CLICK HERE if you are having trouble viewing these photos on a mobile device.
Rick Welts still gets goosebumps when he thinks back on opening night of Chase Center, as 16,000 fans filled the new home of the Golden State Warriors for the first time to cheer on mighty Metallica and the acclaimed San Francisco Symphony.
That occurred on Sept. 6, 2019 — just a year back, but, in many ways, it feels like a lifetime ago.
So much has happened since then, with the sparkling new San Francisco venue hosting dozens of other big shows and the promise of another great Warriors season, which vanished due in large part to injures to key players.
Then, of course, there was the thing that changed pretty much everything — the COVID-19 pandemic — which brought the operations at Chase Center and other venues to a standstill.
I recently had the chance to chat with Welts, the Warriors president and COO, about the first year of Chase Center as well as what could be in store for both the venue and the Warriors.
Q: Nice to talk with you again, Rick. I need to start off with the most important question of the interview: Any truth to the rumor that you are going to select a certain music critic from the Bay Area News Group with the second pick in this year’s NBA Draft?
A: You know … We’ve looked at the scouting tapes and, while we thought there was some promise there, our basketball people think we might have a better use for the pick. I’m sorry. I can promise you got full consideration.
Q: Well, if you change your mind, let me know. On a different topic, I’m wondering what were your thoughts when you first heard the idea about the Warriors building an arena in San Francisco?
A: It’s a funny question for you to ask, because I can re-create the moment in my mind. It was in the summer of 2011 and I was having my first interview with (Warriors co-owners) Joe Lacob and Peter Guber at Joe’s house in Atherton. I remember right where I was sitting.
I remember them telling me that they were committed to building a new arena for the Warriors. I had always looked at the franchise for my whole lifetime — my professional lifetime in the NBA — the way a lot of people did, which is unbelievable fan support for an unbelievably unsuccessful basketball team. And if (the league) could ever get it in the right ownership and management hands, the franchise should stand toe-to-toe with any franchise in sports.
So sitting in Joe’s living room, hearing them describe what they wanted to do, was, for me, the closer … just to think that I would have the opportunity to be part of building what eventually became Chase Center.
Q: Looking back, does it ever seem mind-boggling that the franchise was able to accomplish that goal given everything else going on — like five consecutive NBA Finals runs?
A: I don’t think it would have been the brightest plan to hatch in terms of wear and tear on the organization. But it was like a five-year adrenaline rush. I think none of us would trade the opportunity.
In the rear view mirror, I think I have a better understanding of just how hard it was to ask our staff to go through five consecutive finals runs at the same time every single one of those people had a second job related to the arena planning for opening Chase Center.
I don’t think I’m overstating it when I say it was a Herculean effort across the organization to be able to actually pull it off on the timeline we were able to.
Q: What aspect to this success story — this monumental accomplishment of creating Chase Center — brings you the most joy?
A: The very first Metallica concert, sitting in a suite and looking at every seat filled in the upper bowl as the show was going on. I wasn’t expecting the kind of feeling that I had. It kind of all came together for me there — like, each one of those people now has a lifetime memory. That’s kind of the business that we’re in.
And to be able to bring that to San Francisco — for the first time ever — kind of washed over me in a really impactful way, just imagining each one of those seats being filled for thousands of events going forward and just the memories that was going to create for people in the Bay Area.
Q: Opening night of a new building, of course, is a huge deal. How would you grade the Chase Center opener with Metallica and the S.F. Symphony?
A: I think you have to create a new scale. I wish I had been the one who had came up with the idea. We had been doing constant brainstorming on what would be the most Bay Area-focused event that we could possibly stage for the first event.
I will give credit to our chief financial officer — Jennifer Cabalquinto — who at a meeting said, “You know, Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony did this concert 20 years ago that played to rave reviews and they have never performed together since. I wonder if there would be any chance to re-create that 20 years later as the opening act at Chase Center?”
