What Zaza Pachulia actually does in his new role as a consultant for the Golden State Warriors is unclear. But traveling with Warriors president and COO Rick Welts is apparently in the job description. On Monday, Pachulia and Welts started the day in New York City to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
The Warriors own their new billion-dollar Chase Center home, but the organization reached a 20-year naming-rights deal with JPMorgan Chase, which helped fund construction.
Welts explained the franchise’s strategy three years before its 2019 ribbon-cutting ceremony:
To do [the naming-rights deal] now was incredibly important to financing the project, an absolute cornerstone. It won’t be the last deal we announce, but it will be the biggest and most important deal we’ll announce. It sets the right tone for the other discussions.
JPMorgan Chase trades on the NYSE under stock symbol JPM.
Chase Center already has been the site for concerts by the likes of Metallica with the San Francisco Symphony and Janet Jackson, and the Warriors’ first preseason game. But its construction was not welcome news to everyone, including the Mission Bay Alliance, which launched a legal battle in an attempt to prevent the Warriors from building in the Mission Bay neighborhood.
