There's been a recent speculation that the Golden State Warriors could be represented by a different city name when they move across the Bay Bridge in 2019 from Oakland to San Francisco.
Having cleared every hurdle to build a new arena in downtown San Francisco, the next thing in the agenda seemed to be changing the name from “Golden State” to “San Francisco” in order to represent where the arena was built.
Warriors president and COO Rick Welts, however, cautioned that odds are against any change.
“The team’s success has caused us to really rethink whether or not that’s something we should or want to do,” Welts told CSN's Monte Pool on the Warriors Insider Podcast.
“I guess it’s fair to say there’s been no final decision made. But if you were a betting man, I think you would probably want to wager that the name might remain the same.”
This would be a smart move by management, given how there's plenty of Oakland residents still willing to come to San Francisco and follow their team. The change of arena had also drawn comparisons to that of the San Francisco 49ers leaving Candlestick Park and opting to move to a state-of-the-art venue in Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara.
The business plan was to target upper class season ticket-holders, but ended up backfiring as the team lost steam, going from a SuperBowl contender to a team decimated by injuries, retirements, arrests, and more coaching changes than most care to count. As a result, upper-class ticket holders no longer renew their season tickets, given that football is more of a networking activity than an actual tradition like it is for many middle-class families, which have been basically exiled by their own team due to the overwhelming prices.
If the Warriors do indeed keep “Golden State” attached to their name, it would keep the unique 45-year span of being the only NBA franchise that doesn't have a formal city name attached to their team.
The Warriors originated in Philadelphia before moving to San Francisco in the early 1960s. For a decade, they were known as the “San Francisco Warriors” before making the Oakland Coliseum their home in 1971 — the team's relocation coincided with a name change to the “Golden State Warriors” as the team made efforts to attract fans from all over the state of California.
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