OAKLAND — Fresh off their championship season, the Golden State Warriors are defending their NBA title on the court, while a legal defense is ramping up over how much debt the team will owe for improvements made to Oracle Arena, once the franchise moves to San Francisco.
Lawyers for the Warriors, in an Oct. 6 letter to the American Arbitration Association demanding arbitration and mediation on the contract dispute, argue that the team has no obligation to pay any remaining debt after moving to a new arena across the bay.
The arena’s operator, the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority (OACCA), contends the team must pay all the remaining debt — estimated at about $40 million — once the contract to play at Oracle ends.