Parking at Thunder games has always been very reasonable. Some people are just unreasonable about parking.

We've never had a problem finding parking for any downtown event. Unless, like others have said, you want right by the door.

Or, we could all drive Lamborghini's. I once saw a gentleman park his black one right in front of the Chesapeake Arena cause he was full of himself...

I won't be satisfied untill they let me park on the street right by the new Grand Entrance. I refuse to walk more than 199 ft. from car to seat!!!!

I won't be satisfied untill they let me park on the street right by the new Grand Entrance. I refuse to walk more than 199 ft. from car to seat!!!!

Well, hell, man, you might as well build a shack between the Marriott Gardens and the arena, lol.

Plus, once the universally beloved CC is built next door I suspect there will be plenty of parking associated with the area.

Of course! Altogether now, it will fix everything. It will fix everything. It will fix everything...

I hope your just trying to get people started. I have season tickets and have never had a problem finding a place to park, and I often arrive DT about 45 minutes before tipoff.

I try and make it to as many games as I can, basically whenever I am in town, and I always show up about 20 minutes before tipoff, park FOR FREE at Bass Pro, make a deal with a scalper, and I'm always in right before tip-off. You just have to know what to do downtown, and I feel like it goes without saying most of us are pretty educated about our options for different things in downtown.

However, not all of us know the name of the Myriad Gardens, apparently... :-P

Maybe it was just a premonition that Marriott will be the new CC hotel...and the park will be renamed the Marriott Gardens.

Shhhhhh....someone let the cat out of the bag...let the conspiracies begin...LOL

Either that or metro will jump on it and claim it as his rumor.

Or, we could all drive Lamborghini's. I once saw a gentleman park his black one right in front of the Chesapeake Arena cause he was full of himself...


Oh sorry, Ill try not to do that anymore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYKdiy5X_nU&feature=channel_video_title

They were testing the outside display on today. It's pretty impressive. Anyone else see it? I took some pictures I can upload later.

My employee was down there and said she saw balloons going up, regarding the new screen. Pics would be awesome! Any ideas as to when they're going to place the new arena name sign up? I know they probably still have yet to manufacture the sign but I didn't know if there was a time frame...

As long as it gets put up in time for the NBA season start (if there is one). :-(

Rendering video:
http://www.nba.com/thunder/news/CEA_video_110901.html

They put the logo and arena name on the roof above the new entrance... You have to be on I-40 to see it, it looks good!

They put the logo and arena name on the roof above the new entrance... You have to be on I-40 to see it, it looks good!

Yep, news9 had an aerial shot of it last night during their 10pm newscast. Looks great!

I just drove past it a few minutes ago going Eastbound on I-40 and it is visible if you look at the arena and I wasn't even looking for it so it is noticable.

When do they plan to have the grand entrance complete?

Sorry if it's been answered in an obvious way but I couldn't find it anywhere.

They're advertising that the arena will reopen in October. I don't know if this is the same thing as the grand entrance being done or not. If so, we might need to go down there and ask if they need some help.

Yeah, seeing the progress right now I highly doubt the entrance will be done by October.

But if that is the plan, they are gonna need some more help. Quite a bit more help.

Interior shuld be done before the season starts, but grand entrance I think is the end of NEXT season.

Interior shuld be done before the season starts, but grand entrance I think is the end of NEXT season.

That shouldn't be difficult since who knows when the season will start, LOL

Off topic....but Thunder related. Does anyone have any updates on practice facility? Is it completed? Any pictures?

I just drove by and didn't see anything?

I just drove by and didn't see anything?

Make sure you're looking at the roof and going eastbound. If you're driving eastbound on I-40, you can easily see the name up there.

I did...maybe wasn't looking in the right spot. Hard to look away from the road and drive on the I-40 International Speedway at the same time.

I've driven I - 40 East bound and West bound by the arena the last 2 days and didn't see it....? Maybe I'm blind.

I did...maybe wasn't looking in the right spot. Hard to look away from the road and drive on the I-40 International Speedway at the same time.

Hmmm. It can't be that you weren't looking the right spot: it's gigantic and takes up almost the entire visible part of the roof of the arena from that perspective. In a way, it's almost impossible to miss.

Just to make sure we're clear: you're not looking for a sign that's standing up, right? What were referring to is a Chesapeake Energy Arena lettering that's basically printed on the roof so that airplanes and helicopters can see it/get a shot of it.

It's right above the new enterance on the roof pointing towards the sky.. You can see it on the curve of the roof.

Off topic....but Thunder related. Does anyone have any updates on practice facility? Is it completed? Any pictures?

Think his is the most recent article on it (only 1 pic w/article)
http://newsok.com/okc-thunder-could-move-into-new-practice-facility-by-august/article/3577185#ixzz1PPNO1rqF

A friend who works for the contractor said last weekend that the place is all done inside and out, barring a few cosmetic details, and its empty just waiting for the team to move in. Some of the coaches have already set up shop in there as well.

