No one's mentioned that they were the San Francisco Warriors until '71 yet? It's non-news. It's not even like the Cowboys playing in Arlington. The new site is 10 miles away by car and more like 6 in actual distance. They're moving from a dump next to the airport to a gorgeous location on the water. It'll almost certainly be more convenient for most fans, since SF folks had to cross the bridge to get to Oracle and now anyone working downtown can just hop over to the new arena. What would have been rough is if they had moved to San Jose. The Bay Area isn't the easiest metroplex to get around in. Good for the Warriors.
Let's see, they've been the San Francisco Warriors for 9 years, and the Golden State Warriors for... 41 years! 47 years by the time they move. I don't think the heritage they have as Golden State is something they should want to dump so cavalierly. I'm not too keen on the change -- or wouldn't be if I lived out there and cared what they did. The arena just got more convenient for the 800,000 people who live in San Francisco. And less convenient for the 6,800,000 other people who live in the Bay Area. The saving grace, and the reason for the move, is that the people it's most convenient for are the wealthiest people and companies in the area. And, it will sure help with their cachet -- they'll do better with free agents and be able to charge more for tickets. It's another milestone though in the NBA being a spectator sport for the rich.
Wrong. O-Co Coliseum is located in a decrepit wasteland in Oakland. The new place will be located on the Bay, along the Embarcadero, and can easily be accessed via BART/Caltrain. If you're in the East Bay, it's a 20 minute BART ride, and no hassles with parking. I'm pretty sure most Oakland residents welcome the change as well since the existing arena is pretty pedestrian by today's NBA standards. The new one will be in a great location, and offer a much better gameday experience.
ITT: a lot of people who have never been to Oracle Arena. It's a wasteland located in the worst part of Oakland. The arena itself feels like it was built in the 1960s, which it was. There is literally no night life, no restaurants, no bars near the arena; it's strictly a get-off-BART (located across from O.co Coliseum and a lot of fun at night), walk-to-and-from kind of place. San Francisco is eager to get this done as it is about to lose the 49ers to Santa Clara. By placing the Warriors on the Embarcadero, they will have a nice sports hub with AT&T Park in a resurgent part of town. There's no doubt that San Francisco is more glamorous than Oakland and it will still be just as difficult for people from San Jose to get to the games.
An SF arena is actually a better experience for any Bay Area fan provided they aren't driving to the game. Between BART, Muni, and CalTrain the area is full of public transit options that service the entire Bay Area. More importantly, the waterfront area actually has restaurants/bars/open space to enjoy before and after games. In all honesty this is the best move for the franchise and for the Bay Area as a whole. The Oracle Arena/Oakland Coliseum area sucks. Its in the middle of an industrial district in nowhere South Oakland. There is nothing to do over there before or after games. The hangout spots are literally a Jack N the Box across the street and In n Out/Dennys across the freeway. That whole coliseum area was built in the 60's I believe when the prevailing ideology of sports venues was build it somewhere adjacent to a freeway with a huge parking lot so people can drive to it. Now that ideology has changed to build it downtown with access to public transit so people can get hammered and spend money before/during/after the game. The problem is building a new arena in Oakland won't fly for because Oakland paid a ton of money to completely overhaul Oracle Arena in 97' (to be fair, the actual arena is still really nice, its just in the middle of crap) and there is no way the public is going to stand for using public funds to build a new arena again. The proposed San Francisco arena would be completely financed privately and, like I said earlier, is in a great area for public transit (albeit a TERRIBLE one for vehicle commuters) since the infrastructure is already in place. The SF Giants stadium moves 40,000 people in/out of the area for 81 days a year, I'm sure the Warriors can manage 20,000 over 41. Most importantly the waterfront SF area already has the foot traffic and amenities to support a pleasant fan experience for those actually going to the games. In the end though we all know this is about money and to be honest, SF has more of it that Oakland. This won't affect their viewership as its the same media market, but game-to-game revenue will surely sky-rocket with new luxury seating and the sponsorship opportunities that SF provides. Not to mention the money that will surely be made from the arena hosting conventions and concerts. Currently there is no stadium concert space in the City. Most headline acts do shows in Oracle arena in Oakland or HP Pavilion in San Jose. Oakland won't have any teams pretty soon. A's are trying their hardest to get to San Jose and I'm sure the Raiders are always looking at a way to get back to LA. It sucks for Oakland residents but Oakland is a part of the SF bay area just as much as East Jersey is basically extended NYC. There really is no need for outrage and in 10 years nobody will even care.
I'm not advocating they stay at Oracle. Obviously, they are due for a move regardless. I was commenting on the sociology of their particular choice -- it's good business and completely logical, but I don't like what it has to say about what the NBA has become.
I was responding to all the folks grumpy that they would "relocate" to SF, not advocating for changing the name back. Nothing they're doing would dump the GSW heritage. If they did anything, they could call themselves the Bay Area Warriors. A business? It's always been that.
This is business. And not even sleazy business. Theres no tax money involved. Theres no broken promises. The team isn't moving to some foreign market with no regard for their history/fans. Everyone who goes to games now can feasibly still go to games. This is like the Lakers moving to Staples Center in downtown LA from the Great Western Forum in Inglewood. The cities of Oakland and Inglewood had 40+ years to develop the areas around the arenas to make money from the influx of money spending spectators. They didn't, and the teams left. In all honestly they were lucky to have the teams in the first place.
Why change the name. Its still the Bay. So the Warriors are moving a couple blocks up, big whoop. Hardly news. I thought most die hard Warrior fans were from San Fran. The Packers also played in Milwaukee for quite a number of years. Didnt change that they were the Greenbay Packers.
