Looks like the former Dakota Wizards have finalized their move to Santa Cruz and unveiled their team name, logo, and arena name at a press gathering yesterday. They went with the unimaginative but appropriate Santa Cruz Warriors moniker for the team. The logo too isn't all that creative but it is at least fitting in relation to the NBA Warriors:

via upload.wikimedia.org

The trident of course is supposed to symbolize the ocean that most people think of when they think of Santa Cruz. They'll be playing their games, for those that don't know, at a semi-permanent 3,200 arena/tent near the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and downtown Santa Cruz at the corners of Front and Spruce Streets. That arena now has a name, Kaiser Permanente Arena. Despite Kaiser not having much of a presence in Santa Cruz County and being an east bay company I guess they felt this was a good way to start spreading their brand of medicine outside their usual sphere. And they're paying a pretty penny to do so reportedly signing the most lucrative naming rights deal to date in the D-League to do it. The arena itself is actually located nearly equidistant between the touristy areas and the downtown core, though the area isn't the best its location does allow good proximity to both the more popular areas of town. And for a "tent" the design is not bad, definitely better than some other D-League team's "homes" *cough* LA D-Fenders *cough*. Though calling it an "arena" is probably stretching it a bit.

via assets.bizjournals.com

Overall it's all but done at this point. The league still needs to dot a few i's and cross a few t's but at this point after the Santa Cruz arena funding was approved last month and the team has moved all ops to the Bay Area all ready it's nothing more than procedure (in other words the D-League isn't going to rain on an NBA ownership group's parade). And so far things look bright with the team already selling between 400 and 500 season tickets to the team without even having to advertise. Hopefully they'll provide entertainment worthy of that much fan interest.

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_20842270/warriors-unveil-logo-and-arena-sponsor-santa-cruz