https://www.si.com/college/oklahoma/...ts-complicated
Coach has identified the student population as his target audience. LNC has been identified as being too far off campus. UNP is even further away than LNC.
Yeah I know LNC is on campus. I've been going to games thete for 42 years.
The reality though is that it is not in the heart of the campus like Owen Field or the Field House.
Time will tell where and when. My guess it would not pass on a city wide ballot if it called for local funding.
Porter is probably going to be out the door by the end of the 2024-25 season, so my guess is the next coach’s opinion will be more relevant lol.
There is actually enough land area to build another basketball arena near where the LNC is now. They could easily do that and demolish LNC. But the over all goal of the arena being at UNP was also to attract and host major regional high school games and tournaments as well. With that giving a boost to hotels and other commercial development in UNP. The problem with building a new arena on OUs south campus is that there are no restaurants, hotels, and other leisure activities in the immediate area.
Looks like the arena project for UNP is not completely dead. Cleveland county commissioners are now pushing to revive this development:
https://www.normantranscript.com/new...c3b359c3e.html
So much for giving a crap about students.
If they went forward with the UNP plans, I bet they organize shuttle busses from campus.
Personally, I'd rather see a new facility near the campus and Campus Corner, but something needs to be done to remain competitive and this seems like the best way to get the thing built.
BTW, OU owns the land under UNP and has a significant stake in all the related development.
I have no idea where all students live but a ton of them live on or within a mile of campus. Its very evident from college bball arenas around the country that student attendance suffers when their team plays off campus. This UNP location would be mostly an economical decision and not one for the students or really the program.
Also, just like the first time, I dont think citizens will go for funding most of this arena when they look at all the private money going for football, baseball, softball facility improvements. They'll ask themselves why they need to pay for this arena when OU has all these other nice facilities that they didnt have to pay for.
^ I don't think a county wide vote v. a city wide vote increasing the chance of passage.
You are right on the other improvements that were made without local funding. This is a state responsibility.
The fact is students make up a small percentage of tickets sales for OU football and basketball games. The majority of your fan base is going to be non-students, therefore the UNP location for a new arena makes the most sense if we are talking about boosting attendance. Placing it in UNP will get more people from Moore and Oklahoma city to attend games.
Moreover, placing near hotels, restaurants and other leisure activities will help the arena win bids for other sports tournaments or events. I mean we are looking at graduations, wrestling & gymnastic meets, cheerleading competitions, the list goes on. So voters need to look at the big picture and not just basketball games.
I'm curious as to the feasibility of the field house building up?
This project started perking back in Feb.
Local developer/brick thrower Sassan is one of the behind the scenes voices as he stands to profit greatly.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nor...59c3e.amp.html
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