Yes I am sure you keep up with some of the Norman "politics" and the city council. People get up in a roar and send out recalls when something doesn't go their way. I could see that happening if the vote is remotely close. If it is all yes votes on the city council then it is a done deal for sure.
Sounds closer to a done deal to me but again nothing has been formally brought up to the council as far as I am aware (and could be wrong on that!)
^
No, nothing has been formalized as yet.
But it shouldn't be much longer and that's why they had this press release today.
So, I'm guessing that Urbanist Poke is an OSU grad who lives in Tulsa? Same guy who said that the Olympics being in OKC was no big deal? If so... why are we spending so much time talking to him about this?
Only a slightly unhinged reply haha. I don't think you understand OSU alumni and where did I say anything about football? If OSU proposed an idea like this I would frankly be even more harsh, as would most OSU people. OU fans, especially non alumni, have a really difficult time with reality.
He is just "poke-ing" us into squabbling with someone that is not going to benefit from said project. Do I like the idea of an arena off campus- meh, but if it is better than LNC then yes. The last time I saw the LNC packed was for a Norman North High School graduation before Covid. Something needs to be done. The renderings, while not final, show a top flight facility and look great imo.
Do you realize that what Texas did was actually a great model that OU should try to copy? No? What exactly is your point.
The arena they built is also within walking distance to campus and was built to accommodate music/concerts, etc. They also built it to a size that is realistic to get concerts.
Want to know a reason why arenas under 10,000 seats have a hard time financially? There are pretty limited traveling tours that play in venues of that size where they have to bring their own stage, equipment, etc. That's why they play in PAC's, Casinos, etc. where there's a stage and A/V etc. The costs don't make sense to have an independent tour and only go to venues under 10,000 seats that not are purpose built for music, theater, etc.
OU needs and could support an arena. Doing it at UTC and thinking OU isn't going to be supporting this in some way is just make believe. There are plenty of examples on how to do something like this right and this proposal isn't it. It will ultimately either stick OU with the costs or shift a massive burden on to Norman residents and the city. Either of those are bad. People need to take a breath and think about this a bit more and how crazy this idea really is that's being proposed. Good luck to OU lol.
We might as well end the discussion. The Poke knows all, and is omniscient, and is able to move goal posts, so we don't stand a chance.
I noticed the FAQ mentions there is no proposed timeline for this project. Since the Campus Corner "leveling" project is also pending in the background, to me it makes sense that these projects could coordinate. So I don't understand why the campus corner area isn't considered for the arena location. Especially with $800MM in private investment is planned (which is for profit sharing from the entertainment district). Isn't that exactly what the new campus corner is supposed to be? Bars, restaurants, hotels, housing. LNC is 3k more capacity than this proposed arena, it could fit somewhere in CC no problem.
Seems like a missed opportunity to do some really cool urban integration for campus corner with the arena as an anchor piece.
because we have two different project groups that have their own ideas of what to do with each. might it be a missed oppotunity, sure, but the group who has been buying up Campus Corner, has their own plan and what they are best at producing. the group with the arena, have different plans for what they want to do. you can't force two different groups of developers to just work together.
The amount of pearl clutching by OU fans here is comical. Good luck with all your debt, university certainly doesn't have any issues with it at all. You will have the #1 basketball program soon, don't worry.
I have not moved the goal posts at all and no one has proved anything I've brought up wrong either. Maybe you all know better than Fitch and other credit rating agencies. Just start your own maybe? Lol
Just poking holes into a dumb proposal. OU fans should expect better, because they could have better. I know, I'm just horrible for saying it and thinking it.
You could easily fit an arena north of Rickos Tacos if you clear out some of those older buildings to the north and utilized the parking lots up to Apache. Over 60% of that is parking already and an arena with a parking structure and ground floor retail (look how the Verizon Center was built in DC as a good example) could easily go there.
Another option slightly further north would be the parking lot south of First Baptist.
Or even the parking lot south of Noun along University. That is plenty big enough for an arena to go on and would be 1,000 X better for OU and could be done in a similar private-public partnership. Building out a mixed-use 'urban center' would be 1,000 x more viable there than in a suburban wasteland like UTC.
LOL - Sooner fans... if a few critiques on a dumb proposal hurts your feelings that much put me on ignore now. Just bury your head in the sand that OU can't do better and doesn't deserve better of a new arena proposal than some dumb faux entertainment strip mall in UTC when they could do something way better around Campus Corner or elsewhere. Especially if the university is acquiring land and planning a redevelopment of Campus Corner this is just a massive, massive miss. Only endless sunshine pumpers allowed on OKCTalk, I forget.
I just used Google to measure square footage of all of [the main part] of campus corner (minus NOUN hotel and Boyd House for obvious reasons). The total land sq ft is over 500K.
Using the same thing, I took the square footage of the current LNC (Which is 3K more capacity than this proposed arena) and the total land sq ft is under 190K.
Obviously you will need parking for the arena, but the entire campus corner area needs structured parking anyways. To me, it doesn't seem like such a crazy idea.
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