OAKLAND — The Golden State Warriors must pay the remainder of the debt incurred in renovating Oracle Arena in 1996, a sum estimated to be $40 million when the team leaves for San Francisco, according to a ruling from an arbitrator on Monday.
Hon. Rebecca Westerfield’s ruling came after the attorneys for the team and the city and county, which own the arena, argued over the language of a 1996 contract.
“This was an after-the-fact attempt by the Warriors to rewrite the parties’ deal, and it would have left the people of Oakland and Alameda County holding the bag,” Daniel Purcell, a partner Keker, Van Nest & Peters, which represented the city and county.