New Downtown Arena

[warreng88]

It' s not just number of hotel rooms required for an All Star game; it's entertainment, clubs, etc., and we are still a ways away on those fronts, thought Salt Lake is indeed more analogous than other places such as LA, Vegas, Orlando.

But one of the most important requirements is exhibit hall space, and we are still lacking there. The All Star Game is among other things a trade show, with large trade show booths from vendors like Nike, with thousands of square feet per booth. The Salt Palace above is a fine point of comparison, but what was not listed was the most important part; exhibit hall. Salt Palace has over half a million square feet of exhibit hall space and OKC's convention center has 200K. Orlando has over TWO MILLION square feet.

I agree that a new arena would put OKC much closer to hosting, but disagree that hotel rooms are the only other item that needs to reach a tipping point. We still have a ways to go. An expansion to the convention center (in OKC's long range plan) will probably also be needed to get to that point.

Since you are in the know on this, could the Bennett Event Center at the Fairgrounds be included in that and subsequently the new fairgrounds arena or would it all be contiguous space near the arena?

[PhiAlpha]

Since you are in the know on this, could the Bennett Event Center at the Fairgrounds be included in that and subsequently the new fairgrounds arena or would it all be contiguous space near the arena?

kinda feels like the nba would look down on that as a bit of a bush league solution. But what do I know lol

[David]

Since you are in the know on this, could the Bennett Event Center at the Fairgrounds be included in that and subsequently the new fairgrounds arena or would it all be contiguous space near the arena?

That would not have been a useful setup for any conference or convention I have ever attended, and I have to assume a trade show would be the same.

[Bill Robertson]

kinda feels like the nba would look down on that as a bit of a bush league solution. But what do I know lol

I definitely don't know either. And I'd think is was fine. But I imagine something on a fairgrounds about 5 miles from the arena wouldn't meet the level of NBA image.

[PoliSciGuy]

Salt Palace Convention Center:

Opening Date: October 2022
Floors: 25
Sleeping Rooms: 700
Luxury Suites: 33
Flexible Meeting Space: 60,000 Sq. Ft.
Restaurant(s) & Sixth-Floor Rooftop Pool

Skyline structure: Wells Fargo Center 422 ft/36 stories, LDS Church Office Building 420 ft/28 stories, 95 State Street at City Creek (Tower 8) 395 ft/25 stories

Oklahoma City Convention Center & Omni Hotel:

Opening date: January 2021
Floors: 17
Sleeping rooms: 605
Luxury suites: 29 suites, with dramatic views of the 70-acre Scissortail Park and the downtown skyline.
Flexible meeting space 76,000 Sq. ft.
Rooftop pool deck terrace, located on the hotel’s third floor.
American modern cuisine to a sports bar with outdoor seating on two floors and an award-winning steak house.

Skyline structure: Devon Tower - 844 ft/50 stories, BancFirst - 500 ft/37 stories, First National Center - 433 ft/ 33 stories

Oklahoma City IMO has the most impressive skyline among NBA small market cities (Milwaukee, OKC, Memphis, SLC, New Orleans).

.

Friend, your data is bad. The Salt Palace has a 515,000 square foot exhibit hall and an additional 160,000 square feet of meeting space.

[gopokes88]

salt lake just had the all star game .. OKC will get one if they build this new stadium

Tend to agree with this. By that 2030ish mark
-new arena
-we'll probably be close hotel rooms wise
-while we'll never be a "hub", our airport pax counts will have doubled if the 10% growth rate continues

[Plutonic Panda]

I’m surprised how confident people are who say we’ll never become a hub. In theory, what would it take to get one.

[BoulderSooner]

I’m surprised how confident people are who say we’ll never become a hub. In theory, what would it take to get one.

dallas to not exist

[Plutonic Panda]

dallas to not exist

Isn’t Austin a hub though?

[chssooner]

Isn’t Austin a hub though?

They lost a lot of their routes to non-hubs on AA. So they aren't, or are at least significantly neutered, in terms of hub status.

[Elrenogolf]

The move to a new arena would be great timing for a complete re-brand.

[Bill Robertson]

I’m surprised how confident people are who say we’ll never become a hub. In theory, what would it take to get one.

1. An airline that needed a new hub. Not likely to happen.
2. A lot of airport infrastructure to support logistics. Very extensive and expensive.

