New Arena (formerly Prairie Surf)

[jn1780]

it will be very interesting if the new thunder area could be the first to solve the courtside suites "problem"

several NFL and MLB stadiums have field level suites ... so far no NBA arena does (now they have court side suites but they don't inclued a view of the court) ..

not sure that is even possible .. but it would be a very cool feature that would produce revenue .

I feel like that would severely limit what you could do with the arena. I'm sure you could solve it, if you built it for basketball and not much else. Also, I just don't think the perimeter of a basketball court is large enough to get that many suits in.

[BoulderSooner]

I feel like that would severely limit what you could do with the arena. I'm sure you could solve it, if you built it for basketball and not much else. Also, I just don't think the perimeter of a basketball court is large enough to get that many suits in.

I would bet you are right ... that it is a big point why it has not happened yet

[Plutonic Panda]

^

But Dallas, Austin, and Houston have absolutely miserable summers and people are flocking there, including production crews.

It's not like TK moved from here to California. It may be hotter in OKC than in Atlanta, but I've been there plenty of times and with the humidity, in some ways it's worse. At the very least, the summers are pretty comparable.

Anyway, we'll never know the reasons they left, but nothing else of significance has come since and that's pretty telling. It may be a simple matter of getting more experienced crew, but that's very much a chicken-and-egg situation.

I think you hit the nail on the head with the lack of talent and experienced crews needed for a major production like this. Atlanta and Albuquerque have been building up their film scene for quite some time. Once again, Oklahoma just fell behind. Sure we’ve had some productions but nothing like what they’ve had. We certainly don’t have multi billion dollar movie studios.

[bison34]

I think you hit the nail on the head with the lack of talent and experienced crews needed for a major production like this. Atlanta and Albuquerque have been building up their film scene for quite some time. Once again, Oklahoma just fell behind. Sure we’ve had some productions but nothing like what they’ve had. We certainly don’t have multi billion dollar movie studios.

I think you are bashing Oklahoma too much on this. Atlanta has long been a player on these (all the way back to Walkijg Dead). ABQ benefits from Breaking Dad's success. But OK is growing. They need more incentives at the state level, for sure. But I don't think it is as simple as "Oklahoma failed at something". They basically have become a player based off starting at zero 5 years ago.

[Laramie]

I think the current belief is that 18,000 people is about the maximum number of people that indoor, basketball type arenas can handle in comfort. We can get more people in, but ease of access, width of seat, foot room, and sightlines are diminished. They want to maximize revenue per seat, and make it a better value than sitting at home watching it on your 70-inch TV. If the seats above the 18,000 make for a less desirable experience, then they wind up selling them for cheap and add to the overall uncomfortable crowd experience. If all the seats above the bottom section are crammed like sardines in order to go from 18,000 to 22,000 capacity, then a whole lot of people are not wanting to attend or pay strong money for the experience.

Why would we have to cram. We're talking about building a new $900+ million arena from the ground up; there would be no need cram seats if you build it with correct specs to include 22" wide seat with cup holders; luxury suites and lodge type seating in between levels similar to Yum Center.

Let's not repeat the mistake we made with our current Paycom Center when we had to downsize from 19,300 seats to the current 18,203 that created the seating debacle.

Louisville's arena seats 22,090; their arena opened in 2010 at a cost of $238 Million, 11,348 seats in the lower bowl, with the remainder on the upper tier. The seat width also increased from 19 to 20 inches. Our current Paycom Center has 22" wide seats with cup holders. The old Myriad Great Arena had 19" wide seats built on a more steeper incline where your knees were aligned with the person's head in front of you.

We're investing $1 billion on this four square block site, ample room for 18,500-19,500 seats on two levels. With the use of partitions 1,000 seats could be sections off and used only when needed. And let's not forget those fans who can only afford seats in the $45 to $65 range.

[Bowser214]

Oklahoma City has been listed as No. 13 on MovieMaker Magazine's 2025 list of “The Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker” in the U.S. and Canada. This recognition coincides with the Oklahoma Film & Music Office's official designation of Oklahoma City as a film-friendly city last week.4
Tulsa came in at 15.

