After speaking with Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob, Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News reports that the team's plans to move to an arena in San Francisco at Piers 30/32 by 2017 could be pushed to 2018 or beyond.
Back in May, city mayor Ed Lee and members of the Golden State franchise had officially announced the intention to move the team in time for the 2017/18 season. Though there were some expected difficulties with regard to the politics and logistics of building an arena on that site, Kawakami writes that those issues – coupled with other unexpected obstacles – stand in the way of bringing the plan to fruition by the original intended target date.
Based on his conversation with Lacob - who thinks it's too early to tell whether or not the plan will be delayed, but conceded to the possibility that it could be - Kawakami also notes that the franchise isn't completely set on Piers 30/32 location, as Lacob and co-owner Peter Guber have acknowledged the possibility of re-starting talks with the San Francisco Giants about building an arena in Lot A next to AT&T Park. Though Lacob rules out Pier 50 as another location worth considering, Kawakami doesn't think it's completely out of the question either.
The team's current lease at the Oracle Arena is set to expire in 2017, and an alternative temporary option could include extending that lease for the standard of five years (or fewer, based on discussions) according to Kawakami. Lacob says that the franchise will have the next 18 months to receive an approval to start building in 2015, though with the likelihood that the building project could take more than two years, it paints a much clearer picture of why a move into the city by the 2017/18 season might not be as realistic as it used to be.