New Arena (formerly Prairie Surf)

[Pete]

I think the utility relocation is the more pressing issue ... and they may be able to do a bunch of that without disrupting the parking for next season ...

The garage will be gone for several years while Paycom is still in operation.

[David]

Thanks for this.

I'm surprised because an architect is yet to be hired.

Seems like a good compromise to get PSM moved out even earlier.

[Pete]

It's interesting they don't mention what they are paying Prairie Surf to leave a year early.

Especially since the City was losing money on that deal to begin with.

[jn1780]

Not surprising given the updated timeline. They can move on with some aggressive demolition and start moving utility lines. I also bet a new garage would be the first thing to get greenlighted once an architect is selected and a general site outline is developed.

[David]

Per Marty: https://x.com/OKC_SPAN/status/1797990951270637876

a lease amendment for the lease with prairie surf. that studio will have to leave the site so it can be demoed for the new arena. basically gets them out early. the way it works is the city waives the $650k we would make from that lease.

[Pete]

^

These are the figures from the lease deal with Prairie Surf, and the council item specifically says the City will provide them "financial incentives" to leave early.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^^^^
The City’s financial incentives are the waiving of previously-negotiated tenant expenses. The only money changing hands will be the buyout incentive from the Thunder to PSM, and since both parties are private that number is confidential.

[Pete]

^

Thanks for the info.

Good to know the City won't be losing even more on this deal.


Will be interesting to see if Prairie Surf sets up shop somewhere else.

[jn1780]

That's an important detail I overlooked. The Thunder actually provided some financial motivation for PSM to leave early.

[Urbanized]

That's an important detail I overlooked. The Thunder actually provided some financial motivation for PSM to leave early.

Yes, as I’ve mentioned a few times previously in this thread, while the City is obligated to complete the building within a certain amount of time, the Thunder is highly financially motivated to get into the building sooner rather than later. The PSM lease was always an impediment to the team’s desired timeline. While the City is certainly helping by waiving some tenant expenses, the Thunder was the only party that was ever going to be compelled to incentivize an early departure for the studio.

[gopokes88]

^

Interesting -- thanks.

Note the City has hired CAA Icon (who also consulted on the Intuit Dome and a bunch of other arenas and sports facilities) as their consultants on this project. Not sure where they stand on hiring an architect, but there would have to be an RFP and that has yet to be issued.

https://www.caaicon.com/

They are very very good at what they do.

[jn1780]

They ask (twice) about how much more we expect to pay for tickets at the new arena. I said "As this arena is being built with 95% public funds I would not expect ticket prices to increase at all."

Well yeah. We had to build them a bigger space so they can fill that space with premium amenities.

[ChaseDweller]

They ask (twice) about how much more we expect to pay for tickets at the new arena. I said "As this arena is being built with 95% public funds I would not expect ticket prices to increase at all."

The thing that shocked me was the line of questions about club seating. I sit in the club section now. The survey talked about the club seats no longer being a special section, but an area down in the lower bowl. When it came to pricing, the survey asked if I would be willing to pay $20,000 per seat for club section seating. My current seats are about $4,500.00. Yikes! When I said no, it turned into something of an auction. Would I pay $17.5K ? Nope. $15K? Nope. The survey gave up after that. Guess I won't have club seats in the new arena.

[king183]

The thing that shocked me was the line of questions about club seating. I sit in the club section now. The survey talked about the club seats no longer being a special section, but an area down in the lower bowl. When it came to pricing, the survey asked if I would be willing to pay $20,000 per seat for club section seating. My current seats are about $4,500.00. Yikes! When I said no, it turned into something of an auction. Would I pay $17.5K ? Nope. $15K? Nope. The survey gave up after that. Guess I won't have club seats in the new arena.

Club level seats in newer arenas are vastly different than the club seats in Paycom. The newer arenas have substantially more amenities for club level, hence the price increase. It’s actually a completely different experience and category, in my opinion. What you experience at club level today with Paycom will still be available but likely will be called something different.

