United Airlines has teamed up with a winner.
The Chicago-based airline announced Thursday that it will move forward as the official carrier of the National Basketball Association's Golden State Warriors, which set a league record with 73 wins last season.
United has entered into a multi-year partnership with the Warriors and GSW Arena LLC, which is funding the construction of the state-of-the-art Chase Center in San Francisco, where the Warriors will play their home games in a few years' time.
The relationship makes United a founding partner of the new sports and entertainment complex coming to San Francisco's Mission Bay neighborhood.
United will take on its new title of Official Airline of the Warriors for the upcoming 2016-17 NBA season and continue the relationship when the team relocates from Oakland to the Chase Center ahead of the 2019-20 season.
"San Francisco is a key market for United, and this relationship demonstrates further investment in our employees and our customers," said United's executive vice president and chief commercial officer Julia Haywood in a statement.
[READMORE] READ MORE: Has Oscar Munoz Been Successful at Improving United Airlines? [/READMORE]
Haywood was joined by several Warriors players during a unique news conference inside of a hangar at United's San Francisco maintenance base, which was transformed into a basketball court.
United also announced a contribution of $60,000 in travel benefits to Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco's Rebels developmental basketball team and youth leadership club.
San Francisco International Airport is one of United's nine hubs. The carrier is the leading operator at SFO, serving more than 14 million passengers from April 2015 through March 2016.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