Taken 12 Sep 2011:
http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/3341/dsc1087x.jpg
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/783/dsc1091kf.jpg
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/6653/dsc1096x.jpg
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/6200/dsc1105w.jpg
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/9915/dsc1121c.jpg
http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/6100/dsc1120u.jpg

A friend who works for the contractor said last weekend that the place is all done inside and out, barring a few cosmetic details, and its empty just waiting for the team to move in. Some of the coaches have already set up shop in there as well.

It's for sure not done inside and out, maybe inside but definitely not outside... They have a loooooong way to go for that.

He was talking about the practice facility.

Someone snap a pic of the logo on the arena and please post it!

Someone snap a pic of the logo on the arena and please post it!

This was over on NBA.com if the link doesn't work (from 3 days ago) http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Chesapeake+Arena+logo&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=Mxx&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1020&bih=643&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=0M19yglCwutnrM:&imgrefurl=http://www.nba.com/thunder/&docid=GJcVd1jhL6F7oM&w=670&h=377&ei=W3F-TonLB8KjsQK7vJlG&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=308&vpy=259&dur=7061&hovh=168&hovw=299&tx=162&ty=64&page=1&tbnh=109&tbnw=194&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0

Thanks Larry. I didn't realize it was a paint job. It looks good from the nba.com pictures. It would be nice to see a view from the air. Fingers crossed for an NBA season to see it on tv.

It's as Watson410 said in his post. Those NBA.com pics are the only ones I could find in a quick google search (other than the entrance renderings). Could see it barely going eastbound on I-40 but only because i was looking for it. That part is definitely designed for the air tv shots. Because of the way the arena sits, I don't think it is visible at all westbound?

Would it be possible for rain to wash the paint off?

Would it be possible for rain to wash the paint off?

Probably no more than rain washes paint off of anything.

Well, now that I think about that I realize I shoulda thought twice before posting that. :-)

They just finished painting Chesapeake Energy Arena on the roof.

Just saw it for the first time from the highway. Also, in driving by today, looks like they are also doing some sort of work just to the east of the giant video board, roughly above the box office. Looks like maybe the beginning of the logo installation on the vertical surface.

Just saw it for the first time from the highway. Also, in driving by today, looks like they are also doing some sort of work just to the east of the giant video board, roughly above the box office. Looks like maybe the beginning of the logo installation on the vertical surface.

Probably so cause it's been awhile since the video surfaced about who was doing the logo and what not and they said it would take 1 day to do each letter I believe and that was around a month ago when I first seen it. It may be back a few pages in this thread.

Looks like they mispelled it, and washed off the painting on the roof. It was there this morning and now it is really faint. DOH!

Looks like they mispelled it, and washed off the painting on the roof. It was there this morning and now it is really faint. DOH!

That's embarrassing.

Now they are putting a Chespeake Arena sign on the north side of the building on the east side of the jumbotron.

Can you take some pics and post them?

Off topic....but Thunder related. Does anyone have any updates on practice facility? Is it completed? Any pictures?


http://api.photoshop.com/v1.0/accounts/9aab44e99f1b40f5bb18ab92f4b6acca/assets/38de813bb4a24a7a8cc00eab25d6cda3

Heres a pic of CHK Arena
Sorry its not that great....I was in a hurry.

found this on Facebook. Looks pretty nice
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/298551_10150308852983995_159957123994_8105008_1756 789731_n.jpg

found this on Facebook. Looks pretty nice
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/298551_10150308852983995_159957123994_8105008_1756 789731_n.jpg

Thanks ThunderUP23! Here it is:

http://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/298551_10150308852983995_159957123994_8105008_1756 789731_n.jpg

Wow. Looks really good.

Thanks ThunderUP23! Here it is:

http://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/298551_10150308852983995_159957123994_8105008_1756 789731_n.jpg

that's not bad at all. Score one for simplicity

Video from NewsOK:
http://newsok.com/signage-attached-to-chesapeake-arena/multimedia/video/1185669602001

Wonder if they're gonna add "energy" under the Chesapeake. I'm glad they executed it where the CHK and Arena get the visual emphasis, making it roll of the tongue easier.

Wonder if they're gonna add "energy" under the Chesapeake. I'm glad they executed it where the CHK and Arena get the visual emphasis, making it roll of the tongue easier.
The logo painted on the roof has "energy" under Chesapeake, so I would guess that they same will happen with the logo on the sides.

Wonder if they're gonna add "energy" under the Chesapeake. I'm glad they executed it where the CHK and Arena get the visual emphasis, making it roll of the tongue easier.

I'm curious of that as well. But it looks good and CHK Arena does roll of the tongue better.

I went by today and the word energy does appear under Chesapeake on the new signage. It's smaller though and I suspect the implication is that the word energy will be noted when the arena is shown on television or people drive by, but that it's common name will be Chesapeake Arena.