BAY AREA MEDIA KINGPIN SAM SINGER --YOUR BEST AND WORST ENEMYSPOKES PRO FOR MISSION BAY ALLIANCE
Sam Singer is the Warriors' arch nemesis when the topic comes to the Dubs' proposed new SF arena.
It's scheduled to open sometime after 2018 but that's iffy at best thanks to Singer and the anti-arena group he represents, Mission Bay Alliance.
"It's all about location, location, location, but in this instance it's 'bad location, bad location, bad location, "offered Singer, who tells me the fight for this cause isn't ending anytime soon.
The MBA is playing some great PR and legal cards against the Warriors to keep them from building their proposed “Monster at Mission Bay” 18,000 seat arena right across from UCSF Hospital and San Francisco’s bioscience research center.
The Warriors are in for some big-boy's ball as MBA---UCSF scientists, neighborhood activists, and S.F. taxpayers are winning battle after battle off the court against Warriors’owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber and their attorneys and PR/political spokesmen.
Just this past week, the Mission Bay Alliance won its first tentative court battle against the UCSF and the Warriors in Oakland. And, earlier this year, the basketball team pushed back its proposed opening date of a new bayside facility due to growing opposition.
MBA lawyers and Singer have formed a most successful straight-arm push against the Warrior's massive PR push.
To be sure, Singer and the opposition have received a plethora of TV/Radio media coverage --including countless appearances on the W's own cable partner, CSN Bay Area. And it's not just in the Bay Area.
I'll admit it, I have my own bias here. I'm an Oakland resident and love the Warriors and have covered them off and on for years. Selfishly, I hope MBA and Singer's lawsuits prevail.
Someday someone is going to stick a microphone in Lacob’s or Guber’s face and ask what’s the real reason they are abandoning their Oakland/Eastbay fans that have suffered through four decades of losing teams and who are now being abandoned by Warriors’ owners who only want to move across the bay so they can make more money—and leave their devoted fans behind.
Let's see, win a championship for the first time in 40 years and what do you do to reward the most loyal fan base in the NBA? Why raise ticket prices and alienate the base by moving to SF, of course.
ReplyDeleteFuck Joe Lacob. He is a money-grubbing piece of shit.
Missing in all of this is asking why would they want to risk the home court advantage they have at Oracle. A championship, 45 game home winning streak, rabid fans and the noisiest home court in the league so what do you do....move across the Bay, change your fan base due to the cost of new arena; sounds logical. Oh wait I forgot they will make more money in a new arena. That's what is all about. Just ask Jed, he has the playbook.
DeleteAnd expect KNBR to do their best Warriors cheerleading.
ReplyDeleteYou can always depend on KNBR to lead the way in promoting the local teams.
KNBR has no objectivity. Unfortunately, the idiots who listen are sucked in by what the talking heads have to say. WAKE UP jackasses!
DeleteTo make our voices heard (no, not with Colin Herd), we must unite and boycott My Pillow.
Delete> Sam Singer is the Warriors' arch nemesis when the topic
ReplyDelete> comes to the Dubs' proposed new SF arena.
And may God bless him. Go Sam!
Big fan of Sam. I see him at the coffee shops in Rockridge all the time. He was on KQED's Forum last year discussing this issue. I love his approach. Take no prisoners and kick ass Sam!
ReplyDeleteBig Medicine, big money investors, big mouthpiece, big leverage. Regardless of their confident posturing and current league stature, The Dubs (and their supporters) are in for a tough battle against that kind of power.
ReplyDeleteKeep the team in Oakland or, if the owner doesn't like that, bring it to Silicon Valley and to hell with San Francisco (which is where I prefer, but they blew it with the Niners and now watch them blow it with the Warriors. Thank goodness the Giants have an SF stadium.)
ReplyDelete@5:34PM
DeleteFormer Mayor of SJ, Chuck Reed asked the Warriors to move to San Jose, and Lacob said..."thank you, but NO thanks." Warriors Ownership wants to move the team to San Francisco.
I'm still befuddled by why the Coliseum Arena has turned into a piece of shit for the Warriors? Not enough suites? It's in Oakland? They renovated the place and now it's shit. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteRemember how "wonderful" the outdoor stadium in that complex was, before "Mt. Davis" and AT&T Park? Or the arena in San Jose, which is now considered outdated. And there are many other examples throughout the country.
DeleteThat Coliseum Arena/Oracle renovation took place in the late '90s, which is too long ago. Not new, shiny, or hip enough for today's spoiled sports fans!
