Saturday, June 06, 2015

"Absolutely nothing wrong with Oracle Arena"

Although I've been a Warriors fan since before they won their last championship in 1975, I see the push to build a new arena in San Francisco as nothing but a greed/power hustle by the owners, the kind of guys who never have enough money, power, and ego gratification. 

Since the Warriors now sell out every home game---and, importantly, Oracle Arena has acres of parking next to the freeway---there's no real need for a new stadium.  

If you're a local sports fan, you already know that the Chronicle's sports page is the smartest part of the paper. Bruce Jenkins nails it in this morning's column

In the process of addressing the media before Game 1, Commissioner Adam Silver proclaimed the Warriors “need a new arena. There is no doubt about that.” You figure he can’t say much else, hanging out with co-owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber as they chart the path to San Francisco, but the Warriors’ East Bay fan base begs to differ. Fenway Park is a structure from some other time, but its treasures are preserved. Wrigley Field didn’t get torn down, just renovated. Oracle doesn’t have that brand of charm or tradition, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, especially now as it thrives in the Finals spotlight...

See also this morning's front page story (Traffic at arena at heart of project) on the release of the EIR on the arena project:

Backed by Mayor Ed Lee and San Francisco’s political establishment, the Warriors plan is facing unanticipated opposition by the Mission Bay Alliance, a newly formed group of wealthy UCSF donors and bioscience executives. They contend that the arena would snarl traffic around the new $1.6 billion UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco, creating dangerous delays for the patients and physicians trying to get to the medical center...

Of course Ron Conway is helping Mayor Lee push the project.

Oracle Arena: Plenty of parking by the freeway

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