SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) – The NBA’s Golden State Warriors must keep paying for renovations at Oakland Arena even after deciding to stop playing their games there.
That was the Aug. 18 ruling of California’s First Appellate District in the team’s dispute with the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority. The court affirmed an arbitration decision that found the Warriors were required to pay annual bond debt payments until 2027, pursuant to its agreement with the county.
“Termination” of its contract with the county applied to failing to exercise an option to renew it, the court found. The ruling will reportedly cost the team $49 million.
The agreement in question involved a 20-year lease with four five-year options to renew. The Warriors had to play in the arena in the first 10 years then could leave if they paid the debt.
They could also leave after 20 years by making payments until 2027.
“Notably, the team’s owner, Chris Cohan, also believed the team could avoid servicing the project debt only under limited circumstances,” the opinion says.
“Shortly after the agreement was executed, when the Authority was seeking bond financing to construct the new arena, Cohan acknowledged to CIBC that ‘other than a termination due to a default . . . . , the undersigned has no right to terminate or cancel the Assigned Agreements until the Project Debt (as defined in the License Agreement) has been fully paid.’”
The Warriors left Oakland Arena, then called Oracle, in 2019 to move to the Chase Center in San Francisco.