I’m excited about the move. The Warriors need a new arena, and San Francisco is really the only option: they can get private backing for a SF arena — which they won’t get in Oakland — and lord knows Oakland can’t afford to chip in any cash (nor SF, for that matter). Their luxury suite revenue will increase by orders of magnitude, and along with more corporate sponsorships they’ll vault into one of the top revenue teams in the league (meaning paying the luxury tax can co-exist with the profitability that Lacob has promised his investors). From a business and team revenue standpoint, I don’t think the move can really be argued.

As for the fan vibe, while it’s sure to be different, the fan mix was going to change regardless if the team ever got good (when ticket prices would surely rise), so in my opinion the only way to preserve the exact same vibe at Oracle is for the team to continue to suck indefinitely. And I don’t think it’s going to automatically become a wine-and-cheese crowd in a new arena — this is a great region for basketball fans, and that location couldn’t be more convenient to Oakland outside of being in the actual city (and as someone who used to live on the Pittsburgh-Bay Point line, the new spot will be a more convenient BART ride than the Coliseum is).

So my bottom line is that while change always means losing some of the things you love, in the overall scheme of things this should lead to a more successful franchise that is still incredibly convenient to the vast majority of the current fan base. It will still be the Bay Area’s team, just in a stunning new location. I can’t wait.

I spent 8 years living in Berkeley and Oakland and I grew up in the North Bay as a fan of the East Bay teams so I have a special place in my heart for Oakland. I think I understand its grittiness, its underdog mentality, and in some ways its superiority to that City across the Bay. Granted I have not been to an A’s game in over two seasons so maybe I am a part of the reason as to why they are trying to leave too. But I just cannot give that ownership group any more of my money when it requires an hour and a half drive from Santa Cruz to get there. But enough of this tangent and on to another.

During the 2007 We Believe season I was working one night a week in a bar in San Francisco and living near Lake Merritt. It was not a sports bar, but rather the type of place that B-Diddy (Mojito) and Capt. Jack (Hennessey) might stop into after a game or on a night off. None-the-less when I was working Warriors games were on the TV. Maybe one person in the half empty pre-DJ hour bar would care. Glance up from their 5th drink and look back down into half full glass. While Oakland was believing for a solid month suddenly something changed in SF. It didn’t change until game 80 though. By the playoffs all of sudden everyone in SF was a Warriors fan. Blue and gold everywhere. A full bar 60 minutes before tip-off. All eyes glued to the single TV, beers in hand waiting to erupt.  People walking by on the street would run in at the roar of the crowd and stay. The bus stop outside our door unofficially moved inside under the TV. Half-time was a chaotic cluster-f of pouring. Just a few games into the next season and it went back to one or two people staring blankly at the TV. So yes, this was a long way of saying that SF fans are a bit fair-weather and the atmosphere in the new arena will be different than Oracle. At least until the Warriors are good again(?). And if they start giving players stupid, cute animal nicknames just to sell merch … I will lose my sh*t.

Correct me if I am wrong but the new collective bargaining agreement will increase luxury tax penalties as the years go on, making it less and less of a regular tool for many teams to us. So color me a bit skeptical that the new arena will lead consistent luxury tax spending by the Warriors.

That being said, the arena on Piers 30/32 will be beautiful and amazing. It will be easier for East Bay fans coming over on BART than the China Basin site would have been too. This is not baseball though where the ballpark is so much a part of the experience. Sitting outside with a nice view of the bay and East Bay, during a slow moving game at ATT is part of the experience. Yes, the new arena will be beautiful, but at a basketball game much more time is spent looking at the court, not at your surrounding views. The only time one will really experience the architecture is out on the concorse buying a $15 beer. However, basketball is becoming a stat heavy sport, so they could do a lot of cool tech things to enhance the game experience.  Free WiFi, ordering food to your seats not just the luxury boxes, Twitter based contests, instant voting for players of the game etc (just don’t milk us for $0.99 every time we want to participate, make it part of the whole ticket package). I also have to give the ownership group a lot of credit for privately funding the arena. No way that happens in Oakland, and no way tax dollars should be spent on making a private entity a bunch of money. I am okay with some tax breaks, as surely the City of SF will benefit from the new arena, just look at what the area around ATT was like 20 years ago.

Its just hard not to feel a little punked and sad, but at least the Warriors aren’t headed to Anaheim. I think I will be a little less forgiving if the Warriors aren’t consistent playoff contenders though. Or at the very least they better entertain me with what it will cost for a ticket. Note: David Lee putting up 15 & 15 in a losing effort is not entertaining.

Christian: (in poem form)

 Overwhelming Ovations Occasionally Overpower Opposition

Accept mediocrity, sustain hope

Kinetic underdogs crest anon

Look for logic, laud loyalty

Asshole owners disable Mueli magic

Native soul, not corporate cash

Damn. Davis’ Dunk Delivers enDuring Delight