New Arena (formerly Prairie Surf)

[Rover]

It's too bad that particular convention is leaving. Really, it is. But you know, things change. The world evolves. New conventions that OKC has never had will come in due to the new convention center. Maybe Prairie Surf will strike gold and we'll look back in 5 years and say, Thank God we traded the FFA for (future thing).

I don't mean to be flippant, but if the FFA involves primarily schoolchildren, they probably aren't spending much money in bars and on high quality food.

It’s a five yr move, after which time we might have the new fairgrounds arena completed. It used to move around and then settled on OKC before. Trust me, people from Guymon and Altus would much rather go to OKC than drive to far NE Oklahoma. Central location is much better.

Sometimes you have to take one step back to begin to move 10 steps forward. We have to quit reading one page and think we know the story of the whole book.

[Anonymous.]

Does anyone have any metrics or articles on the recovery that conventions are having right now? I would assume coming off the pandemic and a world with eyes opened to virtual/video interactions, that convention demand is at an all-time low.

Would love for our new CC to land some good conventions, losing the FFA definitely sucks, I would not have guessed the nearly $9MM impact.

[Pete]

The FFA stays downtown and walks to the arena and their convention space.

They can't do that at the fairgrounds, which right now has an arena they could be using.

You can be very sure they won't be coming back to OKC, probably ever.

[Martin]

i used to work just east of downtown... during the ffa convention each year, you'd see people in ffa uniforms walking back and forth between bricktown in literal droves... i'd imagine those dollars are going to be missed.

[Martin]

Trust me, people from Guymon and Altus would much rather go to OKC than drive to far NE Oklahoma. Central location is much better.

it's an extra hour to an hour an a half from each of those locations... for a multi-day event where the participants stay in-town, i doubt that's going to be a big issue.

[David]

They need an arena as well as convention space.

We were bound to lose that convention eventually then, unless we expect the Cox to sit around forever as a convention center annex or something. We should have built an arena into the new convention center if there were important conventions we wanted to keep or acquire that required one.

[catcherinthewry]

Or after they've seen Karl Hungus?

Damn, the references are lit today!

[jedicurt]

^

OKC can no longer guarantee the FFA an arena, which they need.

Their convention is in April and more years than not the Thunder are in the playoffs, so CHK can't be guaranteed. So that's where the Cox arena allowed the city to provide a guarantee.

With Cox out of the picture, Tulsa was more than happy to guarantee the BOK center for the five-year period they wanted. And as I said, I'm sure they'll just stay there as a permanent home.


I know the FFA has been coming to OKC since at least the early '80s (when I first started working downtown) and probably well before that.

how many days is the FFA convention normally? if it's just one or two days, then why could they not guarantee the arena? other NBA arenas are able to be used during these times for events. they just adjust the schedule unless the event would prevent the arena from being used for more than two days....

i agree it's awful that we are losing it. but i'm trying to figure out all of the angles here of ways in which this couldn't be kept.

[shawnw]

Wouldn't mind seeing the Thunder lease re-done (when is it up?) now that there isn't another downtown arena available where it is made easier to use our city-owned arena for more functions. FFA might not be the only convention that needs both an arena and convention space. Also, for there to be any possibility for the convention center and arena to be used jointly in the future, there definitely needs to be pedestrian improvements between the two. Heck that should be happening regardless.

[Pete]

^

Right now, you can't even walk directly from the convention center to the CHK arena, as there is no sidewalk on the east side of Robinson north of the boulevard.

Now that Thunder Alley has withdrawn their application and that project does not look imminent, this needs to be addressed straight away.

[shawnw]

Right, that's what I meant by should happen regardless

[Jersey Boss]

how many days is the FFA convention normally? if it's just one or two days, then why could they not guarantee the arena? other NBA arenas are able to be used during these times for events. they just adjust the schedule unless the event would prevent the arena from being used for more than two days....

i agree it's awful that we are losing it. but i'm trying to figure out all of the angles here of ways in which this couldn't be kept.

