Ford Center renovations update

[Richard at Remax]

Above section 114ish it looked like they were starting to build one of those loge boxes, but could be wrong.

[SouthsideSooner]

The Loge Boxes will be behind the goals on the club level. Here's a description from an article in Newsok.com....

The most significant addition is 48 loge boxes, four- and six-seat areas on both ends in the club sections.

"Loge seating is the new thing,” said Tim Linville, director of Ford Center marketing and sales. "They’ll have a table in the front and back and wide seats on swivel casters. It feels like a suite. You just don’t have a big walking area with all the furniture. It fills a niche between regular seats and a suite.”

Loge boxes include year-round entertainment. For the same price as an eighth row Thunder courtside level season ticket, loge boxes — at prices of $12,375 per seat (in six-seat boxes) or $14,045 per seat (in four-seats boxes) — include tickets to most major concerts, family shows and all Thunder games.

Because of the loge boxes, Ford Center capacity for NBA games will be reduced to around 18,600 compared to this season’s 19,136-seat configuration.

http://newsok.com/ford-center-gettin...od_lead_sports

This is a generic picture of Loge Boxes...

[SoonerDave]

Realize this is a nitpick, but I note the article states that the new $5M scoreboard will include video with "HD-like" capabilities...which tells me is isn't going to be natively HD...I know OU's new video board is not "full" HD (and they opted not to go full HD due to cost issues), but it still looks great; was thinking by now that the cost savings between an "almost"-HD board and a "true" HD board were really shrinking by now....anyone have any other info on this? Like I said, admittedly a nitpick, but curious nonetheless..

[bluedogok]

Not for that size of board, it is a completely different technology than a conventional LCD, plasma, DLP and the costs for those systems have been driven down at the rate that the more common systems have.

[SoonerDave]

Not for that size of board, it is a completely different technology than a conventional LCD, plasma, DLP and the costs for those systems have been driven down at the rate that the more common systems have.

Is it not LED-based?

[bluedogok]

It has LED elements, but the electronics that drive them and their cost is the issue. At the distance that most are watching from and the overall screen size it would be hard to tell the difference between "near HD" and "true HD".

[Richard at Remax]

If you want true HD just watch the game instead of the videoboard

[BDP]

I think the Loge boxes will be awesome for concerts, if you can score one.

[SoonerDave]

If you want true HD just watch the game instead of the videoboard

Hey, I said up front that I recognized it was a nitpick...just a curiosity.

[Richard at Remax]

Oh i know, I wasn't coming after you or anything. I do know that anything is better than that scoreboard they have there now.

[onthestrip]

I think the Loge boxes will be awesome for concerts, if you can score one.

If you buy one of the loge seats you get first dibs for those seats for concert events in the Ford Center. But at the same price as the 8th row, I choose 8th row any day.

[BDP]

But at the same price as the 8th row, I choose 8th row any day.

Yeah, I agree. The article says that price includes concert tickets, so I am not sure if it's just a right of first refusal thing and you have to pay for each concert seat, or if concert tickets are actually included in that price. I am pretty sure, however, that 8th row seats don't include any priorities for concert ticketing, so that's at least a little value add to the loge seats.

[SoonerDave]

Oh i know, I wasn't coming after you or anything. I do know that anything is better than that scoreboard they have there now.

Oh, heavens, no prob...I meant to put a smiley on the end of that but it appears I failed ...

Yeah, that scoreboard is about a half-size too small for that arena, so I'm sure whatever they get will be a drastic improvement...

[OKCisOK4me]

I think the Loge boxes will be awesome for concerts, if you can score one.

Just make sure you score one that's not on the side behind the concert stage!

[sroberts24]

not sure if somebody has said this already, but i was reading on the Ford Center site and noticed that it said something about the Grand entrance construction not starting until 2010, did i miss read? or do we have to wait to see changes to the exterior?

[onthestrip]

not sure if somebody has said this already, but i was reading on the Ford Center site and noticed that it said something about the Grand entrance construction not starting until 2010, did i miss read? or do we have to wait to see changes to the exterior?

I believe that is right. All the work being started now is interior and I believe all exterior work wont start until after next (2010) season.

[BDP]

I wonder if that means no concerts next summer as well...

[metro]

If you buy one of the loge seats you get first dibs for those seats for concert events in the Ford Center. But at the same price as the 8th row, I choose 8th row any day.

