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July 12, 2019
Chase Center in SF under construction, November 2018
The Golden State Warriors are going to be very different when the 2019 season commences. Klay Thompson may not rejoin the team until February while recovering from ACL surgery. Kevin Durant has moved on to the Brooklyn Nets, and is unlikely to play in 2019 anyway due to his ruptured Achilles. DeMarcus Cousins joined the Los Angeles Lakers via free agency. The Warriors will still have three All-Stars on the court when the season opens - Steph Curry, Draymond Green and newly-acquired D’Angelo Russell. But the forthcoming venue change is perhaps the most overlooked topic related to the Bay Area ballers.
The Chase Center, located at Third Street and 16th Street in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, has a scheduled grand opening on September 6, 2019. Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony will perform live, christening the new arena and celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the rock band’s album S&M. The Warriors, after playing their home game in Oakland for much of the past 48 years, will play their first preseason game at the Chase Center on October 5 against the Los Angeles Lakers. The regular season schedule will be released later this summer.
Die-hard fans who spend their days in cubicles throughout the Bay Area, and head to the arena after work to escape the grind for three-plus hours, are in for some major changes this coming season.
Tom Maguire, director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFTMA), told KTVU Fox 2 in April that he believes the best way for Warriors fans to get to the new arena is via mass transit. That’s because there are only 950 parking spots for the 18,064-seat arena. The Warriors organization, in collaboration with Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), is funding express bus service to get fans to the arena as quickly as possible.
VIP parking was offered to season ticket holders at the Oracle Arena. That perk is no longer available at the Chase Center.
Reporter Jon Wertheim of “60 Minutes” got a tour of one of the luxury suites inside the Chase Center. When he asked Warriors chief operating officer Rick Welts for the price of a suite for the season, Welts responded, “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.” SFGate reported in April that the single game price for courtside seats and access to your own luxury suite was $50,000 per game, or about $2 million per season. That price also gets you a personal butler, a wine cellar, and a huge monitor for you to watch the game while stepping away from courtside action. There are 32 luxury suites, all of which have reportedly been sold for the upcoming season.
The Warriors have not released ticket pricing information as of publishing. But leaked information from season-ticket holders points to all ticket prices rising about 17% from their prices at Oracle. Premium seats also now have refundable one-time “licensing” fees that cost upwards of $35,000. Licensing fees for seats are common at sports arenas, but the Warriors are offering to refund the fees after 30 years. The organization also guarantees season ticket holders that prices will not rise more than 7.5% per season.
One thing fans can always expect is consistency with the Warriors organization. Eric Housen, the team’s director of operations, has now been with the Warriors for over 30 years. He started in 1985 as a ball boy while in junior high. He was equipment manager from 1999-2011 before being promoted to his current position. But everyone in the organization knows his value to the team’s success.
Housen is the guy who makes certain the players have everything they need so they can focus on basketball and winning. He knows all the trends related to office furniture in the Bay Area, office lounge furniture, etc. to make the locker room feel like both a workplace and a home for the players. He gets Curry gluten-free snacks and his stocking caps when the team travels to cold-weather cities. Curry gave Housen a shoutout at the team’s ring ceremony last season, saying “I don’t take [him] for granted.” The Warriors will have a new office to call home, but the transition should be smooth and seamless.
Eco Office creates accommodating, motivating workspaces for clients, just as Housen does for the Warriors. Call 408-437-1700 to speak to a project manager about your office furniture and design needs, or use the contact form on the top menu bar of this page.
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Bryan is a freelance writer and digital nomad. He owns a content marketing company and runs it from his RV. Bryan has worked in journalism and content marketing for over 20 years.
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