip from the East Bay is going to cost on top of my normal Oracle
expenses. Most amounts are
approximate: $30 extra for each ticket, $6 for extra gas unless we’re paying
that much per gallon in 2017, $5 for bridge toll (which will probably be more
like $10 in 2017), $20 for parking plus a decent dinner (which wasn’t an option
before) and whatever the increases for beer, food and merchandise are. That’s basically a minimum of $100 if I
bring my wife. It’ll be more fun
and a better experience but I’ll be paying extra for every ounce of beer and
overall enjoyment; but at least I can go home smelling like garlic fries.
Transportation will probably be a bitch too with only 1,000
spots included so far and where the hell is my $40 parking spot going to be because you know we can kiss $18 parking goodbye? I'd hate to pay that much to walk a mile to the front door! In the next five years we’ll be hearing
about all the virtues of BART, MUNI and CalTrain but I want to come and go as I
please without consulting the schedule of some transportation service that’s
always running late. For those
that do take BART it will probably be about the same number of stops (if not
less) and about the same number of steps to the arena when you get off the
train so don’t let anyone make that the excuse. There's also going to be the new Transbay Terminal that will be fully operational by that time in theory so public transportation should actually be very good as a whole.
Pac Bell Park completely transformed China Basin from a shit
hole to a part of town where you wanted to enjoy an afternoon in the city. Lacober Arena is going to turn a good
piece of waterfront closer to downtown into the hottest spot in the entire
city. The Giants ballpark also
gave us a World Series, Barry Bonds home run chase, an All Star game, a couple
concerts, the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl and the XFL. Someday Lacober Arena will give us an NBA All Star Weekend,
every big concert imaginable, some NCAA tournament games and (Lord willing) an
NBA championship. I’ll take option
number two if I had to choose but that’s not the case, these venues are a
half-mile waterfront walk away from each other! On days when the Giants and Warriors are playing traffic is
going to be a nightmare but once you’re in there will be no better place to be on
the entire west coast; in fact I cant wait for a nice day sometime between
April in June when I can hit an afternoon Giants game, grab some dinner after
and be just in time for a 7:30pm tip off at Lacober.
You won't believe this but Joe Lacob was making bold statements and talking a big game today
It’s going to be interesting next season when the debate for
and against the move is taking place during games at Oracle. When the Lakers are in town we might
hear dueling chants of OAK and SFO between BEAT LAs. I’m not ruling anything out yet. You think Joe Lacob got booed on Mully Night? If he so much as looks at a microphone between
2013 and 2017 it could get ugly. For
the Giants fans in the crowd we can’t let the Dodger loving Goober off the hook
either. Chris Cohan didn’t show
his face until the 2007 playoffs after getting showered with hate at the 2000
All Star game and I half expect Lacob and McBoober (is it not clear yet that
I’m a Giants fan too?) to follow Cohan on this one.
Outside of an NBA championship this will be the Lacober
crowning achievement and since you can never guarantee one of those (although I
won’t rule it out with these guys) it’s no wonder they are going full steam
ahead. It’s unreal the way they
act like the things they say leave little room for doubt; I wonder whether they’ll
have another Sorry
We Suck Day if this plan falls through they way they did when the playoff
proclamation fell flat. They must
be at least a little upset that big announcements like this one barely show up
on ESPN.com let alone SportsCenter.
Like I’ve said from the start I could really care less when
push comes to shove, I just want a fucking
winner! I’m so tired of being
looked down on by Laker fans it drives me nuts and a new arena won’t change
that. Contrary to popular belief a
new home isn’t going to draw top tier talent either. Is any body tripping over themselves to play with Jay-Z in
Brooklyn? Deron Williams is
considering leaving millions of dollars on the table to walk in a couple months
and Dwight Howard wants a trade there because he’s unwilling to forfeit a red
cent to play for Jigga. You think
that players will come because they can live in San Francisco? They can do that now and still have a 15-minute
reverse commute to the arena and the practice facility. Does sporting cool “The City” jerseys
appeal to superstars and do they care whether the team is called San Francisco
or Golden State? The only things that matter are deep playoff
runs and money; and every team has money.
