Given some of the recent developments in the last week with the Sonics in Seattle and it looking ever so likely that they'll leave, I think the focus of Maps 3 should shift somewhat.

On another board, I read an excellent suggestion for Maps, and I figured we could give it a go here and discuss what people think.

The idea would be to construct a new facility near the new downtown boulevard following the completion of the I-40 project. The facility would be a truely state of the art venue with a feature that would seriously put OKC on the national consciousness.

Essentially, it would involve cutting edge engineering and architechtural techniques where the facility could cleanly expand or retract from 22,000-50,000 seats. There has to be a way to design a facility with the latest technology that could expand and retract in a flawless and seamless manner. Done this way, the arena's primary tenant would be the NBA with seating for 22,000 or so in its "standard" configuration. However, when expanded to 50,000, the configuration could change for hosting amazing events like the NBA all-star game, the Final Four, college football bowl games, and any other number of activities.

I realize other venues have been used in the multipurpose context (namely the Alamodome in San Antonio), but that kind of a conventional configuration is nowhere near what is envisioned here.