Shortly after the Warriors finished off Cavs in Game 6 of the NBA Finals tonight, Yahoo Sports’ Marc Spears sent out this tweet:
Warriors parade Friday at 10 am.Starts in front of team facility, down Broadway along Lake Merritt to Henry J Kaiser. pic.twitter.com/c0YbKguDLM
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) June 17, 2015
There you have it. A parade in Oakland, a nice route to traverse through downtown, uptown, and Lake Merritt. It should be savored, for not only is this the first Warriors’ title in 40 years, this will be the first parade in Oakland in 34 years. The somber tone that came with Loma Prieta’s interruption of the 1989 World Series led to no parade to celebrate. The 1975 Warriors’ championship was not only played at the Cow Palace due to scheduling conflicts with an ice show at the Coliseum Arena, the championship parade was held in downtown San Francisco. That makes the last Oakland championship parade the one that followed the last Oakland Raiders Super Bowl win, in 1981.
Then, like now, the champions intend to leave Oakland. Though the preferred destination for the Dubs is only across the bay and not Los Angeles, there is a palpable tentativeness to the situation that has created tension among some of the region’s fans. The same goes for the Raiders and A’s. Thankfully, that can all subside as the celebration continues throughout the summer.
Normally a momentous occasion like this gives a host city a boost of political will that can be used to push a stadium campaign. Not in the Warriors’ case. The Dubs are taking all the goodwill and using it for their own political fight against arena opponents in San Francisco. It’s not unlike the 49ers, who used a string of playoff appearances to solidify the ticket base enough to fund Levi’s Stadium. Then again, the new stadium honeymoon period sometimes isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, ask the Niners.
It’s fitting that the parade route will end at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, an old building that lays dormant while developers figure out how to rehabilitate the landmark and make it profitable. HJKCC was an occasional alternate home venue during the Warriors’ first few years in San Francisco, before the Warriors started playing games at the Coliseum Arena. The Dubs permanently moved there in 1971. Now they’re planning to move back to SF. It all seems so cyclical, doesn’t it?
newballpark.org 
a bit surprised the end point of the parade and the where the championship rally ended at the designated spot and not at oakland city hall. maybe they feel they could fit more people in between the hjk center and lake merritt than ogawa plaza?
wonder how many fans will be able to fit at that location near the lake?
The Warriors winning the NBA Championship could not have come at a worse time for Oakland’s political leaders. It only calls attention to the embarrassing hypocritical fact that Oakland’s political and civic leaders are either indifferent or even favor the Warriors move across the bay to SF. At the same time, these same people work hard with the Giants to keep the A’s in an untenable ballpark situation in Oakland, and are also not doing enough to try to get a new Coliseum deal done for the Raiders to keep the team from moving to LA or another market.
It’s never a “worse” time for an NBA championship.
The Warriors were offered the same Coliseum City deal as the other two teams: Here’s a slab of land in the Coliseum parking lot, now go pay for your own brand new facility. The Warriors responded they are willing to pay for their own facility, as long as it’s not in Oakland. They will move to Frisco.
Why are they called the “Dubs?”
@ JorgeGeorge Paez
“Dubs” as in W, W as in Warriors! Yes a parade in Oakland for the first time since the 1980 Oakland Raiders, Yes, yes, yes…
Never been a Warriors fan, but congrats to those A’s fans that also are fans of the Dubs. Their plight is well known and few teams and fan bases are more deserving of a win than the W’s and their fans. Enjoy it.
I thought at first doing the parade in Oakland would be a mistake, they have zero experience doing one and have a police force under receivership.
While SF has hosted 3 parades in the past 5 years for the Giants. Downtown Oakland is a dump, at least they are ending it by Lake Merritt.
But then it hit me, Oakland/Alameda County did publicly fund Oracle Arena. Therefore they should host the parade. Had it been a privately financed arena that is a different story.
Being a San Jose resident and a long time Dubs fan who went to 20 games the one year the Dubs played in SJ and remember being 14 years old in 1997 when Sprewell choked the coach this is amazing.
Sprewell set the franchise back 10 years until We Believe and Baron Davis, then it went down again only to rise like a Phoenix to the title these past 3 seasons.