With all things being equal you better be sporting a winner and it’s got
to start now, not 2017.
For the city and everyone else involved this thing will be a
real cash cow. Britney Spears and
every other over priced disposable lip syncing teeny bopping act will be
crawling over each other to get a date at this place. They’ll have to get in line behind people like U2, Van Halen
(not Van Hagar; shot out to my man Joe Dirt), Madonna, the Stones, AC/DC, Pink
Floyd, Aerosmith, Metallica, MotoX, the circus (as long as people in SF and
PETA promise not to protest) and you get the freakin point. When
you add up the games, shows and events we’re talking over a hundred dates on
the calendar and that’s before the San Jose Sharks get tired of losing money start
renting from Lacober.
Like a faberge egg sitting out on the bay
As much as the Forty Niners mean to the city they wanted a
billion dollar stadium for 12 days a year max. This is the cities second chance in as many years to step
up, get a deal done and claim a victory after admitting defeat at Candlestick Point.
Even with the rubber stamp by a lame
duck mayor this project has a ton of hoops to jump through before a shovel (or
a pile on in this case) ever hits pay dirt. We all know what a pain in the ass SF politicians are but I can’t
blame them for hesitating to pony up the funds for the Niners. But this has to happen right? We’re talking the premier venue on the west coast here. This isn’t Candlestick; for every single event held there
hundreds of existing businesses in
the area are going to see massive increases in happy paying customers. Think about Red’s Java Hut for a
second….yeah…he’s about to be RICH BITCH!
(trademark: Dave Chappelle)
They say it’s
going to be a $500 million project; with $100 million going straight into the
crumbling foundation; and they say
money is no issue. Are we to
believe that they can build a world class, state of the art venue in the middle
of a city where everything is overpriced for $400 million? I’m going to take them at their word when
they maintain it can be done even if their words aren’t worth a damn
thing. I’m also wondering if that
number buys them territorial rights to combat Larry Ellison when he buys a team
and tries to shoehorn them into the Bay or if that costs extra.
If the money isn’t a problem and the politicians don’t shoot
themselves in the foot we’re still not out of the woods. They are either going have to appease
or grease the palms of environmentalists, neighborhood associations,
politicians and (as Tom Tolbert put it to Lacober on KNBR) those people who are
looking out for the safe migration of the Columbian salamander. The special interests in San Francisco
are probably as prominent as anywhere else in the country. Don’t mess with their views, don’t mess
with their air quality, don’t touch their native insects and don’t even think
about messing with their money. All
I’m saying is that they should still secretly scout other sites as if they were
trying to buy a short sale with anything less then all cash.
It’s hard not to feel for the people of Oakland knowing that
this might just be the first domino to fall in the overall professional sports
exodus. At the same time it’s
equally of hard to feel bad for Jean Quan and the rest of the local government
who saw this coming for years. After
all that time they couldn’t come up with anything better than Coliseum City
when it was obvious the location was one of the biggest reason the Warriors
wanted out. What did they expect
the team to do while they spent all their time trying to appease the Oakland
A’s greedy ass billionaire cheap skate owners? When
I first discussed the topic last month I proposed one of two Jack London
locations that would have been infinitely better for the team and Oakland then
Coliseum Shitty. It’s also hard to
see any other fate for Oracle Arena then The
Bay Area Sports Guy’s assertion that it will become a nicer version of the
Cow Palace with it’s Tattoo and Gun Expos. If the Warriors feel compelled to do the city one small solid
on their way out they could negotiate a deal to let the their D league team (currently
known as the Dakota Wizards) play their games at Oracle and rename them the
Oakland Oaks.
This should be the new home of the Oakland Oaks come 2017
The Warriors could ultimately end up back in Oakland but the
damage has been done. Coliseum
City is officially on life support and the stadium is not the reason Raider
games are getting blacked out each year.
