Has anyone heard any new developments in the Ford Center naming rights issue?

Being kicked around over at
http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=22915

Has anyone heard any new developments in the Ford Center naming rights issue?

Click on the New Posts button up above before making a clone topic. :-/

Thank you, I very seldom use that button. I can see where it can save on double posting (clone topic); since the Thunder has the naming-rights to the Ford Center, I kept wondering why no one had even jumped on this topic.

Well, apparently there are no new developments.

I hope it stay's Ford Center.

I hope it stay's Ford Center.

They've already negotiated with the local Ford folk. Only after that did not pan out did they give notice of exercising their authority to sell new naming rights.
Can't see it rolling backwards

Did the city of Oklahoma City give the Ford Center to the Thunder? In other words, who owns it right now?

I understand that the "naming rights" would go to the first NHL or NBA team to permanently occupy the Ford Center.

The new major league tenant would guarantee the remaining balance on the original naming-rights deal and take over the new contract on this and receive royalties.

The Kansas City Blades (Old defunct IHL) wanted the same deal with the city during the Blazer-Blades fiasco.

We were fortunate:

1. We didn't get the Kansas City Blades.
2. We didn't get that final 4th expansion franchise in the 1997 NHL expansion derby (awarded to Columbus, OH).
3. The New Orleans Hornets returned to the Big Easy instead of relocating here.
4. The NBA Board of Governors approved relocation of the Sonics to OKC.

We are indeed blessed to have our own NBA Oklahoma City Thunder!

We are the 3rd state capital city to be awarded a major league franchise in a non major league capital city market:

NBA Sacramento, CA Kings
NHL Raleigh, NC Hurricanes
NBA Oklahoma City, OK Thunder

Did the city of Oklahoma City give the Ford Center to the Thunder? In other words, who owns it right now?

The City of OKC has always owned the Ford Center. The company that owns the Thunder has a 15 year lease to use the Ford Center.

How much is the OKC Thunder paying the lease to OKC?

And since OKC owns the building, how does this give OKC Thunder the right to disrupt the naming rights?

How much is the OKC Thunder paying the lease to OKC?

And since OKC owns the building, how does this give OKC Thunder the right to disrupt the naming rights?

Don't remember annual lease amount, but it's written into the lease and there were articles back when they signed the club.

As to their right to rename, that was also part of their written agreement with the city.
The club gets to control naming rights, but had to give the Ford folks first shot. Apparently they did, but the Ford folks dinna wanna pay what the team felt they could obtain. So the team is now seeking others, and if I recall right, the city still gets what it was getting in the first instance..

How much is the OKC Thunder paying the lease to OKC?

And since OKC owns the building, how does this give OKC Thunder the right to disrupt the naming rights?


Most major league teams can get a better naming right deal because they have inside connections with sponsors. Most arenas today bargain their naming rights deals over to the tenants of those facilities (this is not uncommon).

Sure, the name Ford Center has grown on us, just like the name Thunder.

Here is a preliminary agreement the Thunder reached with the City of OKC:

SuperSonics, Oklahoma City reach preliminary lease agreementEmail Print Comments174 Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Seattle SuperSonics and Oklahoma City have reached a preliminary agreement on a lease at the Ford Center pending NBA approval of the team's relocation.

The 15-year deal calls for the SuperSonics to pay the city $1.6 million annually for use of the building and reimburse $409,000 per year to replace revenue from naming rights for the arena currently paid by local Ford car dealerships.

"I'm very pleased with the deal," City Manager Jim Couch said. "I believe that this is the right decision for the city to go forward with this deal. ... We think that this is a very solid deal for the city of Oklahoma City."

It's all about timing and money. The timing has to do with the renovation of the arena (Phase III) which deals with the exterior and I'm sure the team felt that the time was ripe to get this completed.

I don't care whether or not this is a double post. I found it first so I'm using it. Is it going to stay the Ford Center for this season, which btw starts in 27 days?

Does Oklahoma City make an annual profit on the Ford Center or does it even break even? What about the Bricktown Ballpark?

Haven't been able to find any links on the City's or SMG management of the Ford Center.

I do know that they have been working on configuration of a football field for the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark to make it attractive for high school football and soccer. These could provide more revenue streams (ballpark) and add to the Bricktown area's economic impact until a soccer-football specific stadium is built on the riverfront.

Does Oklahoma City make an annual profit on the Ford Center or does it even break even? What about the Bricktown Ballpark?

If I remember correctly, the lease with the Thunder allows the City to break-even on the Ford Center. This is possible because the arena was not financed. Without the an NBA tennant the best naming rights deal the City could get was about $450,000 per year. Of course, when the NBA came the value of naming rights went up. Since that value was generated by the Thunder, the additional revenue goes to them but the city still gets their $450,000 per year. The City also gets a cut of all non-NBA events plus concession sales and sales tax from people that come to events from outside OKC who otherwise wouldn't spend a penny in OKC on a Tuesday night in January.

Remember though, the Ford Center was not built to make money. It was built to lure an NBA/NHL team. It did that to perfection. Mission accomplished.

