Last Updated on July 21, 2023, 12:34 AM | Published: July 20, 2023
OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) — After having called for city leaders to start thinking about a new sports arena last year, OKC Mayor David Holt made an unmistakable case for one Thursday.
The Mayor laid out his argument for a new sports arena that would be purpose built as an NBA arena in front of a packed hall in the Oklahoma City Convention Center at the annual Chamber of Commerce State of the City address.
“It is time to plan for a new arena and 2023 is the year to make that commitment,” said Holt.
The plan
Holt called for the presentation of an agreement with the OKC Thunder team “before the end of the summer, with the election before the end of 2023.”
And, if a new NBA-level arena is built, the Thunder will stay, promised Holt.
“In response to a successful vote and the commitment of a new arena by the people of Oklahoma City, we will secure a long-term lease with the Thunder and the NBA, longer than the initial commitment we received in 2008,” Holt said.
Last year the original agreement with the team’s ownership ran out. The City and the team owners then signed a three-year agreement to give time for OKC to consider a new arena.
Making the case
The proposed new arena would replace the Paycom Center which is the current arena for the Oklahoma City Thunder, the NBA pro basketball team that has been in the City since 2008.
“Our current downtown arena once represented us well in the world of entertainment and sports, but those days fade, and at this point we’re mostly succeeding on sheer grit,” said Holt. “Our management team at the arena is doing a great job marketing us for concerts and shows, but the building itself is a growing liability.”
And, a decision to build a purpose-built NBA arena would result in an agreement being signed that would ensure the Thunder team would remain in OKC for
Holt departed from his usual easy-going, persuasion-as-offering style and took a more insistent, either/or approach.
“Look, I’m a student of American city identity, and there’s an unavoidable reality, whether you like it or not, that American cities fall into two categories – those who have major league professional sports teams and those that do not,” Holt said toward the end of his presentation. “Those who have them, enjoy an entirely different identity than the other cities.”
“This national and international credibility that comes with a major league sports team lifts everything in our city,” said Holt. “You don’t even have to care about basketball to appreciate the significance.”
Holt also said that the new arena can be funded “without raising tax rates above their current levels.”
“We believe we can accomplish this vital project simply by paying the exact same sales tax rate we pay today. No tax increase will be necessary,” Holt said.
Holt said that the money already in MAPS 4 for the downtown arena plus “a significant financial contribution” from Thunder’s ownership would be able to pay for the arena.
Specifics
Holt laid out what he considers to be key realities the City is facing in considering a new arena within what Holt called a “hyper-competitive and unforgiving environment” among host NBA and big concert cities.
- The Paycom Center is the second-cheapest arena in the NBA ($200M) competing with cities that spend billions on new arenas.
- “There are 18 metropolitan statistical areas larger than Oklahoma City that don’t have an NBA team, and several of them have existing or planned arenas that dwarf ours.”
- The Paycom Center “ranks dead last in total square footage” which limits the size of crowds for sports and concerts.
“We always have to remember three things,” said Holt. “1) there are a dozen North American cities that used to have an NBA team, 2) there are 18 metros bigger than ours that would like to have a team, and 3) remember how we got this team.”
The organization that is now the Oklahoma City Thunder was the Seattle SuperSonics before Howard Schultz sold it to a group of Oklahoma City investors led by Clay Bennett in 2006.
Significance of MAPS
Holt pointed to the dramatic changes brought about by the passage of the first MAPS package in 1993 that was heavily focused on reviving downtown OKC and creating a better quality of life for the City.
“MAPS – the ultimate quality of life initiative – was launched out of desperation to save a city that was dying,” said Holt. “In the wake of the MAPS investment in quality of life, our population and our economy have soared.”
“And so, Oklahoma City has tried not investing in quality of life and we’ve tried investing in quality of life through MAPS. The results are in for each of the two approaches and they speak for themselves.”
The Metropolitan Area Projects — MAPS – program and those following now up through MAPS 4 was a plan where voters approve a dedicated sales tax over a limited length of time. Proceeds from the tax are held and allowed to build so that when the designated projects are complete, they are paid for.
In addition to the original MAPS, voters have liked the idea well enough to approve three more MAPS: MAPS for Kids, MAPS 3, and MAPS 4.
“Equal priorities”
Holt argued that one hallmark of the MAPS mentality in OKC has been to consider, “core infrastructure and quality of life infrastructure as equal priorities.”
Building roads, water pipes, police stations were all important, but so were trails, community centers, arenas, stadiums and ballparks.
“We have to do both,” said Holt.
The Mayor connected the building out of quality of life projects with economic growth which in turn allows the City to have the resources to respond to human needs.
This is why Oklahoma City invests in quality of life,” said Holt. “Investing in quality of life is not superficial or trivial. It is existential.”
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
