[music playing] [applause] thank you very much. You know, i went through a tour yesterday through the locker room. And it is the most remarkable place ive ever seen in my life. They have tvs in everybodys locker and their own shower. And a place where you can eat. Two basketball courts. A place you can get a massage. A place you can get a haircut. I think the biggest problem is trying to get these guys to go home. [laughter] id never go home. Id live right down there. Its so wonderful. Thank you, joe. Now our next speaker is a person, no pun intended, who simply has the golden touch. When it comes to building an empire in the sports and entertainment business. His Basketball Team, the Golden State Warriors, has appeared in the nba finals five consecutive seasons. His Basketball Team, the dodgers [laughter] respect, respectful, ok, Baseball Team [laughter] theyve advanced to the world series each of the last two years and his soccer team, which opened one of the most premier stadiums in this sport, currently sits in first place in its division. Other than, that his teams have really struggle. Coexecutive chairman peter guber. [applause] the last time i had this feeling was a bunch of years ago. And i glanced at my watch, ran up to the bank and said thanks, thanks, thank you and sat down. I glanced at my watch. Wow the whole thing was less than 15 seconds. And i worked four years start to finish for those 15 seconds . Nah, that would be a horrible life. So, today when i look around, the journey that we have when all done will be a decade and im going to get a little more than 15 seconds. Look around. Suck it in. Because your life is a series of moments strung together. I want to just enjoy this moment, seeing friends and colleagues and people that contribute to the success. My great pleasure and honor to share this day with you. Yes, it will be a decade from the first whisper of joe, my great partner, who i adored, to me. Just two words what if . And so it began. So it began. Yes, it will be a decade from that first whisk broom, joe. And our personal journey of discovery began and healed by so much more and so much more to do that will fill out the decade. The calling was to build a stateoftheart venue which required a state of the heart mission. In a world seemingly more divided than ever, our intention was to create a modernday campfire. Not just a brick and mortar building, but a place to make us all dream to be physically together, laughing, cheering, crying, being delighted and astonished. Not in individual cacophony, but experiencing the best talents in all fields together in the world and celebrate we have more in common than divided us. All of the folks who tirelessly contributed to this equation and made this happen have my utmost respect and gratitude for their talents antenasty. Rick, our super, super, super, super duper leader and the best part of rick is his friendship. He comes from his heart and all the [applause] challenges and problems and he allows us to be the best we can be. All of you here, so many more with a cast and crew on an uncertain journey that somehow never on budget and that was certainly a big source of our angst here but in the end, like any big movie, however expensive, no one says lets go down to the mession theater, i hear the film came in on budget. It will be the audience, you all and our public, who will determine our enterprises true fate and value. Not the cost of its brick and mortar. The audience will be shaped by your warriors, artists and performers, content aimed at the heart. This is where hits are born. Not in the brick and mortar. Its in your heart. If we succeed, our audience will share their experience, telling their story which will determine the true fate and value of our entertainment. And the edifice at the center of it all. So i shout out to our new bright and shiny, make us dream again and again. Thank you, all. Enjoy today. Its the only one youll ever have. [applause] thank you, peter. Our next speaker is someone who said 2600 days, 23 hours and 41 minutes ago when the warriors first made the announcement they were moving to San Francisco that they were going to need the state of california and they were going to need him. All of that was very, very true and we thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, the 40th governor of the state of california, gavin newsome. [applause] thank you very much. By the way, its not just ahmad. Haircuts and massage . Aibl they have a damn manicurist and pedicurist. I hope this team is not going soft, folks. This is a little disconcerning. Five nba finals does that to you. My purpose today is twofold. One is to express gratitude and also to make a personal point. I want to first acknowledge the extraordinary work the mayor, the Mayors Office to do what she needed to do to make this date real and thank mayor willie brown for envisioning mission bay as it is today and to thank [applause] anita lee, whos here, on behalf of ed lee. Ed lee, two and a half years ago, was just a stones throw away at the groundbreaking. And he ended his speech talk about how much he looked forward to this day. As you know, he lost his life, but his passion is demonstrable here today and i just want to express, on a personal level, my deep gratitude to him. It was his faith and devotion to this cause that led to this moment. [applause] thank you, anita. And let me also just express on a personal level the loss and, rick, you were kind enough to do this at the groundbreaking of jen macs. These are folks that 90 of you dont know who the hell im talking about. But everyone sitting