It is in the middle of a huge concrete parking lot. Fans go to game and nothing else ala Candlestick and the Coliseum.
DeleteThe new arena (like AT&T Park, Wrigley Field and Fenway Park) will be surrounded by bars, restaurants and shops.
"Fans go to the game and nothing else ala Candlestick and the Coliseum."
DeleteParking in a stadium parking lot, actually finding a parking space, and enjoying a tailgate party have become declasse?
Did you know that one of the Warriors owners is a little bald headed jerk named Dennis Wong? This son of a bitch owns SPI Holdings, a group that owns Bridgepointe Ice Center. Since 2013, he's tried to get out of an agreement to keep an ice rink open in this San Mateo shopping center. His group has steadfastly refused to reopen the rink and live up to the agreement. He's a greedy little bastard who's day of reckoning is coming soon. The San Mateo City Council is meeting in April to decide what to do. Even though the planning commission has unanimously agreed to prevent him from turning the building into retail, he's going to hold out and become an asshole and not live up to the agreement. The meeting is in April. If you hate bullies, you should show up and tell the city council what you think of this move of greed.
ReplyDeleteThe Chinese are killing us in trade and now ice rinks.
DeleteIronic that Marc Benioff sold the land to the Warriors after building his namesake $100MM children's hospital across the street. Whose side is he on?
ReplyDeleteKeep the Warriors in Oakland where their loyal fan base is and has been for 40 years. Fuck the owners and greedy Ed Lee. San Francisco has already proven that they can not handle what's already on their plate. That's parking, pot holes, homelessness Muni, water and gas pipelines, etc. Nuff said.
ReplyDeleteOnly 22% of the season ticket holder have Alameda County addresses. Of those only 15% live in Oakland.
Delete60% of season ticket holders live in SF, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
DeleteI was shocked that the W's victory parade was in Oakland. These owners are obsessed over SF. I bet if they win again this year they'll have it in SF. Tix will be sky high at the new Chase Center in SF, outpricing even more diehard fans. At least they could of picked a local company like Apple, Chevron, Kaiser, Uber, etc... instead of Chase...ughh!
ReplyDeleteNormally Sam singer is on the wrong side of any argument - perhaps this just cause scenario will get him in heaven after all?
ReplyDeleteSF is the new money. They want those tech folks who don't know shit about the Bay or basketball to pony up millions for suites.
ReplyDeleteNever in my wildest dreams did I ever think a warriors game or it's fans would be worse than LA but there's no doubt in my mind that will be the case.
Didn't the Warriors begin their western stay in San Francisco as the SF Warriors? How does Seattle Warriors sound?
ReplyDeleteOh you think the NBA is going to allow the Warriors to leave the wealthiest region in the country for a city that lost its team to Oklahoma City's corrupt owners?
DeleteDon't be ridiculous.
I think the Warriors have probably weighed alienating a long-time fan base against moving to San Francisco, closer to bigger corporate dollars and a more affluent fan base on the Peninsula. Lacob lives in Atherton and used to play open gym at Stanford with his son Kirk. I don't like it myself, but it will probably end up attracting bigger free agents too. Lacob and Co. are smart guys, unlike Chris Cohan. They hired a staff that basically built, traded, and drafted a championship team in 3-4 years from mediocrity. I remember being overjoyed when the Warriors were an 8th seed for the playoffs. The only thing I'd warn against - they better keep winning because I think SF and Peninsula majority fan base will be much more fair weather than the East Bay.
ReplyDeleteBy the time they move to SF the Warriors will suck all over again, and for decades. Only this time the ticket prices and bandwagon fans will be much higher. I'm so happy the team is doing so well while they're still in Oakland.
ReplyDeleteWarriors started in SF, they should return there. "The City" on their uniforms doesn't refer to Oakland.
ReplyDeleteThe Warriors did not start in SF. Please learn the history.
DeleteBuilding an arena, across the street from a hospital,is incomprehensible. Lacob must have paid off Lee, Board of Supes., and the administrators at U.C.S.F.
ReplyDeleteEvery open space in S.F. does not need to be built up; the Dogpatch neighborhood is congested as is.
Good luck to Mr. Singer.
The Giantes don't want them in SF. Joe Lacob obviously does not know how SF politics work.
ReplyDeleteBenioff of Salesforce owned the land the hospital was one, and whose name is attached to the building because of his donations. He also owned the land the Warriors bought for the arena. The city should have zoned the land when the hospital/research center was being built. How can the Giants bitch about traffic when they're selling all their land they now use for parking for retail? Won't the land cost go up with the Warriors being just around the corner?
ReplyDelete