[ad_1]
The Golden State Warriors must repay the remaining debt of about $ 40 million contracted by Oakland and Alameda County for the renovation of the Oracle Arena, a referee ruled.
A demolition and redesign of the interior of the arena in 1996 cost about $ 150 million, payable over a period of 30 years. Since then, the Oakland-Alameda County parcel authority has collected an annual $ 7.4 million from the basketball team to pay off the debt.
But the Warriors will leave for San Francisco in 2019, and the team leaders planned to stop making their payments at that time. City and county lawyers argued that the NBA champions were trying to "scuttle" the remaining debt, and both sides agreed to let a referee make the final call.
"We are delighted with today's decision and believe that it is the Warriors, not the taxpayers of Oakland and Alameda County, who should repay this debt," said in a statement. authority of the Coliseum and the supervisor of Alameda County. "We issued these bonds in 1996 in collaboration with the team and with an agreement in force. We simply asked the Warriors to honor their agreement. "
The dispute concerned the interpretation of a contract signed in 1996 by the Warriors and the Coliseum Authority – the joint powers entity created to fund and manage the sports complex also housing the A's and Raiders.
The disagreement centered on the parties' interpretation of the word "ends". The paragraph states that if the Warriors terminate the agreement before 2027, they are required to pay the unpaid debt related to the project.
In legal proceedings, the lawyers hired by the team said that this clause would only apply if the Warriors did terminate the contract. Rather, they let the agreement expire in June 2019, while they were leaving for San Francisco.
Judge Rebecca Westerfield, the arbitrator in the case, noted in her ruling that Warriors President Rick Welts had testified that the team's decision to leave the arena at the end of the extension was a "deliberate choice".
"This action of the Warriors – deliberately choosing not to exercise an option and thus terminating the license agreement – can be interpreted as a" termination for whatever reason, "wrote Westerfield in its decision on Thursday.
The lawyers of the warriors and the authority of the Colosseum were informed of the decision on Monday.
"It was a posteriori attempt by the Warriors to rewrite the parties' agreement, which would have left the people of Oakland and Alameda County to keep the bag," said Daniel Purcell, county and city attorney. in a statement. declaration.
Warriors spokeswoman Lisa Goodwin said the team was "obviously" at odds with the referee's interpretation of the license agreement.
"Of course, we are looking at our options right now," she said in a statement. "But as we have always said, we will pay all the debts we owe to us."
Megan Cassidy is a writer at the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @meganrcassidy
[ad_2]
Source link