here for the Mayors Office, we lost jen in 2014 and she was one of the principle leaders of this effort as well. There is an old saw about San Francisco that says San Francisco is nothing more than 47 square miles surrounded by reality. Which is a wonderful way to describe this whacky and wonderful place we call home. A city, not dissimilar to our state, of dreamers and doers and entrepreneurs, a city that prides itself on being on the leading and cutting edge. But what it was messing is what every American City in the United States had all right. And that was a venue like this that can hold 10plus thousand people. That was the missing ingredient. So, let me just acknowledge and applaud the extraordinary commitment the warriors come back home to make real their vision, we need to build housing like were building arenas in this state. [applause] so let me thank you for your perseverance and for peters passion and enthusiasm and all the community that made this real. Rick, i saw meanie silver jumping up and down. She is just happy its not at 3032. Shes just happy its down the road. So many people that made it possible, the Planning Commission over here and, you know, the day after labor day, the organized labor for building this arena and for all of their extraordinary talent displayed here in scale. [applause] ill close with the final words. Peter, youre right. You talk about shared experiences. Were living in a world where people are talking down to each other, talking past each other. People are watching, you know, different tv. What i love about Something Like this is everybody can come together across their differences. No one cares what your position is on tariffs. No one cares what your position is on tax reform or gun control. Theyre just here to share that magical moment and it is to t sum total of all of those magical moments that makes life worth living. Final words eat your heart out, Madison Square garden. Thank you all very much. [applause] and any other arena that might want to think that way. [laughter] thank you, governor newsome. Our next speaker is beyonce no, wait. Hold on. Hold on. Thats just the next speakers favourite performer and once beyonce starts touring again, im told chase center will do whatever they can do to get beyonce here. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, the 45th mayor of the city and county of San Francisco, london breed. [applause] good morning. Im so excited to be here today to open up this new, incredible center for so many San Franciscoans to enjoy for generations to come. You know, here in San Francisco, we always talk about the future. Well, the future is here right now and this Ribbon Cutting today of the worldclass championshipwinning Golden State Warriors who are going to bring the championship to San Francisco. [applause] as governor newsome mentioned earlier, the vision of mission bay came forth when mayor willie brown was mayor at the time, although i still think he believes hes mayor. You remember that from when you were mayor, right . He had a vision. And the vision was to create a new neighborhood in mission bay. And this is just really the icing on the cake. Never did we imagine we would have such an incredible center. But let me just tell you a little bit about the warriors and what they did to not just come to San Francisco and build a facility. They decided to come home and continue to be a part of this community. By focusing on making sure that this center was not only built by the hands of labor, but it was built by San Franciscoans. [applause] and that was so important because there are people right in this community who were looking for Job Opportunities and they, with j. P. Morgan chase, created a Training Academy like citiville. But it was specifically for chase center. In fact, i was walk down the street in the tenderloin last years and ran into someone who was struggling. Someone who needed a job opportunity and needed housing. The next day, josh arsay from the Workforce Development office picked him up personally in his car and brought him to the chase center Training Academy. He, along with 32 other people, graduated from that academy and i was able to go to that graduation. And on the same day, not only tell a. C. That starting next week he would be working on the chase center, but also his fellow graduates would be working on the chase center. [applause] it was absolutely incredible. This project and the doors that it opened, for opportunities to build but also for our Small Business community to succeed. In fact, you will enjoy the old school cafe, which is an incredible Training Ground for our young people in the Bayview Hunter point, working at former Supervisor Malia Cohen worked on when she was supervisor to help provide opportunities for folks right in this community. Small businesss that will be located right here at the chase arena. But they went even further and they made sure that local artists were a part of this incredible facility. Not just in the bay area, but in San Francisco. The incredible mosaic founded in the mission in 1977. Its just really a true testament to what makes San Francisco so incredible. But they went even further because they knew that transportation was going to be at the forefront of everybodys thoughts. With 18,000 [inaudible] and thousands of employees and incredible basketball players that needed to get in and out of this space, what were we going to do to make sure that happened as efficiently as possible with over 200 events and games and all kinds of activities that would happen here . They put forward a 29 Million Investment