[warreng88]

kinda feels like the nba would look down on that as a bit of a bush league solution. But what do I know lol

That would not have been a useful setup for any conference or convention I have ever attended, and I have to assume a trade show would be the same.

Fair...

[BoulderSooner]

The move to a new arena would be great timing for a complete re-brand.

lol they don't need a rebrand

[Laramie]

An economic impact study on the OKC NBA arena is out. Do the numbers justify a new one?

Link: https://news.yahoo.com/economic-impa...120046135.html

"This study, using real inputs from arena activity, makes it clear that the impact on our economy is significant," Christy Gillenwater, CEO of the Greater OKC Chamber, said in a statement recently. "There is an important impact to the families dependent on the arena activity — those that work in the building, along with restaurants, hotels and companies that provide goods and services to the arena."

[fortpatches]

An economic impact study on the OKC NBA arena is out. Do the numbers justify a new one?

Link: https://news.yahoo.com/economic-impa...120046135.html

The PDF can be found here:
2 (velocityokc.com)

[PoliSciGuy]

An economic impact study on the OKC NBA arena is out. Do the numbers justify a new one?

Link: https://news.yahoo.com/economic-impa...120046135.html

No, because these numbers are completely made up and have no backing with reality. This is a firm hired by the Chamber of Commerce to produce a good report to justify the arena, not an actual, empirically backed study. There's a reason why none of these PR firms actually submit their "findings" to peer review. This is a pretty good takedown of studies like this by an actual economist: https://x.com/jc_bradbury/status/172...294628773?s=20

[Bellaboo]

No, because these numbers are completely made up and have no backing with reality. This is a firm hired by the Chamber of Commerce to produce a good report to justify the arena, not an actual, empirically backed study. There's a reason why none of these PR firms actually submit their "findings" to peer review. This is a pretty good takedown of studies like this by an actual economist: https://x.com/jc_bradbury/status/172...294628773?s=20

Aren't you a ray of sunshine.......... lol

[Dob Hooligan]

No, because these numbers are completely made up and have no backing with reality. This is a firm hired by the Chamber of Commerce to produce a good report to justify the arena, not an actual, empirically backed study. There's a reason why none of these PR firms actually submit their "findings" to peer review. This is a pretty good takedown of studies like this by an actual economist: https://x.com/jc_bradbury/status/172...294628773?s=20

Funny. My peers reviewed it and found it was an accurate and wonderfully enlightening instrument of truth and happiness.

Why is your "reality" better than mine?

[Bellaboo]

Don't hold your breath getting the All-Star game. It's not just an arena and a lot of hotel rooms that goes with that game. Out of towners will demand entertainment that OKC may not have enough of.

We've got our share of working women... j/k

[Bellaboo]

Salt Lake City has a ton of infrastructure leftover from the Winter Olympics though, such as the Salt Palace and the significant density of hotels directly around it, plus their airport is a hub for a major airline. OKC is a long way from even reaching SLC levels of high-demand infrastructure.

Are we hosting part of the 2028 olympics ? That's kind of a big deal.

[Laramie]

One reason it may be taking so long to select a site for the new arena, the PSM site (former Myriad) has 100,000 sq. ft of exhibition space with 900+ parking slots; it could be used as overflow for the 200,730 sq. ft. exhibit hall space in the new convention center. The Omni Hotel has 76,000 sq ft in exhibition space.

The new $900 million arena will be better equipped to handle Thunder games, concerts and other events that Paycom Center
now has.

[Bellaboo]

What we don't know is how much sq ft of usable exhibition space the new arena might have ?

[Bill Robertson]

What we don't know is how much sq ft of usable exhibition space the new arena might have ?

I would imagine that with the BB court in place the new arena would have practically zero exhibition space. That's not the function of the arena. How much does the Paycom have? I can't remember much if at all. Though I could be wrong.

[HOT ROD]

Salt Lake City just hosted the all-star game. No reason OKC can't too once hotel rooms hit the threshold. A lot of all-star weekend events are manufactured for that weekend. If all the local OKC venues host events (Scissortail Park, Criterion, Tower, Beer City, Jones, Oklahoma Ranch, Fassler Hall, etc.), it could be enough.

I was going to say the same thing. If SLC can do it, then OKC (which is bigger city/metro but not a natural tourist destination) can.