The Golden State Warriors won their second NBA title in three years in June, and much celebrating was done in the Bay Area this summer. But putting on such celebrations have a cost, and though cities like Buffalo and or Atlanta will never have to worry about such burdens the victorious always have a bill come due.
One high point of this year’s championship parade — at least for the taxpayers and civic leaders — was when Warriors owner Joe Lacob announced that he would foot the bill for the whole dang parade.
“We’d just like to say that this parade, this whole day, all the cost, every dollar is on us!” Lacob told a cheering crowd at the Warriors victory parade back in June. “It’s our gift to the city of Oakland.”
That gift, however, has yet to be received according to a report in The Mercury News.
But now, almost three months after the blue-and-gold confetti has been swept up and Steph Curry and Kevin Durant have hung up their sneakers for offseason vacations, the team has not paid a cent for the festivities, which added up to almost $816,000, according to the city. The city is also asking the team to pick up $244,000 in costs from the 2015 championship parade, according to city officials and an invoice obtained by the East Bay Times.
The problem for the Warriors, according to the story, is that the cost of the parade somehow tripled, and they aren’t exactly sure how that happened. The city sent the Warriors a $1 million bill in July with a due date of last month, but no payment has been received just yet. City spokesperson Karen Boyd said the San Francisco is in an “ongoing conversation with the Warriors” about it, but no resolution has been reached just yet.
I’m sure it’s an issue that will get sorted out eventually. If a city and a team can agree to a much more expensive stadium financing deal, for example, they should be able to get along long enough to pay for a parade. It’s probably not the last one the city and team will have to put on, so it’s best they stay on good terms moving forward.