in transportation, providing four new trains, providing an expanded platform, providing opportunities to work with us so that we have a ferry land, and ways to get people in and out of this space as efficiently as possible. [applause] and i want to thank all the folks who work on the Transportation Plan because what came out of our effort from last year is an incredible opportunity. With your ticket to any event, whether you are going to see beyonce or you are i donting to see the warriors, you can hop on muni for free. And i think that is absolutely outstanding and a commitment that the warriors have to making sure that this has been a successful center and its open and available to all San Franciscoans. Thats whats absolutely incredible. So, i want to thank joe and peter for their leadership and their vision and i also want to really thank them for hiring rick. Because let me tell you mimi is jumping up and down. She only jumps up and down for rick and that is because, i remember when me and jane kim and malia were here today, we were on the board of supervisor she only jumps up and down for rick and that is because, i remember when me and jane kim and malia were here today, we were on the board of supervisors and the work that we had to do and the process and what happens here and how rick in every single instance was basically actively engaged with wanting to be a part of the community. Im so excited about the future. [applause] and last but not least, i want to say a few words about mayor ed lee because he was a real basketball fan and a true warriors fan. And this arena was something that he wanted to happen for San Francisco. And so the work that he did, the obstacles that were overcome to allow something of this magnitude to happen and as was said before, you all know that with San Francisco it is very challenging sometimes to get things done and get things built. But 100 privately financed, the work that had to go into the approval process, both state and locally, all that had to get done in order to make this a reality. Every step of the way, mayor ed lee pushed for this project to happen and i know that we would not be here today had it not been for his incredible leadership. [applause] and i know hes smiling down on us today, anita. And we want to thank you so much for being here. And at 5 7, you couldnt tell him he wasnt taller than any other basketball player on the court. And we are truly missing him today, but we know that he is here with us. Thank you to all the City Departments, all the different Public Safety officials, all the labor folks, all the people who worked hard to make this happen. This chase center will be an incredible asset for San Francisco for generations to come and were proud to make it a reality for so many people who deserve this incredible space. And ill definitely be here when beyonce is performing. Thank you. [applause] thank you very much, mayor breed. Our next speaker is a person ive known for about 50 years, which is almost impossible because im only 39. [laughter] im actually surprised she is even here. According to my unconfirmed records, he has attended 91486 meetings about the new arena over the last several years working his magic behind the scenes and paving the way for this incredible moment today. He has been a part of many transformative events and League History during his hall of fame career. Yes, i said hall of fame career. [applause] probably none more gratifying than the opening of chase center. Ladies and gentlemen, warriors president and c. E. O. Rick welts. [applause] you know, by my count, i think this is the 215th time weve been together in an nba event. We never really had one like this, though, have we . Oh, my. Former mayor, senator Dianne Feinstein took a special interest in this project. Mayor willie brown, thank you for your guidance. Your advice. Mayor mark farrell, a wonderfully unapologetic warriors fan. Now you greet me with your trademark big greek kifmsz im not sure which is more challenging. [laughter] to our friends in labor from day one, you saw the impact this project would have on jobs and the quality of life in our region and you gave us your support. As many as 1600 Union Workers a day brought their talent, dedication and pride to this project. [applause] thanks to each of you and thanks to the president of the San Francisco labor council. So many legendary leaders in San Francisco helped me, this fairly new bay area resident learn the impossible nuances of politics in this place we call home. In particular, don burton and mimi silver. Thank you for befriending me and sharing your wisdom. [applause] thanks to ucsf for your spirit of cooperation and community. We want to be great neighbors. We needed critical state legislation to get this project completed and that was a heavy lift. Thanks to Assembly Member phil chang, mark leno, Assembly Member david chiu. Then senator pro tem and now mayor of sacramento, Daryl Steinberg and speaker of the Assembly John paris. They worked together and showed incredible leadership in sacramento when we needed it most. Back here in San Francisco, we needed the support of the entire board of supervisors and, in particular, former supervisor jane kim. Who always provided invaluable advice while looking out for all of her constituents here in district six. And supervisor matt haney who, today, represents district six. To the attorney dennis serara and his staff, especially jesse smith. [applause] San Francisco travel. You were with us from day one. San Francisco Police department and chief bill scott. The San FranciscoFire Department and chief