City Wants To Sell Oracle Arena To NBA Champs
The Golden State Warriors are in talks to extend their lease at Oakland's Oracle Arena as lawsuits keep the team from moving forward on its plans for the newly named Chase Center in Mission Bay. But the executive director of the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Authority has another proposal in mind.
Scott McKibben has asked if the Warriors would consider buying Oracle Arena if they cannot get past the legal hurdles to build their privately financed Mission Bay arena (above) and surrounding office development. The Warriors say they are committed to building the $1B Mission Bay project and starting their 2019 season at Chase Center, according to the San Francisco Business Times.
The Warriors lease on Oracle Arena is set to expire at the end of June 2017. An extended lease could include options beyond the two years the team needs—possibly something similar to the Raiders' deal to extend its lease at O.co Coliseum with the rent increasing from $925k to around $3.5M for the first year of the lease, but then would come down by $1M to $1.5M if the team stayed an additional year or two.
Or it could go beyond that if the Mission Bay deal falls through, with the Warriors having the option to buy (and control and profit from) Oracle Arena. [SFBT]