Good for Oakland hosting the parade, they need this and deserve it. Otherwise the Dubs would be in San Jose right now and I would be a season ticket holder in the club section.
Downtown Oakland is not a dump. Clearly you haven’t been there recently.
I’m not exactly pro-Oakland yet I realize Downtown Oakland is not a dump (not anymore at least). If you have been there recently (last two years or so) you’d know that it is undergoing a profound renaissance. It actually feels more vibrant than Downtown San Jose.
@ Sid
“I thought at first doing the parade in Oakland would be a mistake, they have zero experience doing one and have a”
Re: Oakland has plenty experience hosting parades, such as the Holiday, and Memorial Day parades, as well as the black cowboy’s parades, and others, so you are way off the mark.
“Oakland is a dump; at least they are ending it by Lake Merritt.”
Re: There are potions of Oakland that struggle, but the area you’re taking about is not a dump at all.
Come to think of it Oakland has A LOT of experience with parades and events/celebrations not ZERO. The Oakland Running Festival/Marathon is a huge event that effectively (and annoyingly) shuts down Downtown Oakland and has its route go through most of the main thoroughfares of the entire city (including streets in far-flung neighborhoods like Montclair) for a full day every Spring. The annual Children’s Holiday Parade shuts down Broadway and various Downtown side streets. The Dia de los Muertos festival draws over 100,000 people every year to the Fruitvale District, shutting down streets in East Oakland.
Someone from San Jose calling Downtown Oakland a dump is hilarious!
Downtown Oakland is definitely NOT a dump, but it is about as vibrant as downtown Sacramento.
DTowm Oakland a dump?? You’re an idiot!
And whey they move to SF….the rich corporate snobs will follow them. SMH The hardcore Warrior fanbase has been located in the East Bay for last 40 years! You know….the crowd that causes the arena to become ROARacle!
I’m happy for long suffering east bay Warrior fans. I just hope that when the seemingly inevitable move across the bay happens that the Warriors recent run of excellence comes to an abrupt end
It’s a bummer to have to miss this thing. I never thought, in my wildest dreams, that the Warriors would win the NBA title in my lifetime. Congrats Warriors fans, this is such a cool thing to see.
http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mlj45jggj/3-oakland/
Oakland is only the 3rd most dangerous city in the U.S.
Only 3rd, I mean if you place 1st you get a big ass prize!!
I was in Uptown a couple of months back and a big chunk of shops/stores have no tenants. This is Uptown too, not Broadway in Downtown Oakland which is far worse.
Oakland has years to go before you can compare it to San Jose from a safety perspective.
I will say the bars/restaurants in Uptown were nice and the food was amazing. That area I think will grow and gentrify more and more, I see potential there for sure.
JLS of course is nice and I am heading there tomorrow morning for a work meeting…..May check out the parade, but I think I will be too late as my meeting ends at 1230pm.
“I thought at first doing the parade in Oakland would be a mistake, they have zero experience doing one and have a police force under receivership.”
This is not going to be some 100,000 person parade. It will be 500,000-1M people, much like the Giants. Oakland will scare some people away so I think it will be closer to 500,000 people.
SF turns out couldn’t host the parade as they have too many things already planned for tomorrow set far in advance of even knowing if the Warriors would win or not. Had it gone 7 and the Dubs won, more than likely the parade would be in SF.
No way Oakland has ever seen anything like this before and their police department is under receivership, the county will have to help big time and some neighboring cities too.
But there is a first for everything……They deserve to host it, they did fund the arena.
Mayor Schaaf said in May that any victory parade would be in Oakland. This was during the Western Conference Finals. I don’t think she had a crystal ball that told her it would be on Friday, June 19th. I sort of remember Ed Lee saying something similar in may as well.
Did, what, or why is a “Dub?” Receivership for being broke or bad things?
Thanks!
The parade was NEVER going to be in SF….that is erroneous! Oakland is where it should be held….period! The host city of the team for 40 plus years! RESPECT!!
Sid, you continue to illustrate you’re quite ignorant.