[Dob Hooligan]

Why would we have to cram. We're talking about building a new $900+ million arena from the ground up; there would be no need cram seats if you build it with correct specs to include 22" wide seat with cup holders; luxury suites and lodge type seating in between levels similar to Yum Center.

Let's not repeat the mistake we made with our current Paycom Center when we had to downsize from 19,300 seats to the current 18,203 that created the seating debacle.

Louisville's arena seats 22,090; their arena opened in 2010 at a cost of $238 Million, 11,348 seats in the lower bowl, with the remainder on the upper tier. The seat width also increased from 19 to 20 inches. Our current Paycom Center has 22" wide seats with cup holders. The old Myriad Great Arena had 19" wide seats built on a more steeper incline where your knees were aligned with the person's head in front of you.

We're investing $1 billion on this four square block site, ample room for 18,500-19,500 seats on two levels. With the use of partitions 1,000 seats could be sections off and used only when needed. And let's not forget those fans who can only afford seats in the $45 to $65 range.

Partitions are regarded as not fitting a quality aesthetic. Acoustics can be challenging. And people always know the event didn't sell enough tickets, so they had to lop off some seating. I'm guessing the 22,000 seat arenas have very distant viewing from that upper section. Enough where the person has to wonder why they went to all the expense and effort to watch on an in-house Jumbotron? When they could have watched a better picture at home for next to nothing.

While I was just typing out all my Significant Statements above, I got to wondering what seating capacity is at the Chase Center in San Francisco and Intuit Dome in Los Angeles? The latest and greatest NBA arenas that had no limits on cost or size during design and construction. Looks like both are right around 18,000 for basketball. I have to think they understand the future trends and have built accordingly.

[BDP]

it will be very interesting if the new thunder area could be the first to solve the courtside suites "problem"

several NFL and MLB stadiums have field level suites ... so far no NBA arena does (now they have court side suites but they don't inclued a view of the court) ..

not sure that is even possible .. but it would be a very cool feature that would produce revenue .

I'm not sure it's a problem, though. Maybe some suites in the lower bowl, somewhere, but sitting courtside at an NBA game with your feet on the floor is probably the best seat in all of sports. Even without the bunker suites or restaurants that usually come with those seats, it's better than any suite and pretty much worth the premium on its own. So, I'm not sure any NBA organization would really gain much from reducing courtside seating capacity to accommodate courtside suites.

[TheTravellers]

Wouldn't courtside suites/boxes totally screw up the normal seating arrangements for concerts that we're all used to (floor, 100-level all the way around, 200-level all the way around, 300-level all the way around, with suites/boxes coming in somewhere in between the 100/200/300-levels)?

[Plutonic Panda]

I think you are bashing Oklahoma too much on this. Atlanta has long been a player on these (all the way back to Walkijg Dead). ABQ benefits from Breaking Dad's success. But OK is growing. They need more incentives at the state level, for sure. But I don't think it is as simple as "Oklahoma failed at something". They basically have become a player based off starting at zero 5 years ago.

I don’t mean to bash Oklahoma, I’m just saying, I think Georgia and New Mexico were ahead in the game and have more talent available. I was agreeing with Pete‘s statement that it’s more likely the production moved to more established areas they have more talent available for movie production. For example Albuquerque just had a multi billion dollar expansion of their Netflix studio.

[bombermwc]

Are courtside suites retractable? If not, then you've killed the plan already. It works some for football because the field is so much larger and fans are using to having some sort of wall between them and the players anyway. It's not the same for basketball. I don't honestly think you'll ever see anything encroach on the courtside seating arrangement.

OKC doesn't honestly need a 20k+ arena either. 18K is totally fine. Even with the games the way they are right now, there are plenty of empty seats on any given day. If we were maxing the place out, sure we should add. But we're not. And you don't build for the 2 games in the year that you might go full capacity. And those extra 2k are going to be up top too....so they're the "cheap" seats. So does the cost of building to accommodate them, come back to you as a ROI?

What we're going to see in OKC is not so much something that looks SOOOO different inside the bowl. What you will see is the difference in the concourses. They're very much "we added that on" today and dont look great. It's still very industrial concrete. Loud City doesn't even have a lot of signage and just has stuff painted on. I would hope that all of that gets buttoned up more to make the whole place a little nicer.

