Warriors planning to skip out on Oracle Arena bill
As an Alameda County resident, I want to personally thank the front office of the Golden State Warriors for the lovely parting gift they plan to bestow on their East Bay fans, supporters and landlords.
They are truly a classy organization.
When the Warriors gloriously announced their purchase of a 12-acre plot in San Francisco for a new arena last week, they also delivered a less-than-celebratory message to Oakland and Alameda County.
The team informed the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority that when it leaves in 2017, it will stop paying the public bonds issued in the mid-1990s to make seating, scoreboard and other upgrades at the Oracle Arena. Those 30-year municipal bonds generated $140 million in improvements and won't be paid off until 2027.
But the Warriors won't be sticking around to pay their share.
That's right, folks. The reward to the public for more than four decades of fan support, through good and bad times, is an unpaid bill for more than $60 million.
"Our rent, debt and other payment obligations expire after the 2017 season," Raymond Ridder, a Warriors spokesman, told The Chronicle last week. "We have the option to extend the lease, but not the obligation."
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/johnson/article/Warriors-planning-to-skip-out-on-Oracle-Arena-bill-5436777.php
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if high end sports want to have a place to play, they can pay for it themselves... the nonprofit status has to go for them. they do this and leave taxpayers holding the bill... Heads Up sportsfans!!!
