Field of Schemes new post Tweet claims Warriors set to announce S.F. arena deal

This is about as thin a rumor as you can get — it's based entirely on a fan blogger's tweet citing unnamed "sources" — but the Golden State Warriors are reportedly set to announce a deal with San Francisco to move to a new waterfront arena near the Giants' AT&T Park. According to blogger Adam Lauridsen, an announcement could come as early as tomorrow for an arena to be built "w/ private $$$."

If so, it's going to be interesting to see how that financing works. The going price tag for an arena these days is around $500 million, and likely more in San Francisco where both land and labor are expensive, and seismic concerns add to engineering requirements. Plus, the Warriors would be on the hook for paying off the remaining debt on their existing Oracle Arena in Oakland — according to Newballpark.org, if they left at the end of the 2017 season (reasonable considering how long it's likely to take to get an arena planned, approved, and built across the bay), they'd have to pay $70 million to Oakland on top of arena costs.

So that's a sizable chunk of change. Could it be paid off entirely with private $$$ and still turn a profit for the team's owners? Certainly, the location is right: An arena in S.F. would be able to fill its schedule with tons of concerts while charging top dollar for tickets — the only real competition would be from the Oracle Arena, which isn't nearly as easy to get to for the moneyed classes in S.F. and the neighboring Peninsula, which could go a long way toward paying off that massive arena debt.

Still, nobody builds an arena just to be able to mostly pay it off; this deal will only go through if the Warriors owners see a guaranteed profit. Until we see the actual financial numbers — something I doubt will happen anywhere near as early as tomorrow — it's going to be tough to say whether talk of an all-private arena is realistic or just a dodge to let Mayor Ed Lee claim he's kept his promise.

from Field of Schemes http://www.fieldofschemes.com/news/archives/2012/05/4955_tweet_claims_wa.html