Oakland lowers the Warriors’ parade bill

The Golden State Warriors have been fortunate enough to have two championship parades in the last three years. Unfortunately, the cost of those parades, and where the money should be coming from, has been a source of much disagreement.

According to a report a few weeks ago, the Warriors have yet to pay the city of Oakland for the 2017 parade, and still owe a large chunk of change for the 2015 parade. All in all, they owe the city a not-insignificant sum of just over $1 million.

Much of the dispute stems from what the Warriors believe they should pay for. While they have promised to foot the bill, the cost ended up being notably higher than the initial estimate, and it appears that the team wants to sort out the cost before writing the check.

To help work towards a compromise, Oakland has lowered the invoice sent to the team, as reported by Matthias Gafni of The Mercury News:

The city’s bill for the Golden State Warriors title parade has been reduced by about $29,000, or the approximate cost of one Steph Curry jumper . . .

. . . The city’s finance department has since reduced the equipment charges to reflect three days — the day before, day of and day after the parade and rally — which accounted for the discount on a revised invoice sent to the team.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf previously said police and fire labor costs would also be reduced to account for employees who were scheduled to work a regular shift on June 15 — parade or no parade — but those stayed the same.

The playful anecdote about Stephen Curry isn’t quite accurate - my esteemed colleague Duby Dub Dubs estimated the cost of a Curry jumper in the coming season to be around $19,000, but the point remains. The total price is pocket change to a team that spent $12.4 million to bring back Zaza Pachulia.

That said, just because they have the money, doesn’t mean they are obligated to spend it if they feel they’re being unfairly billed. And given that the team insists they paid their share for the 2015 season - something the city denies - it’s pretty clear that there are two sides to this story.

Hopefully everything gets resolved soon, before the strong relationship between the city, fans, and team is damaged.