The Golden State Warriors committed to pay for a championship parade this summer after winning their second NBA title in three years, but the Warriors had some concerns about how much the city of Oakland was billing them. After revising a few items on the bill, the city has reduced the amount of the bill for the parade by $29,000, but the team and city are still at odds over the costs of a parade from 2015.
As reported by East Bay Times, the total cost for the Warriors’ most recent championship parade totaled roughly $787,000. After having a few concerns addressed with regard to how much needed to be paid to cover labor that ended up not being used for the parade, the Warriors appear to be discussing the latest revised bill before submitting payment.
1st parade invoice to #Warriors on left, and amended bill on right (item #6 only change) https://t.co/92YPTSKhCk pic.twitter.com/DpiR2RXy7d
— Matthias Gafni (@mgafni) September 26, 2017
“At this point, we have not had a chance to meet and discuss the most recent invoice internally,” spokesman Raymond Ridder said, according to the report. “We hope to have the opportunity to do so at some point this week.”
The conflict comes from the city adding in a request for reimbursement for what the city believes is owed to them from the 2015 parade. As far as the Warriors are concerned, they paid the half of the cost they owed the city for the 2015 championship parade. The team also has concerns over how the cost of that parade could have been elevated from the original agreement.
“We agreed to share the costs of the parade in 2015 and lived up to that agreement and more,” Ridder said earlier this month.
However, Boyd said the city does “not have any record of other payments made to the city by the Warriors for 2015 parade-related expenses.” She added that the $244,000 request is lower than the actual costs, because they only reflect staffing for police and public works, not fire.
This is yet another ongoing story playing out between a city and its local sports team, which is nothing new. Sports teams always have ways of bleeding cities for every dollar they can. Are the Warriors in the right here? Or does Oakland have a case to be made here? More importantly, what happens when the Warriors win the championship again this upcoming season? Better save those pennies now, just in case.