Loud City doesn't have cup holders and i dont know where you'd put them. My knees hit the glass in front of my on our "front" row seats. It's EXTREMELY tight seating. I'd really rather a little more room there and a cup holder so we stop having everyone's drinks roll down to our feet. But i also know that to do that, is extremely expensive. Every inch of leg room equates to an expense.

[BoulderSooner]

Are courtside suites retractable? If not, then you've killed the plan already. It works some for football because the field is so much larger and fans are using to having some sort of wall between them and the players anyway. It's not the same for basketball. I don't honestly think you'll ever see anything encroach on the courtside seating arrangement.
.

makes me wonder if you could have them on one of the ends of the court ...

[jn1780]

Are courtside suites retractable? If not, then you've killed the plan already. It works some for football because the field is so much larger and fans are using to having some sort of wall between them and the players anyway. It's not the same for basketball. I don't honestly think you'll ever see anything encroach on the courtside seating arrangement.

Yeah, I don't think it would work without some elaborate expensive engineering. Like the whole box getting wheeled out or having the box retract into the ground. Something crazy like that.

[VeggieMeat]

I feel like that would severely limit what you could do with the arena. I'm sure you could solve it, if you built it for basketball and not much else. Also, I just don't think the perimeter of a basketball court is large enough to get that many suits in.

Why do courtside bunker suites have to be permanent installations? Make them collapsible support structures for the lower temporary seating, and start the permanent seating a few rows higher.

[bombermwc]

The amount of money that those seats would cost would have to be more than the sum of all the seats you are taking by doing this too. I dont think OKC has a market for that. Can you imagine the expense for 50 courtside seats? And that's not really an exaggeration for a 14x14 box. Not to mention we would have to create tunnels to connect the people TO the boxes. I dont think you would want doors on the front going to the court like you would normally do. The doors would have to be on the back, and all that tunnelling would also have to be collapsible. Plus the electrical lines. You have to build where the things store, taking up more room in the facility. The tear down and setup time. It's a pretty astronomically expensive thing.

I would put this in the "not a ice cube's chance in hell" category.

[jn1780]

Why do courtside bunker suites have to be permanent installations? Make them collapsible support structures for the lower temporary seating, and start the permanent seating a few rows higher.

I guess it goes back to that question on why bother just to have a 3 foot wall in front of some VIP's at a basket ball game? I think NFL and MLB are slow enough that the VIP's want tables to put their drinks and food on, there's a lot of talking and socializing during the slow periods.

[Pete]

Demo bids are getting ready to go out for this structure.

We should see some action by next month.

[catcherinthewry]

Demo bids are getting ready to go out for this structure.

We should see some action by next month.

The plans were approved about 2 weeks ago, but I'm told that demolition probably won't start until May or June.

[Anonymous.]

Are we just going to pretend it won't be Midwest Wrecking Co?

[LakeEffect]

Are we just going to pretend it won't be Midwest Wrecking Co?

In theory, K&M could get it.

[Paseofreak]

I know there’s a process to follow, but Midwest has done about $1 million of work for me and I couldn’t be more pleased. Top flight outfit!

[kukblue1]

March 31 is the start date now

[catcherinthewry]

March 31 is the start date now

March 31 is the date the bid will be awarded, not the date the demolition will begin.

[scottk]

March 31 is the start date now

Will the City be having a "closing" house for the Myriad/Cox Convention Center or Norrick Arena? One final time for the public to walk through for photos and memories, or any chances to grab a piece of memorabilia before these structures are demolished? I can't imagine items out of these two spaces can be repurposed for any additional use given the age of both of these facilities.

Both of these arenas have held every type of event for the past 60 years, and until the Ford Center/Paycom Center, these were the two arenas for concerts, hockey, rodeos, basketball tournaments, and any indoor event of significance in the City's history.

I remember President Clinton speaking at a packed State Fair Arena days after the Murrah bombing, and my first concert at the Myriad and how I thought it was a massive immaculate structure in the 90's.

[kukblue1]

March 31 is the date the bid will be awarded, not the date the demolition will begin.

AH OK https://www.koco.com/article/oklahom...arena/63763099

https://journalrecord.com/2025/02/11...-for-1b-arena/