Pretty sure suites and loges include concert, blazers and other events for the entire year. Not "first dibs."

[metro]

I believe that is right. All the work being started now is interior and I believe all exterior work wont start until after next (2010) season.

correct

[Stinger]

Above section 114ish it looked like they were starting to build one of those loge boxes, but could be wrong.

Yeah, that was a temporary one to show what they'll be like. I got a tour one night. It'll basically be a 4-6 person table with lockers behind the seats.

[warreng88]

Thunder home to get face-liftby Kelley Chambers

The Journal Record April 24, 2009

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Ford Center posted strong attendance numbers in March, the final month before renovations began.

“We are officially shut down at the Ford Center,” said Gary Desjardins, general manager of the Ford Center. “We’ll open back up in October.”Desjardins provided an update on the facility to members of the Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau on Thursday. He oversees the arena and exhibit halls at the Cox Business Services Convention Center.

By the time the Thunder hits the court next season, there will be several changes made to the Ford Center.

The publicly funded Ford Center was completed in 2002 at a cost of $89 million. In anticipation of luring an NBA team, Oklahoma City voters approved $120 million in improvements to the center in 2008.

Some of that work has been completed, but a major project will include renovation of several areas of the center by October. Desjardins said when the center reopens there will be changes, some not noticeable at first glance. Other areas will not really be touched during renovations.

“When you walk through the doors in the entry level, you won’t see a whole lot,” he said. “That’s probably the only level that’s not getting a huge makeover.”

Desjardins said several bunker suites, which will not have a view of the arena bowl, will be added. Suites will be ripped out at each end of the bowl to make room for two large clubs.

Those who purchase seats close to the floor will find they have a little more room to move. Several rows near the courtside will be expanded and some seats will be eliminated. Seating will be added to other areas near the court that have been underutilized.

“Right now we have these big open areas that we’re now going to take advantage of and increase the seating capacity,” Desjardins said.

Private suites around the bowl will receive a face-lift and flat-screen televisions.

A new scoreboard will hang over the center of the court.

Desjardins said three companies presented plans for the scoreboard.

“The good news is I don’t think we can really make a bad decision on that in terms of the quality,” he said. “It’s just picking which one is the best.”

The Thunder team will get a new locker room at the expense of storage space. The existing locker room will be converted to a courtside club.

One of the major challenges Desjardins anticipates when basketball season resumes is the loss of the storage space. New storage space is not set to be added until the final phase. Until then, management will have to find creative ways to store all of the items and props needed for Thunder games.

A third phase of renovations will begin in 2010.

In March, Desjardins reported the Ford Center hosted 251,774 people during 30 events for direct spending in excess of $25 million. Across the street the Cox Center had 105,365 people pass through the doors for events in March.

Much of that traffic at both venues was from the American Choral Directors Association convention, Big 12 basketball tournaments and Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc. yearly meetings.

For the basketball configuration, the Cox Center can seat 19,136 people.

Michael Carrier, president of the Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau, is working to keep both venues full in the coming years.

Carrier said he and his staff continue to lure groups to the state for conventions. The results from a third-quarter report showed the CVB has 173 national, regional and state conventions booked for future events, up from 124 during the same time last year. Future direct spending for those meetings is expected to have an economic impact in the city of more than $176 million.

http://journalrecord.com/article.cfm?recid=98001

[DaveSkater]

I just picked up the drawings on phase 1b yesterday. Bids due on the 14th of May. Budget is set at $12mil.

[Pete]

There is a great video on this blog on the improvements made to date at the Ford Center:

Ford Center Renovations: Phase I | Thunder Rumblings

[circuitboard]

Wow, nice scoreboard!

[Larry OKC]

in answer to the various posts about how many seat are being removed for the renovations. The number keeps changing. First it was "about 300", then 500, 600, 900 and the latest article has said "nearly 1,000" (actual net reduction of 960). Know it doesn't sound like a lot, but last season, the Ford was #14 in NBA seating capacity, after the improvements, it drops all the way down to #28. Others have posted (haven't verified) that those arenas that are still lower than the Ford are opening larger arenas in the near future. The same article pointed out, that even if every game is a sell out, the avg attendance for the Thunder will never be any higher than it was last season (because of the decreased seating capacity). Can only claim a higher percentage of seats sold (as some Seattle people did with numbers on Key Arena, the smallest NBA arena).