OKC Mayor Discusses Potential New Thunder Arena

Oklahoma City leadership has already begun brainstorming funding options for a new Thunder arena in downtown OKC.

Since arriving in Oklahoma City, the Thunder have been competitive for the majority of their tenure. 

Despite having some of the best teams in the NBA for a decent stretch of the mid-2010s, OKC's stadium is trending towards falling behind. Formerly known as the Ford Center, Oklahoma City Arena and Chesapeake Energy Arena, the Paycom Center got its current name in 2021.

Despite this, there has been little done to advance the look or features of the stadium since it was built in 2002. While there have been smaller adjustments made to keep the stadium as modern as possible, Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt reiterated at his recent "State of the City" address that the Thunder need a new stadium.

"Our arena is too small," Holt said. "It has too little investment in it, and it is trending towards being too old."

Holt continued by pointing out that the modern frontier is one of the smallest markets in the NBA, and that to keep the team around, OKC would need to provide a great place to play for the Thunder.

"We're the NBA's third smallest market," Holt told the media. "There are 18 U.S. markets larger than ours that don't have an NBA team. In the long run, this is not a tenable situation."

Holt believes that this problem can be partially remedied with a nice, new stadium. At his State of the City address, the OKC mayor said he plans to bring a new arena to Downtown Oklahoma City. 

"It is time to plan for a new arena and 2023 is the year to make that commitment," Holt said. "We are close to a jointly agreeable proposal that will construct a new downtown arena that meets the modern standards of the NBA and the concert industry. We believe we can and must present this agreement before the end of summer, with an election before the end of 2023." 

Holt continued on to discuss the funding of a potential new arena, an issue that was supposedly one of the biggest reasons the team left Seattle in the first place. Oklahoma City has a history of raising money for public projects, exemplified by the MAPS program that the city has run since the 1990s. 

"We believe our new arena can be funded without raising tax rates above their current levels," Holt said at his address. "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."

With Holt's love of athletics and Oklahoma City's affinity to be known as a "Big League City" it is not surprising that city leadership is willing to make the construction of the new stadium a priority. Additionally, the Thunder have a massive economic impact on the modern frontier, bringing the city over $1.5 million per home game. 

With talk of a new stadium flooding the city, many OKC fans have begun to wonder where the arena would be located. Sources close to the situation have mentioned that the city is looking at the space currently occupied by Prairie Surf Studios as the potential site of a new stadium, but no decisions have been made at this point.

Prairie Surf Studios sits in what used to be the home of the Oklahoma City Blue. 

Others have speculated that the Paycom Center parking lot could be the site of construction for the new arena. 

Regardless, the mayor's optimism and determination to build a new stadium for the Thunder is encouraging to both fans and the team itself.

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