With many arena concerts that did not appear at the Chesapeake for a number of years, some speculate the Thunder were less than accommodating or flexible in scheduling. IDK, just have heard it more than once.

[jedicurt]

With many arena concerts that did not appear at the Chesapeake for a number of years, some speculate the Thunder were less than accommodating or flexible in scheduling. IDK, just have heard it more than once.

oh, i absolutely think this is the case... that is what i was trying to confirm in this... that we might not have needed to lose it, had the city not give the Thunder god-like scheduling power.

[Pete]

The sidewalk and streetscape were promised as part of Project 180 and just completely skipped, like so many other areas.

[David]

^

Right now, you can't even walk directly from the convention center to the CHK arena, as there is no sidewalk on the east side of Robinson north of the boulevard.

Now that Thunder Alley has withdrawn their application and that project does not look imminent, this needs to be addressed straight away.

This is a very good point, it's straight up embarrassing to have that right across the street from the Omni and preventing clean pedestrian access to the arena.

[LocoAko]

The sidewalk and streetscape were promised as part of Project 180 and just completely skipped, like so many other areas.

I remember Mayor Holt tweeting about needing to do a study on how long it may be until development occurs there once ODOT no longer controls it to see whether it makes sense for the city to step in with a sidewalk, but I don't know how the Thunder Alley plans cratering affects that. It really is unattractive and impractical, right in between two of the biggest draws of visitors to our city with no safe connectivity.

https://twitter.com/davidfholt/statu...90393387634693

[jn1780]

To be fair the city thought there was going to be a whole plaza there a year ago. Then Covid happened.

Regarding Prairie Surf Studios, the city should have only given them half the building and they lease out the arena whenever they need it like everyone else. What's dumb about all this, is that arena is probably just sitting empty.

[Anonymous.]

The arena inside is 100% [planned to be?] used by the studio. I believe they either have or are planning to soundproof it and basically make it one of the largest soundstages in the US.


EDIT: Added link to the studio's planned use of the [former] CCC:

https://prairiesurf.com/wp-content/u...ESURFMEDIA.pdf

[Pete]

To be fair the city thought there was going to be a whole plaza there a year ago. Then Covid happened.

Project 180 happened 10 years before Thunder Alley was ever proposed.

And now that the plaza is not happening anytime soon and the Omni and convention center has been open for months, time to put a bloody sidewalk between our NBA arena and the hundreds of millions of taxpayer investment directly south.

[TheTravellers]

Project 180 happened 10 years before Thunder Alley was ever proposed.

And now that the plaza is not happening anytime soon and the Omni and convention center has been open for months, time to put a bloody sidewalk between our NBA arena and the hundreds of millions of taxpayer investment directly south.

Yep, absolutely unconscionable and inexcusable that this is allowed to happen - just how bad do our city planners have to suck in order to not have this already done? Looks like it would take less than a month to do it, and they should start on it NOW.

[shawnw]

I comment on that Holt thread saying at least put down some temporary asphalt

[jn1780]

Project 180 happened 10 years before Thunder Alley was ever proposed.

And now that the plaza is not happening anytime soon and the Omni and convention center has been open for months, time to put a bloody sidewalk between our NBA arena and the hundreds of millions of taxpayer investment directly south.

That's true, but Omni and the park are a less than a year old. They should now get some sidewalks in place ASAP.

[Pete]

That's true, but Omni and the park are a less than a year old.

And have been in definite planning and/or construction for many years.

Even if Thunder Alley was to happen, there have been miles of sidewalks done downtown that were later disturbed due to construction.

This should have been done 5 years ago.

[Rover]

oh, i absolutely think this is the case... that is what i was trying to confirm in this... that we might not have needed to lose it, had the city not give the Thunder god-like scheduling power.

Doesn't the NBA do the scheduling of the games, not the Thunder?

[catch22]

If the Stage Center in Los Angeles can have 4 permanent tenants, and host a combined total of 250 events a year. OKC can host a convention during basketball season. There is no reason to not be able to handle a convention with only one tenant.