Golden State Warriors

Lawsuit claims 'people will die' if Warriors build arena near hospital

Published Jan. 8, 2016 12:38 p.m. ET

Andrew Lynch

When the Golden State Warriors are rocking in front of their home crowd, everyone and everything within the general vicinity gets swept up in the excitement. And as the team looks to move to San Francisco, a new lawsuit alleges that could become a deadly problem.

ESPN.com reports that the Mission Bay Alliance has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the construction of the Warriors' new arena, which was approved by the city of San Francisco in December and is slated to host Golden State for the 2018-19 season.

The suit alleges that if the arena is built in its proposed Mission Bay location, which is 1,000 feet from the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, the additional traffic would create medical emergencies:

"Some people will die trying to get to the hospital if this stadium is built next to the emergency room," the lawsuit states.

Many of the potential problems with the Warriors' move to San Francisco have seemingly been minimized in the public eye because the arena will be privately funded. In a day where teams hold cities hostage by threatening to move elsewhere unless the public chips in on a new arena, that's a laudable decision by Golden State, to be sure. It's also the only acceptable option from a social perspective, what with all the money currently in professional sports. To ask municipalities to foot the bill is a calculated move to subsidize billionaires by preying on the emotions of a team's local fanbase.

Still, that fact shouldn't be used to gloss over other potential problems with the arena's proposed site. The city and all involved need to do their due diligence on the impact of such a massive project. What seems like an inconvenience to the Warriors as a basketball franchise could be a life-threatening problem for others -- allegedly.