Good point, Kerry!

The City is guaranteed their $450,000 annual (agreement with the Ford Dealers) regardless of what the Thunder decides to do. Once the Thunder exercised their options for the naming rights; they must guarantee the City that much.

I feel as though the Ford Center is breaking even and what's more important is that the economic impact that this facility has generated more than pays for itself.

People tend to forget; although the Thunder is the major tenant on the lease, there are other events which are functional.

Who would have believed that the Ford Center, an 18,500-seat facility would have been needed in Oklahoma City based on the All College Tournament and the Blazers' previous performances at the Myriad.

A larger facility put us in a position to acquire more events; especially with our ties to SMG's management of the facility.

Former Mayor Kirk Humphrey's did not initially want to go to the voters with a 6-month extention when the original MAPS fell short. His first consideration was to cut the Ford Center from MAPS I.

It was Mayor Norick who continue to see that all of these projects were completed as originally presented before the voters.

Funny the things one hears at a Muse concert.

I can't unequivocally confirm what the the name will be, but do know what appears to be the "very most likely, we're just waiting for the ink to dry" suspect at this point, based upon a few things I was told. Suffice it to say dear Berry Tramel won't be getting his wish. Ford Center is no longer...and changes will be underway sooner than later, if I understood things correctly.

The fact that the Thunder has the rights to who holds the arena naming rights plays a big part in who this new named sponsor will be. (I'll let you all do the math).

I don't feel at liberty to say much more and I'm not intentionally trying to be a tease here. All I will say is that the person with whom I spoke is quite close to the situation and I trust they know what they were talking about.

So then it's either OPUBCO, Devon, Midfirst or CHK

I for one hope it is not The "Devon Center". As excited as I am for their amazing presence in our city and everything that they are doing, they are getting huge publicity already and worry that it would make OKC seem like a one corporation town, and kind of have an unintended consequence. I hope it is Mid-First, Chesapeake, or another company that surprises us in a good way.

So then it's either OPUBCO, Devon, Midfirst or CHKWhy Devon? I didn't realize the were involved in Thunder ownership

The Devon Dome?

Why not a first? A shared arena naming-rights sponsorship?

Devon-Chesapeake Energy Coliseum.

Chesapeake-Devon Energy Dome.

So I keep hearing them call it the Oklahoma City Arena... Did they pull down the lettering off the side wall of the arena?

So I keep hearing them call it the Oklahoma City Arena... Did they pull down the lettering off the side wall of the arena?

Heard that too...let's hope it doesn't stay that way for long

Sonic Center?

how ironic that would be. ...

Listened to last night game vs. Moscow, I heard Kirk Humprheys refer to it as the 'Downtown Arena' and on the Thunder game broadcast they said, 'Oklahoma City Arena.'

I can't see them taking down the Ford neon emblems until they are ready to replace it with something else; unless they can do it without leaving 'ghost figures' of Ford Center on the outside facade.

So I keep hearing them call it the Oklahoma City Arena... Did they pull down the lettering off the side wall of the arena?

Drove by yesterday around 5 and saw them taking down the Lettering off the SouthWest side of the building.

http://i906.photobucket.com/albums/ac263/ndmoore84/Devon%20Tower/6743b1de.jpg

Interesting, I wonder if they are going to put new signage up, cover it up, and unveil the new sponsor at a press conference.

Interesting, I wonder if they are going to put new signage up, cover it up, and unveil the new sponsor at a press conference.

That would be my guess.

They will have to register a new domain name pretty soon if they haven't already. I don't know if they would want to bother with a temporary OKC Arena website name.

Gonna have to touch up that wall a little bit. It's faded behind the letters.

Hmmmm....interesting.

I tried a Whois search of a few possible name combos using "arena" and who I believe to be the primary suspect (hint: it has been named in this thread).

The domains, under both ok________center.com and simply ________center.com are not available. Interesting that when I tried to pull up the actual registrant info, THAT was also not available, which leads me to believe that either it was very newly registered so the info is not available on Whois YET, or whoever registered it had the means to keep it private (I don't know how these things work, so someone may need to educate me.)

Of course, it could all also be a fluke. A basic google search tells me that there is no other _________center.com out there, so who knows what that means. Could mean absolutely nothing.

For those with a very keen perception, a big hint may be dropped this Saturday.

I assume the removal of the letters means a deal has been reached with someone. Otherwise, why remove the letters now? It isn't like the Ford Dealers contract just ended.

Just--please--don't name it after a goddamn snack food...please...

The Little Debbie Dome...

Hmmmm....interesting.

I tried a Whois search of a few possible name combos using "arena" and who I believe to be the primary suspect (hint: it has been named in this thread).

The domains, under both ok________center.com and simply ________center.com are not available. Interesting that when I tried to pull up the actual registrant info, THAT was also not available, which leads me to believe that either it was very newly registered so the info is not available on Whois YET, or whoever registered it had the means to keep it private (I don't know how these things work, so someone may need to educate me.)

