The Logo himself was in town with Kirk Lacob to announce the naming rights deal for the new arena in Santa Cruz and unveil their official new logo. I guess W&W’s invitation was lost in the mail.

The logo is a yellow trident spear “W” which does remind one of the great blue sea in our backyards. Santa Cruz certainly appears prominently in the logo and the Warrior’s Blue and Gold are also the UCSC colors so maybe some cross-promotion there.  Mike can probably discuss the finer details of why this logo is teh awesome or teh suck, but I kinda like it. Don’t love it, but don’t hate it. It is interesting that they stuck with Santa Cruz Warriors though as I cannot think of any other minor league team in professional sports that has the same name as their big league ball club. Maybe the branding consultants thought it might help bring enthusiasm to the team and sell more gear.

Pretty surprised to see Jerry West was in town for this announcement. Maybe West is beginning to take a larger role in shaping the organization, or maybe Kirk Lacob has unimaginable blackmail material on him. Either way pretty cool that he was in town, even if the announcement was at the Crow’s Nest at the Santa Cruz Harbor and not at a downtown spot that would have been walking distance to the arena. Maybe they were worried about finding enough parking near the arena for the press conference turn-out. At least they didn’t go across the bay to the fancier more affluent city for the press conference (I am killing myself with hilarity right now).

The arena’s naming rights went to Kaiser Permanente, which as the Santa Cruz Sentinel points out is a bit of an odd choice considering Kaiser’s reach does not extend to Santa Cruz County. I am sure some were hoping that O’Neill or some other mega surf apparel brand would win the rights, but I imagine the City Council is breathing a sigh of relief that it is not going to be the Walmart  or NRA Arena. The details of the naming right deal are not available but the Warriors are saying it was a D-league record. Boy do the Warriors really like breaking financial records. Now how about some records on the court.

Creative Commons Photo by Flickr user TracyElaine

I have to admit that I am more excited than I should be that the Warriors D-league team, previously known as the Dakota Wizards, are going to be moving to Santa Cruz, where I currently reside. I even watched and live-tweeted the entire City Council meeting. If you missed the news its okay as the City council approved the funding for the move the same day the Warriors big league club announced that they would be moving to SF in 2017 (Hey that logo did some good, I didn’t have to look up the date).

The Warriors Jr. still need a mascot and maybe a name, unless they stick with The Santa Cruz Warriors.

Some details from the meeting:

• The facility will be a Cirque du Soleil style tent that holds just approximately 2700 people.
• Final approval for leasing the parking lot still needs to occur
• NBA approval was still needed two weeks ago but may have been done by now, but no confirmation that it has
• Naming rights have already been loosely agreed to, but have not been released yet
• This is being used as a test run for both the City and the Warriors but the hope is to build a 5000 person permanent structure in the future
• They will serve Beer!
• The Big league club will play one pre-season game in Santa Cruz a year if the NBA approves

I will be putting my deposit down for season tickets as soon as ticket package prices are released. Currently the Warriors are taking $50 non-refundable deposits, but it is unclear what packages are going to cost. Single game tickets will be $5-45 with an average price of $15. With 25 home games that should put tickets in a reasonable range.

I am hoping to attend quite a few games, do some live-tweeting and maybe Warriors and Whatever, can become your go to place for Warrior’s D-league news.