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These are wild times to be a Golden State Warriors fan. These are also -- for entirely different reasons -- wild times to be a Bay Area resident.

Both stories -- Golden State's surge to success and stardom after decades as an NBA doormat, and the Bay Area's rapidly shifting economic landscape amid a tech boom -- intersected Tuesday. The Warriors announced Jan. 17 as the official ground-breaking date for a brand new arena in San Francisco, following 40-plus years of being based across the bay in Oakland.

What could possibly go wrong? Well, for a worst-case scenario that doubles as nightmare fuel, the Warriors and their fans needn't look far.

Even while their beloved team spent years and years and years sucking, Warriors fans gained a special reputation around the NBA as exceptionally passionate, knowledgable, loyal and diverse. As the team begin to improve over the past five years, Oracle Arena, the building in hardscrabble East Oakland where the team plays its games, gained an affectionate nickname: Roaracle.

In 2015, as the Warriors were en route to winning their first championship in 40 years, a lifelong season ticket holder named Leslie Sosnick told the website Grantlandwhat she feared would happen if the team moved from the East Bay to more moneyed San Francisco.

"The people who make that place 'Roaracle' -- the really true fans -- they’re going to lose them," Sosnick said. "People will still go to games, but it will be more corporate. So many of the best fans are going to be priced out, and I might be one of them."

Sosnick's fear is one shared by many: Raucous crowds of everyday people, to borrow a phrase from a famous Bay Area band, will be replaced. They'll be replaced by the uber-rich and supremely connected in San Francisco, the increasingly unaffordable center of the latest tech boom and a town that to many Bay Area locals feels increasingly like a walled garden for only the most privileged.

Just a few years ago, another iconic Bay Area sports team up and moved at the height of its popularity. The NFL's 49ers moved from their longtime home in the Hunters Point section of San Francisco an hour down the peninsula to Santa Clara, a city of office parks and tract homes located in the heart of Silicon Valley. Many fans felt sold-out, like glitter and greed had usurped tradition and accessibility.

Today, the 49ers -- who were among the NFL's best teams when they moved -- are pitiful on the field. Meanwhile, apathy reigns supreme among even the most diehard fans.

There are many reasons to argue the Warriors won't suffer a similar fate -- at least not in the scores and standings. Golden State owner Joe Lacob, for example, appears lightyears ahead of hapless 49ers CEO Jed York when it comes to shrewdness and savvy. It's hard not to imagine, though, a major shift in the culture of the team's fan base at games.

But even if they don't become sucky, the Warriors could yet become something arguably worse: Symbolic. This would be especially true if the team continues to reach the NBA Finals and produce NBA All Stars after moving to San Francisco's Chase Center. (This is the new arena's name, you see, after a sponsorship deal believed to exceed $200 million was struck by the team and the bank last year. It's expected to open for the 2019-20 NBA season.)

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Indeed, should the Warriors continue winning in San Francisco after scorning Oakland, they could become the ultimate symbols of a Bay Area moment in which more and more gets funneled to the wealthy few at the expense of the many. (And, just to prove yet again the universal rule that everything is relative, we do recognize that even Oakland is far from a paragon of affordability and accessibility these days.)

"This is a franchise at the end of a transition from spunky underdog to shiny favorite, and they're moving to the land of shiny favorites," SBNation's Grant Brisbee wrote in May 2015, as Warriors-to-SF talk was picking up steam.

To be fair, many Warriors fans have already found themselves priced out of Oracle since the Warriors became a national sensation, thanks to rising ticket prices. Those fans don't need a San Francisco move to feel a bit out in the cold. The vibe at Oracle is already more staid than it was just a few years ago. But a San Francisco move could well amplify the downer dynamic.

We're not saying it willhappen. We're hoping it won'thappen.

But it's hard to fight the feeling that the feel-good Warriors story of the past few years just took a corporate turn for the worse with Tuesday's news of a Jan. 17 groundbreaking in San Francisco.

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