[BoulderSooner]

Club level seats in newer arenas are vastly different than the club seats in Paycom. The newer arenas have substantially more amenities for club level, hence the price increase. It’s actually a completely different experience and category, in my opinion. What you experience at club level today with Paycom will still be available but likely will be called something different.

yep .. look at the cowboys football stadium the "club level" is the lower sidelines between the 20's

[Pete]

But is it 4x better than what we have now?

That's a crazy price jump.

[jdross1982]

But is it 4x better than what we have now?

That's a crazy price jump.

Based on reading that, the club level (paycom) compared to club level (new arena) will not even be located in the same area and will be closer to the floor with increased amenities. I would like to see a ticket price breakdown for all areas of the Paycom before trying to compare to any new section at the new arena.

Seeing a lot fewer sections in Fiserv compared to Paycom

[PhiAlpha]

But is it 4x better than what we have now?

That's a crazy price jump.

Most of the tickets in the middle at the lower level are 5 figures or close to it now.

Like boulder said, it depends on what they mean by "club" in the new arena. If the "club level" in the new arena is where the champions club is now in the middle of the lower bowl, it's an increase of about $130 per ticket (They are $330/ticket/game or $14,190 per ticket for a full season 24-25). It sounds more or less like they're looking at combining premium lower bowl seats with the club level amenities and that's what they're factoring into the price.

The $105 tickets referenced above are between the baseline and the corner in the club level so I don't think a comparable ticket in that zone would be increasing from $4,500/year to $20,000/year (because no one would pay that for them).

Couldn't get the ticket graphic to show up clearly for some reason...

[ChaseDweller]

Based on reading that, the club level (paycom) compared to club level (new arena) will not even be located in the same area and will be closer to the floor with increased amenities. I would like to see a ticket price breakdown for all areas of the Paycom before trying to compare to any new section at the new arena.

Seeing a lot fewer sections in Fiserv compared to Paycom

Oh I agree its a different seat in a different area, but the survey chose to ask me about it specifically, I guess because the seats in the new arena are named the same as my seats in the old arena. I don't think I'm their target market for $20k seats, but if anything in the center section lower bowl is $10k+, they may be deluding themselves on what prices this market can bear.

[BDP]

Oh I agree its a different seat in a different area, but the survey chose to ask me about it specifically, I guess because the seats in the new arena are named the same as my seats in the old arena. I don't think I'm their target market for $20k seats, but if anything in the center section lower bowl is $10k+, they may be deluding themselves on what prices this market can bear.

You can find current season ticket prices here:

https://okcthunder.com/memberships/

As PhiAlpha mentioned, center section lower bowl is currently more than $10k at Paycom. And other than location and nicer seats, I don't think many of those seats really have much in the way of added amenities.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^^^^^^
For those who don't want to bother clicking the link, here is the graphic:



And what this translates to for EXISTING lower level tickets in the season just played is as follows (assuming a pair of full-season tickets):

• Baseline loft: $6150.00
• Baseline: $7134.00
• Premier Baseline: $10,250.00
• High post: $11,480.00
• Premier post: $16,810.00
• Champions club (these are generally the lower bowl tickets you see in crowd shots during game play, but NOT courtside): $27,060.00
• Courtside: the site says call for details but for the record I believe most of these are in the $40K-$80K range for a pair of full-season tickets

The prices listed above would include a pair of full, 41 game season tickets. And many of these come with no extra amenities whatsoever, other than a pretty good view of the game.

I think a lot of folks judge viability of pricing based upon what they themselves can afford or would like to pay. Beyond that, I don't think most folks consider that tickets are often either corporate seats (usually distributed to employees, clients, partners etc), OR in many cases they are owned by groups of individual and family partners. For instance I have high post seats, but also have seat partners who get a percentage of the games (we do a draft). We are considering a move to premier post, plus would (and will) absolutely pay more for significant amenities upgrades.

[OkieBerto]

Here is a larger version for those visually impaired.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^^^^
Haha oops I saved the image with the wrong settings, thanks for uploading that.

[Bellaboo]

Also, It's not just 41 games. You are required to purchase at least a couple preseason games at the same price.

[PhiAlpha]

Also, It's not just 41 games. You are required to purchase at least a couple preseason games at the same price.

yeah the total this year is 43 for a full season ticket.