Here’s How Much the Golden State Warriors Championship Parade Cost

The Golden State Warriors had good reason to celebrate on Tuesday, June 12th. This was the day that the City of Oakland, California threw a parade to honor their NBA Champion team, in celebration of their spectacular season. It’s an event that was rumored to have cost around $4 million the previous year, but after doing our research we discovered that this amount was exaggerated and it was closer to around $250,000 and the parade was held for a third time in three years which made the occasion even more special. In case you’re wondering how much the 2018 parade cost, it was over three times what was spent the year before. When you find out how lavish the event was and what went on during the parade, you’ll understand why it was so expensive.

The 2018 Parade was stepped up a few notches

After the 2018 NBA Finals, the Bay area went big after their team defeated the Cavaliers. The expectations of the planning committee were to expect more than a million fans at the parade this year. They made the decision to create a parade that would allow for greater intimacy with a more interactive format for the celebration. The route of the victory parade started at Broadway and 11th Street and made its way down to 13th and Oak Streets. The event was televised on NBATV for the world to see.

The parade was planned by the City of Oakland and the Warriors players, coaches and staff, with notable players Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green and the head coach Kerr featured, according to the Daily mail. It was a beautiful sunny day at the bay where over a million fans watched the team makes its way through the parade which honored the 2018 champions.

Logistical challenges

Accommodating more than a million people crowded into on small area of Oakland created some issues for city officials, but this wasn’t their first rodeo. It w as the third time in four years that the celebration was held so they could prepare with extra staff on hand for crowd management and as many trains operating as they could organize.

The alcohol flowed freely

It’s been widely reported that the Warriors themselves went through an estimated $500,000 worth of alcohol for consumption at the parade. There was also a lot of waste of the product when champagne sprays in celebration became the order of the day. The good thing about it was that most of the high end alcohol was donated by the brands and it didn’t cost the city or the Warriors a dime or so we’ve been told.

The cost of hosting an interactive parade

The city of Oakland promoted the huge event as an “interactive” parade which meant that fans would have more opportunities to come into contact with the players and coaching staff and this strategy drew in even more spectators who wanted the chance to meet the players in person. Whether that actually happened and to what degree is not yet clear, but it was great advertising. An hour before the parade even began Lake Merritt was crowded with fans intent on throwing a large scale party. There was plenty of food, beverages and Warriors merchandise and families were spreading out their blankets along the route, getting ready for the event to start. The estimated cost of the 2018 Golden State Warriors Parade in Oakland was a whopping $816,000.

Why did it cost so much to sponsor the parade?

When a city sponsors an event there is a lot of planning that goes into something that is as big as this. It takes some preparation from city leaders, including having extra staff on hand including members of the police department, as well as a big job for sanitation workers to deal with in the aftermath. When there’s eating and drinking taking place, the litter that needs to be picked puts an additional strain on the workers. The city had a lot of preparation to take care of in advance of the parade by making sure that there would be ample public transportation available and that there were accommodations in place for the event that would welcome a million people into the city, police to ensure that the environment would be a safe place for visitors throughout the entire route of the parade, e.g., security, and this was on top of the clean up that was needed afterwards.

Nearly a million dollars well spent

The Golden State Warriors Parade was money well spent if you ask the fans who were in attendance or the city who value the opportunity to showcase their championship team. Although the event set the Warriors and the City back almost a cool million, everyone had an amazing time during the celebration. It isn’t every city that is home to such a valuable resource and it brought fans and the team of their favorite NBA players together at a joyous event.

Final thoughts

Americans love their sports and when their team wins a championship there is great reason to throw a party. The Parade was symbolic of our love of the professional sport of basketball as well as for the competitive spirit that is alive and well in the country today. At the Golden State Warriors Parade in 2018, there weren’t any issues over political beliefs or other differences that have recently set the people in our country at odds. This wasn’t the reason for the celebration. It was a gathering of people who were there for the same purpose and that was to celebrate the victory of the players who had kept them entertained an thrilled throughout the season, and in the end, what it was really about was uniting together for a common cause.