Sterling is not the only race issue for the NBA

Thanks to The Dish

Speaking of the NBA, do we really want the deadbeat owners of the Warriors to move their operation to San Francisco? Any contract the city signs with the Warriors should be examined in light of their apparent determination to rip off Oakland and Alameda Counties: 

From Chip Johnson in the SF Chronicle:

The lease agreement between the two parties is as obvious as the nose on your face---even a fourth-grader could understand it. The team agreed to shoulder a portion of the bond debt until it's paid off---even if the lease agreement ends or the team leaves. It's right there in black and white.

The Warriors are on the hook for about $7.4 million annually until 2027. Those costs can be reduced by proceeds from concerts, truck pulls and other entertainment events held at the arena, but they are responsible for the difference.

Even more stunning than the decision itself is the Warriors' lack of business ethics. They aren't stiffing a service provider or a jersey manufacturer. They are stiffing their own fans and financiers---trying to stick John Q. Public with a bill they generated for work they requested. You can even take it one step further than that: Not only has the team sealed its departure from the East Bay, but now it is actually going to try to get Oakland and Alameda County residents to pay for the move as well.

If the National Basketball Association is interested in maintaining its public image, the big-mouthed, racist owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, Donald Sterling, isn't the only public relations disaster.

See also an editorial in the East Bay Express:

Last week, we learned that team owners Joe Lacob (estimated net worth: $325 million) and Peter Guber (estimated net worth: $400 million) said they that when they move their team to San Francisco in 2018, they plan to stick Oakland and Alameda County taxpayers with a $62 million bill.

Under the Warriors' contract with the publicly owned Oracle Arena, the team pays $7.4 million annually to the city and county as reimbursement for publicly funded upgrades made to the facility in the 1990s at the team's request. But when the Warriors leave for San Francisco in four years, the debt from those upgrades will still be about $62 million. And if the Warriors' owners don't pay their debt, then city and county taxpayers will have to pick up the tab---or we'll be forced to sue them to get them to do what's right.

So why are these wealthy owners trying to screw us over? One word: greed...