I could be proved wrong if they build a stadium with 15,000 less seats
and start selling out. Even if the
arena doesn’t get built as it was laid out today it won’t remove the layers
added to the stigma of Oakland being a second class city. The culture and history of “The Town”
is second to none but at the end of the day it is still “The Town” when “The
City” is a 10 minute trip away.
Lacober’s statements remain as bold as ever and their
confidence in getting this project completed by 2017 is borderline ridiculous. Getting this thing done on time is
going to be a more difficult promise to fulfill then his disastrous playoff guarantee. The Niners spent decades trying to get
a new stadium and failed. The
Giants took over two decades to stick a shovel in China Basin but the
difference is they say this one will
be privately financed start to finish.
The Giants finally broke ground when they finally made that commitment
and the Niners never did which is why they are excavating next to Great America
as we speak.
It is going to be an interesting five year period to say the
least. We’ve got love, hate and
apathy sitting side by side; all rooting for their camp as well as the team on
the floor. I thought it was weird
cheering for fourth quarter collapses this season but that’s got nothing on
this. I’m actually looking forward
to this season more then I thought I was going to. I hope all the fans
continue to show because the rest of us appreciate them even if ownership
doesn’t. At the end of the decade
the only thing that truly matters is that they put a winner on the floor
wherever that may be. If they were
to do that in Oakland they would still raise prices for tickets, parking, food,
beer and air if they could. The
only difference between the money grubbing elitists they are being made out to
be and the money grubbing elitists that they are is that they will be
responsible for building the greatest venue the city of San Francisco has ever
seen and that is saying something!
You make public transportation sound like it is beneath you. Your claim that it is always late is bogus. Have you ever ridden BART?
ReplyDelete"In April 2006, BART riders enjoyed a nearly 96% passenger on-time record – the highest in 16 months.
This news comes after a string of incidents in March toppled BART's normally stellar passenger on-time performance. Those incidents included a fire on March 9, a bomb threat on March 22 and three computer failures on March 27, 28 and 29. Those events helped drop BART's on-time performance to 93.8% - the lowest since the beginning of BART's fiscal year, which began July 1, 2005."
as someone who watches the majority of the games on the television, the most exciting aspect of this is will they change their name back to the San Francisco Warriors? its infinitely more sophisticated and downright sexy over 'Golden State'. we sound (and at times play) like a college basketball team. time to switch back? or does Lacob want to pay some homage (aka not totally, completely piss off thousands of fans in Oakland) by keeping the name? decisions, decisions...
ReplyDeletethe most prominent hoop to jump through is getting the zonage switched. its currently a goods transport zone or something, right? it was used to unload/load from ships and get them on trains to run up the coast, as i heard on the radio. maritime law requires the zone to be changed, so thats step 0 before getting the pile ones set
Derek, please email me at trappedingoldenstate@gmail.com so I can get you a Tshirt when they arrive...
DeleteI say it's damn near a guarantee they are the SF Warriors day 1 in the new arena. They'll wait till after they play their last game in Oakland to do it because they don't want to piss off anymore fans then they already have or shove it in the face of those that will be priced out until they're riding into the San Francisco sunset. Since they haven't transported any goods on those piers since before I was born I'm sure that'll be an easy pocket to grease, the only money they make out there is for parking a couple times a year.
ReplyDeleteOne person on another blog made a great point today. Larry Ellison did most of the leg work for them in researching what needs to be done structurally to the pier when he tried to build the regatta. The arena will be considerably larger so they're not out of the woods but some steps have been taken. The city has those plans and I'm sure they already coughed them up in their pitch to Lacober.
Love the Oakland Oaks idea.
ReplyDeleteBut I've had enough with this talk about Oakland fans being bitter, we didn't loose a team, we gained a state of the art water front arena.
These owners should be applauded and cheered for what they are doing.
