They are both going into nicer areas.
GSW obviously want to get out of Oakland b/c its...well..its ghetto.
And the Niners want dat Corporate money out in Silicon Valley.
You have to consider their histories as well. The Warriors have always been an afterthought to the local football and baseball teams. Largely for good reason, because they've been horrific for most of their existence. But the new ownership has changed the culture and they seem pretty desperate to make the Warriors a "destination" franchise. To be honest, I think even more so they see all the glamour and spotlight surrounding the Giants the last several years and the Niners the last few years and they want THAT. There's a lot of money in it, but they seem obsessed with just trying to get the same buzz as the Giants and Niners do in the Bay Area (not even just SF).
The one thing that was a somewhat known about Lacob from even before he officially took over was that he wanted to move the team to SF. Speculation aside, what are the benefits to staying in Oakland? There's a multitude of reasons why the team would want to move to SF. There's not many reasons to stay in Oakland if SF is willing.
And as far as the Niners, space is limited in SF. Yes the Warriors can squeeze an arena semi-close to downtown but an NFL team sure as hell cannot (Warriors were willing to buy property outright from SalesForce and will privately finance the arena, shows how bad they want to play in SF). SF is combative as a motherfucker with any new developments, so you're going to be battling politics and the community throughout. Many NFL teams have stadiums well outside of "their" city's city limits and have done so for decades. Its like an hour from SF to Santa Clara. Boo fucking hoo.
Santa Clara wanted them and they've got plenty of money. Niners are charging sickening amounts for season tickets. They're laughing all the way to the bank.
It will be interesting to see how the demographics change with the move. Technically if they are riding BART it should not be that big of a deal to cross the Bay bridge. But my gut tells me it will change quite a bit. Consistently that is the craziest arena I have been to. I think they will lose a little bit of their HC advantage.
The crowd has already changed since the team has been playing better the last few years. I'm sure it will get exponentially worse in SF though.
