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The Golden State Warriors made good on their promise to foot the bill for this year's championship parade in Oakland, paying nearly $787,000 on top of the half-a-million in-house costs of celebration inside Oracle Arena after winning Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
The payment does not include an extra $244,000 that was put on the original invoice that the city of Oakland claimed stemmed from the 2015 parade, according to Ray Ratto of CSN Bay Area, which was pulled from the bill after the city acknowledged the organization should have never gotten billed for it, according to Matthias Gafni and Jon Becker of the San Jose Mercury News.
“Due to a misunderstanding within the city, the (2015) invoice should not have been issued,” city spokeswoman Karen Boyd said in an email to The Mercury News. When asked what the misunderstanding was, she declined to provide details.”
This near-quarter-million charges were first brought up by the East Bay Times/Mercury News earlier in the summer, reporting that the team owed the city approximately $1,032,000 in security and other costs from the two parades.
Ownership, including part-owner Joe Lacob, pointed out that the team had not received an itemized bill from the city, hence why no payment was yet made. Following the clinching of a second NBA championship in three seasons, Lacob assured this championship parade would be paid in full by the franchise.
The organization made sure to point out their own generosity in taking care of all the expenses, despite the original bill being expected to come out around $300,000, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
“Out of an abundance of goodwill toward the city of Oakland, the Warriors have agreed to cover the entirety of the city’s revised estimated costs from this summer’s NBA Championship parade — despite the fact that the revised amount of $786,988 is more than double the $300,000 estimate the Warriors were provided by the city in the lead-up to the parade. This amount comes on top of the nearly $6 million the Warriors have already spent to produce two victory parades in Oakland; most American cities cover the majority of the expenses associated with victory parades. We have made this decision despite our disappointment with the process and the large disparity between the two estimates.”
The city's statement was rather more thankful of the 2015 bill's disposition than looking to strike back against the one made by the team.
“Today, the Golden State Warriors made good on their public promise to pay the City of Oakland for hosting the team’s 2017 Championship parade. The City is grateful for the $786,998 payment, which offsets all taxpayer costs it took to provide Police, Fire, and Public Works personnel to staff such a massive public event. The parade was a safe and joyous community occasion for generations of Oaklanders, and the City appreciates the Warriors’ financial investment—few professional franchises can boast such a commitment to their home city.”