Of course we will be called SF. And no longer will we be compared to brooklyn or new jersey by our host i would hope! lol, we are talking down town SF water front here. Yes I believe that means we can count on seeing celebrities at our playoff games and free agents choosing to play here, like the NY knicks, LA Lakers and the Miami heat. The San Francisco Warriors will have the newest radest arena in the world, i think it will draw positive things our way, like pac bell park did for the Giants, only more so.
If we retain our pick next week the excitement around these parts will be higher then it's been since Webber was dunking on Barkley.
It really is starting to feel like a good time out again.
Will $40.00 parking be a good time out???? Double ticket prices? Concession prices escalating? The issue with the S.F. idea is that the real fans would have left the building. The real fans are being priced out of basketball. Many wonder why sports interests aren't part of our children in today's modern American society? Blame computers all you wish but the ability for the normal parent to get their child to see a game then will be slim & none in the new S.F. venue. The NBA is catering to MONEY as I see it!!! Stern has already mentioned the possibility of a two team market in the bay area due to the cash Ellison flashes around. If all sports don't do a better job of catering to prospective new fans all games themselves probably will vanish. All are great games. Keep the kids involved by making the game of basketball/sports affordable for most. As I have said, someday you will watch a game on T.V. with little or no one in the house. Most tickets will be purchased by corporations for their respective clients to attend. How many hot dogs,cokes,beer will they sell then? Only 8,000 present? Parking revenue? Lacob & Gruber better do some homework prior to packing their bags for S.F. The grass may still be greener in Oakland!!!!! jason breaks down the crumbling of our W's possibilities in past articles. Oakland has agreed discussing building a facility for them cheaper & probably in a area more conducive to public transit also! At first the S.F. idea appealed to me, until I started piecing all the other details together. Again I have stated that if the W's had little following as far as ticket sales I could justify moving but not when they pack the house as now! To me as a past profitable business owner this makes little sense to me. When people mention these words: "State of the Art" tells me "Empty your Wallet"!! Reminds me of the home shopping network, "MO Money, Mo Money, & MORE MONEY"!!!!! We need reasonable ideas which retains the true need for the W's & the continued interest in the game. How will ticket sales be when the S.F. W's are playing .400 BB? They may find out the jump to S.F. backfired on them. Understood is the possibility that Ellison wouldn't renew the lease due to his interest in purchasing a franchise. Nevertheless, other possibilities exist other than this idea. Exhaust all possibilities prior to jumping the gun as G.S. has done this time! S
DeleteWelcome back SRG...I think the pricing out of the fans is the most valid argument against moving the team to SF.
DeleteI was about to respond to all of your points but realized that it would make for a better column then comment...hopefully I'll have it up early in the week. Been on the road so I'm a little behind on the writing...
Send your email to trappedingoldenstate@gmail.com...tshirts coming in this week and I want to make sure you get yours!
AsRsWs...I promise to try and cool the comparisons to New Jersey...lol...It just seems like there would be a similar argument going down over there if they actually had any fans to alienate...
DeleteThe more I thought about this new venue the more I realized what true worth for the game/W's fans was. Let these franchise owners/league officials understand that there is more to basketball than selling tickets to Chevron corp. To these same moguls, loyalty means little,until they don't sell any season tickets to Chevron. Who will bail them out then? Do they just get up & dump us? As for others who say I'm loyal to Oak. I live 120 mi from their venue so there's no difference if I go to Oak. or S.F.. It's the fans that are the issue people! The Real fans gone! I feel G.S. may just pull up stakes & leave us completely. Remember one thing about people with money. Little loyalty to anything but the cash, take the easiest route possible to get it. This could also mean adios to G.S. in the future. S
DeleteLike everything else SRG it's supply and demand...if and when corporate sales dry up it means prices start going back down for us again so hopefully that happens...
DeleteSRG, please email me at trappedingoldenstate@gmail.com if I can interest you in a free tshirt for being such an outspoken Warrior fan and Trapped reader. That type of passion is why I started this website in the first place.
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