A little op-ed on naming rights and new stadium, City (Minnesota Vikings) dealings between the NFL, Owner, Corporations, etc……interesting!
http://www.startribune.com/richard-davis-has-more-secrets-than-pride-in-dealing-with-vikings-nfl/307810131/
BTW….WARRIORS…CHAMPIONS BABY! Congrats!
Now give us an alternate Oakland Warriors jersey next season!
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/city-arena/article24618010.html
^little off topic but the kings got naming rights for their new arena up in sac.
golden one center which is named after a local sac company which is the largest credit union in the state of ca.
deal is worth 120 million over 20 years, total cost of the kings new arena is penciled in at 477 million.
Is there ANY chance the new Warriors arena does not get built in SF?
If the Warriors do leave the Oracle, the atmosphere will NOT be the same in the new arena in SF….neither will the intimidation factor.
This is Oakland’s one chance to give the middle finger to San Francisco….and I hope the parade is a success.
The only way they might stay in Oakland is if Oakland spends $500-$600 million on a new arena for them. Translation: They are not staying in Oakland.
Parade was a success today! It was beautiful out there near the Lake and begin among sea of fans. A ballpark near Lake Merrit/JLS/Howard Terminal would have been perfect.
what a great experience a lot of bands a lot of love in the air very diverse despite the issues is going on in the world it was a real nice xscape and it does give Oakland some help that they might be able to retain all 3 teams yes I’m saying it Coliseum city can happen
http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_28346054/oakland-three-reported-shot-near-lake-merritt
This is what I was afraid of…….Unreal
Out of almost a million people..there is always going to be one idiot amongst them. Didn’t ruin the Parade and Rally at all! It was a great success!
How many championship parades you have in San Jose so far?
Google says….
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22san+jose+championship+parade%22
ZERO!!!
Let your hate flow!!!!
Knock it off with the San Jose business: The giants organization are the real pricks. The Giants want the A’s out of the bay area – the A’s staying in Oakland does not help the Giants (recall that the Haas ownership nearly drove the Giants to Tampa FL – even though the Haas owners group desired that that Giants remain in the bay area when the Giants attempted to flee to Tampa FL) The giants are idiots.
Let your hate flow!!!!
ML started it’: “It’s fitting that the parade route will end at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, an old building that lays dormant…”
With a $50M plinth in front of it. Like where the rally was held.
A nice plinth. Look it up: 5 consonants,1 vowel, it’s a word.
Let your hate flow!!!!
You know as I read all the comments regarding where the Warriors parade was going to be, which I knew this site was going to dedicate some space too once the Warriors look like they were going to have a chance to win this thing.
I wanted to really be wrong about what I said when this site first appeared many years ago. Of course the lot of you pro SJ folks who masquerade behind fandom and what’s best for the A’s…yada…yada…the truth of the matter this is classic case of the snobbery that has come with the wealth and narcissism that I’ve seen emerge within the Bay Area…born and raised here, we used to rail against LaLa land about their shallow sense of self importance, I now contend you folks particularly from the suburbs known as Silicon Valley…are far more obnoxious than Hollywood…see this fake fandom and your economic analytics..and all you guys purport you know what best for these teams…truth is most of you who need validation of your area and maybe even of yourselves…are so shallow that you want to poach the validation from lil ole Oakland…that shithole place that is the only stain of the great Bay Area prowess…those people don’t deserve to have a platform that has such a worldwide reach….we are the kings of importance in this realm…we have changed the world with our intellect, wizardry, and gadgetry…how dare Oakland is more known than us…not those people…truth is folks the team’s are Oakland’s we don’t mind sharing the spotlight but they are Oakland’s…and all you smart folks…Lacob…Wolff…..Fisher…Davis….and even York….you guys think you are making your product more valuable…but in truth the thing that makes it more valuable is the fact that it is one of the only platforms in the world that bring us together….not divide us with the bitterness that will come with moving in with are sister… utopia…probably…but in the long run we will make you irrevelant…because we will say they didn’t care about us so why care about them…this is coming from a fan who has been one of all Oakland team’s since 1975…I am at the point who gives a shit!
Let your hate flow!!!!