OKLAHOMA CITY – Officials from the City of OKC and the Oklahoma City Thunder gathered downtown before an eager crowd Thursday for a groundbreaking ceremony officially launching the construction of the largest development project in Oklahoma City history.
The newly named Continental Coliseum, the future home of the Thunder and the anchor of an expected sports and entertainment boom for Downtown in coming years, is being constructed on the site of the former Myriad Convention Center, and more recently, Prairie Surf Studios.
The groundbreaking was another step toward fruition for a nearly billion-dollar project first approved by city vote in late-2023, and that staggering cost was a focus of statements by Mayor David Holt before the crowd Thursday.
“This is the largest single public project in Oklahoma City’s history, but it is also one of the largest projects in anyone’s history,” Holt said. “The Continental Coliseum project appears to have the fifth largest budget in the global history of arenas.”
Beginning of construction
Thursday’s ceremony marks the end of the year-long demolition of the old building and the official beginning of work on the 750,000 square foot new arena, designed by Kansas City, Kansas-based MANICA Architecture and constructed primarily by Oklahoman builders Fintco and Minneapolis-based Mortenson Construction.
Though the arena is not expected to be completed and operational until 2028, Thunder representatives announced Tuesday that naming rights had already been secured by OKC-based oil and gas producers Continental Resources, whose founder and chairman, Harold Hamm, also spoke before the groundbreaking.
“It was a kind of a quick decision made by our team,” Hamm told the crowd of the decision by Contenental to enter into a 15-year contract for the arena’s name. “It didn’t take much. I considered the opportunity that was afforded us and I thought very quickly that, you know, we ought to do this.”
That 15-year deal begins immediately and will include the two years of projected construction for the building, setting 2041 as the next time that the arena’s naming rights will be up for negotiation.
Monumental price tag
The historic taxpayer cost for the new arena, and the December 2023 vote that overwhelmingly approved it, were repeated topics among the speakers Thursday, with Thunder Chairman Clay Bennett expressing gratitude to the OKC residents that voted in favor of the funding.
“I truly think about every single citizen who woke up on that Tuesday and planned to go vote and went and voted ‘yes’ to support this project,” Bennett said. “This is your day, this is your building, and we are forever grateful for the support of our citizens.”
The unprecedented taxpayer-funded model approved by that vote has loomed large over conversations about the new arena ever since.
Of the projected $900 million cost, more than $850 million is being shouldered by OKC residents and consumers through penny sales tax extensions and MAPS funding, with Thunder ownership only contributing $50 million to the construction effort, an historically small percentage for team-city arena-funding partnerships.
Ward 2 City Councilman James Cooper supported that funding model only after successfully presenting a resolution to City Council ensuring a Community Benefits Agreement supporting local staffing and wage guarantees, confirming to Free Press at the time that he would not have voted in favor of the arena’s tax-funding otherwise.
That Community Benefits Agreement was nearly nixed in a surprising City Council vote in July of last year, reigniting debate about the $850 million taxpayer burden for the new facility.
A groundbreaking agreement
“We had a very public and transparent community conversation about the topic,” Holt told the crowd Thursday, acknowledging the months-long debate over the arena’s funding in 2023, during which time Thunder officials had implied that without the new arena, they may move the team to a different city.
“But with this commitment, we achieved the renewal we sought,” he said. “Our original 15-year agreement with the Thunder, which ended in 2023, has now been extended with a 25-year commitment that will commence when this new arena opens in 2028.”
Brett Fieldcamp is the owner and Editor in Chief of Oklahoma City Free Press. He has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly two decades and served as Arts & Entertainment Editor before purchasing the company from founder Brett Dickerson in 2026.
He is also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