Of course, it could all also be a fluke. A basic google search tells me that there is no other _________center.com out there, so who knows what that means. Could mean absolutely nothing.

For those with a very keen perception, a big hint may be dropped this Saturday.

Why the __________, it's not like it's proprietary info if you can do a public internet search.




Just--please--don't name it after a goddamn snack food...please...


Is it really necessary to drop the GD in there? Seriously

The Little Debbie Dome...

Little Debbie Does Oklahoma City. That wouldn't make a good headline.

Is it really necessary to drop the GD in there? Seriously

"Bless me father--for I have sinned..."

Why the __________, it's not like it's proprietary info if you can do a public internet search.

I never claimed it to be proprietary info. I did claim that I had a source who told me there was a "we're just waiting for the ink to dry candidate," and said that changes would happen sooner rather than later. Those changes are happening, and it's becoming more and more apparent that the ink is dry on that contract.

Because this person told me things in confidence, I promised I would not reveal the name he told me, and I am keeping to my word. I have dropped some hints, though, and people who curious enough will follow that crumb trail and figure things out on their own.

I just found it interesting that when I tried to pull a whois search on a particular name, it told me the domain name (and several variants) were taken, but did not give me the ownership information to the domain, as it does with just about any other site out there. Other names I searched under whois either came up available, or belonged to different organizations entirely unrelated to the names entered.

I guess I'm confused then, I thought your post above said you did a WhoIs search, in which is a free search anyone can do on the internet, not a private source. Your post above mentioned no person in private, that's why I made the statement. I've done some random typing of domain names, but still haven't figured it out yet. I'm thinking maybe Sonic based on your hints, although that is not my initial suspicion. I will continue my "investigation"

Well after doing some WhoIs searches, I'm leaning towards MidFirst Center

http://www.kfor.com/news/local/kfor-news-ford-center-ok-arena-story,0,6405721.story?track=rss

http://www.kfor.com/news/local/kfor-news-ford-center-ok-arena-story,0,6405721.story?track=rss

Hmm.... maybe the ink's not quite as dry as I was led to believe, or maybe this is just a transitory phase until they can get all of the other details worked out since they aren't collecting Ford revenues anymore. Interesting.

:whiteflag

Oklahoma City Center is lame and definitely not "Major League City" caliber. I think it will be temporary until they can announce MidFirst Center or whomever it will be.

I hope they figure this out soon...bc Oklahoma City Arena is lame.

Does this mean the City isn't getting paid the $450,000 until the Thunder finds a customer? Pretty sure I don't like that.

whoever registered it had the means to keep it private (I don't know how these things work, so someone may need to educate me.)

Anyone can do this for about $9 a domain name. I'm guessing whomever you may suspect the naming rights are going to would have $9 laying around. : )

I would think that if there was an agreement in place, they would announce it before next week's game, since it's on national TV.

Could be nothing, but if FritterGirl originally thought the inside source she heard and a name announced as early as this Saturday, it COULD co-incide with this event at MidFirst Bank in Nichols Hills tomorrow. I'm not however implying that it is a front for a press conference, but it is at least feasible. If someone was just domain speculating, then they would have bought Devon, CHK, Sonic, OPUBCO and the other usual suspects, why is it that only MidFirst bank, one of the teams top 5 sponsors has the website purchased?

THUNDER RALLY AT MIDFIRST BANK ON SATURDAY

On Saturday, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbook will join the Thunder and MidFirst Bank to kick off the season with a free rally! Fans are invited to join Rumble and the Thunder Girls from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the MidFirst Bank branch located on Grand and Western! Enjoy refreshments, activities, games and more! More details are HERE!

They will have to register a new domain name pretty soon if they haven't already. I don't know if they would want to bother with a temporary OKC Arena website name.
The website is already down!

It is now the "home of Oklahoma Ford Dealers"

Chesapeake Arena, they can nickname it "The Peak"

The website is already down!

It is now the "home of Oklahoma Ford Dealers"

They really don't want to give away free advertising. LOL

Of course, everyone will still call it the Ford Center until a new name is picked.

They really don't want to give away free advertising. LOL

Of course, everyone will still call it the Ford Center until a new name is picked.
The "first name" usually sticks, the building across the street will always be The Myriad to me. I still call Minute Maid Park in Houston Enron Field at times.

The "first name" usually sticks, the building across the street will always be The Myriad to me. I still call Minute Maid Park in Houston Enron Field at times.

I know right!I still call The new arena in Boston The Garden instead of TD bankNorth,and I also still call The CCC The Myriad!

I know right!I still call The new arena in Boston The Garden instead of TD bankNorth,and I also still call The CCC The Myriad!
Yeah, Fleet Center and TD Whatever just never seemed right to me.

Also, try Candlestick Park.

It'll always forever be the Ford Center. And it'll always be the Myriad. Some names we just can't change despite the official label on the building. No one can change the nickname, Thunderdome.

Speaking of which, I will always call the Sears Tower the Sears Tower, not whatever the new name is.

and Liberty Tower, Liberty Tower. ....

The arena looks really bare/plain without the words "Ford Center" on the side.