The Golden State Warriors announced a new name for the D-League team coming to Santa Cruz and a name for the tent-arena it will play in.
The team will be the Santa Cruz Warriors and the arena will be named for Kaiser Permanente.
For any basketball fan at the Crow's Nest in Santa Cruz on Tuesday, lunch was a thrill. It's not every day that Jerry West, arguably one of the 10 greatest basketball players of all time, provides the soundtrack to your meal.
He told a collection of stories from his playing days and explained to local business heavyweights and members of the media why Santa Cruz County should be excited about professional basketball coming to town.
West is a part owner of the Golden State Warriors and is among the team's top consultants. Along with other front office members, West was in town for a meet and greet to stir up buzz for the Santa Cruz Warriors, who will begin playing in a temporary arena in downtown Santa Cruz this winter.
West and company unveiled the D-League team's brand new logo at the event. Get the first, exclusive look at the new Santa Cruz Warriors logo above.
They also announced that they have partnered with Kaiser Permanente. The new building on Front Street will be the Kaiser Permanente Arena.
But here are the pros: job creation, return on the investment, a new venue to host almost any event, cheap professional entertainment, new community role models, a new activity, enrichment of an otherwise unattractive area, increased tourism and sales tax revenue, I could go on. This is why you weigh the pros and cons. For some people, the pros are not enough. But that money was sitting idly in a fund, not earning interest, while the area between Pacific and the Boardwalk sat rotting. Why sit idly when a non-binding, short term, possibly excellent solution falls into your lap? A lot of people aren't sports fan. I get that. But I also feel that a lot of people refuse to see the big picture and will search for cons when the pros are staring them in the face.