When the Golden State Valkyries host their first playoff game at Chase Center on Sunday evening, after playing their postseason in San Jose last year, the arena will once again become a sea of purple with Valk-gear-clad fans, drinks in hand, spilling out of the bars and restaurants ringing the plaza.
But while the Valkyries fans will eventually disperse until the next home contest, the game marks the start of a permanent change at Thrive City: the plaza’s designation as full-time “entertainment zone” that allows customers at the bars and restaurants to take alcoholic beverages out into the 11-acre piazza outside of the arena.
For the past two years, Thrive City has become a city-designated entertainment zone during certain special events, allowing bars and restaurants to serve to-go adult beverages. But on other nights and during many events, the plaza’s status as an entertainment zone has not been in effect. On those nights patrons of Thrive City establishments could not wander around the plaza with their IPAs or Chardonnays…