I didn’t know anything about it. But that idea sparked some real interest and a bunch of follow-up phone calls revealed it was something that had been really important in the symphony’s history and something that had been really important in Metallica’s history. And both organizations got just so incredibly excited about re-creating that 20 years later – and their enthusiasm for it, I think, is what put us over the top.
It’s just so on point to have two legendary Bay Area groups come together to open what we hope will become a legendary arena.
Q: And after the opener, the party just kept on going. Talk to me about that first month, where Chase was rocking basically every other night — with 14 events in September alone. You really weren’t easing your way into the whole concert business.
A: The goal from Day One is to make this building a must-play for any great artist. We want to be there with the O2 in London, Madison Square Garden and Staples Center. We want to be in that conversation.
And to do that we had demonstrate to the industry, as well as to our fans here, why this was going to be such a special place. And to do that we had to get a real range of acts.
I think it kind of put a big exclamation point on the opening — something that got everyone’s attention (in the music industry) and Chase Center was on the map.
Q: Besides the Metallica and S.F. Symphony opener, what were some of the other memorable shows for you from the first year of Chase?
A: I’m a big (Andrea) Bocelli fan. I was so excited when we got Bocelli to perform at Chase Center.
I think it was just the range of things that we were able to host — and are planning to host.
I think we were really surprised how well comedy did — Jo Koy, Trevor Noah. You’ll be seeing, I think, in the mix of events much more comedy than we originally expected just because our audience has just really responded to that.
Generally, just how fans reacted to the building was the most amazing thing to me. I had never been in a situation where I would have, every night, people come up to me and just say, “Hey, thank you guys for doing this.”
Obviously, we sold out every Warriors game. But we sold I think 92 percent of all tickets to concerts – which is a resounding success.
Q: Of course, everything didn’t go the way you hoped. Coming off another Finals run in 2019, fans were looking for a bunch of W’s from the Dubs in their first year back in San Francisco. But that didn’t happen, and I’m guessing that was tough on you.
A: To know we had to play the season without Klay Thompson was one thing. But to then to lose Steph Curry so early in the season with a broken hand — and to realize that we were going to be without two of the probably top 10 players in the season — was a tough blow.
Yeah, I wish we had a lot more W’s. You are being kind. We actually had the worst record in the NBA with 15 wins. Talk about one extreme to the other. That was not how we anticipated it.
(But) it’s not like there wasn’t incredible hope going forward. We still have the three core players who brought us our first championship (of the run) in 2015, who will be in their prime, coming back next year healthy and, frankly, rested after going deep five years in a row in the finals.
And if you can say the benefit of being that bad is the fact that we’ll have, as you said, the second pick in the draft — that we’re not going to use on the music critic from your publication. We’re going to actually have a great player to add to that group.
Q: OK, but I just hope Coach Steve Kerr doesn’t need someone to break down a guitar solo at an important moment of a game.
A: I got it. There are always trade-offs.
Q: Do you think you’ll have fans in attendance for the first Warriors home game of next season?
A: Well, unfortunately, a lot of that is going to be out of our control. But we are proceeding as if we are. And our commissioner, in his interview just before the NBA lottery, said some important things. He said we’re planning to play 82 games next season, we are planning to try to play them in front of fans, and we’re probably not going to start (as once planned) on Dec. 1.
Our business model doesn’t work without live audiences. And our business model is tied directly to player compensation, not like the other leagues. So, I think we have a natural common interest with the players to figure out a way to make that happen. Our economic system is a 50-50 partnership with the players — half of every dollar that comes in is paid out in player salaries.
The rise of player salaries mirrors the economic success of the industry — and I think (NBA commissioner) Adam Silver has estimated 40 percent of that comes from having people in the stands. So, the players as well as the league have a real economic interest.
What will trump all that is safety, right? We have to be able to create an environment that we’re convinced is 100 percent safe.
