Every fan loves to watch their favorite team in person. But a bad parking lot experience is enough to make someone consider breaking up with the live experience.

OAKLAND, CA – Picture this: The clock’s ticking off the final seconds of the fourth quarter, and as you sit in your pricey seat, rest-assured that your team is about to pull off a W, the only thought that runs through your mind is, “With all these other fans, I’m going to be stuck in the parking lot forever.”

Should you leave early, or just stay in the arena and let everyone else filter out? You’re a season ticket holder after all, one who pays a lot of money to continuously support your team, and yet you still have to wait like everybody else? There has to be another way.

And fortunately, for fans of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, there is.

After frequenting plenty of Warriors games at Oracle Arena, and witnessing the arena’s discombobulated parking layout, Pacific Park Management [PPM] knew there was room for improvement. But before they pitched their ideas to the Warriors’ brass, they scouted a number of other professional sports teams’ parking operations for good measure, including that of the Los Angeles Lakers.

An innovative, emerging regional leader of parking services, PPM has tremendous experience operating large parking facilities. Throughout their 30+ years in parking, they’ve provided services for numerous prestigious Bay Area clients, including San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), San Francisco International Airport (SFO), The Port Authority of San Francisco, Oakland International Airport, BART (all stations) and Wells Fargo Bank, along with a plethora of commercial and residential buildings.

Stressing that a changed parking structure would open the eyes of the team’s season ticket holders, the Warriors were impressed with PPM’s initial pitch and asked the management company to return with visual and strategic executions of their ideas. To aid them with bringing their ideas to life, PPM hired Dreamentia Creative Laboratories [DCL]. Together, the San Francisco-based parking management company and the LA-based ad agency, respectively, created a much smoother entrance and exit for the Warriors’ biggest fans, en route to eventually winning the Warriors’ business.

No slouch to sports, cars or parking lot problem solving, DCL brass has rubbed creative and strategic elbows over the years with everyone from Major League Baseball to Nissan. They have also become quite familiar with the Bay Area, having spent the past year rebuilding the brand of Oakland International Airport’s parking facility, and bringing in more volume to the airport.

Working in concert with DCL, PPM began devising strategies that would permit the Warriors’ 400 premium season ticket holders to move swiftly in and out of the arena parking lot. Having considered that premium payers would prefer to be as close as possible, PPM and DCL proposed to reserve the section nearest to the arena for those 400 people eligible for the proposed valet service.

The valet area, which has been broken off into two sections, has a designated entry and exit point to expedite the experience for customers. 40 floor-seat owners have reserved the right to park in the VIP Self Park, while the remaining 360 have been delegated to the Club Valet area. The difference? The 40 in the VIP section park their own cars and keep their keys, which allows them to bypass the valet service at the end of each game and leave on their own terms.

While waiting for the white-gloved attendants to deliver their cars, season ticket holders will be able to relax in a designated area. The area is filled with amenities such as comfortable seating, beverages, flat screen TVs, and plenty of other luxuries to help the time pass quickly.

To showcase their vision, DCL hired LeanArch, a Los Angeles-based architect firm, to create renderings of the valet operation. A full-service firm that offers architectural design and construction services, LeanArch’s innovative, 3D renderings brought to life DCL’s vision - by showcasing traffic flow, pedestrian flow and vehicle storage. They also highlighted the valet’s marquee, which DCL conceived to provide a center-piece for sponsors’ logos as well as adding a new revenue stream to the Warriors’ organization.

An environmentally friendly firm, LeanArch also strived to implement green initiatives into the project. While partnered with DCL, they endeavored to convert the entire parking area into a solar-powered, green solution, creating power that would enrich the arena and save money on lighting the large building.

With the Lakers’ as the competitive benchmark, PPM and DCL are looking to help the Golden State Warriors give their Western Conference nemesis a run for their money, both on the floor and in the parking lot. In doing so, they hope the success of the new valet parking operation will translate to the team’s success, as the Warriors continue to compete with the Lakers for the most important aspect of their rivalry: the Western Conference championship.

But despite the competition on the hardwood, the Warriors’ fans have won big already, thanks to their new parking lot makeover.