New State Fair Coliseum

[Brett]

Looking at the proposed images, I am not a fan of the retractable cheap seats that are located by the rafters. The design should do away with those because we all know that any event hosted by the proposed arena would never reach 100% capacity.

[jn1780]

Looking at the proposed images, I am not a fan of the retractable cheap seats that are located by the rafters. The design should do away with those because we all know that any event hosted by the proposed arena would never reach 100% capacity.

I don't even know the purpose of having retractable seating on the upper level. Is that just so people can walk around the upper level?

[bombermwc]

OSSAA games aren’t going to take up 10,000 seats. I’ve been to the last two 6A basketball championship games, my nephew plays for Mustang, and even the 6A games don’t remotely fill the Mabee center’s 12,000 seats. The arena was well under half full and I don’t think the upper bowl was even opened. I can’t see the small school divisions that play at State Fair coming anywhere close to filling needing 10,000 seats.

Except the thing is, with the smaller schools, a WHOLE lot more people come to the games. The entire town turns out for those teams. Far more people than go to a 6A game.

[stile99]

Ugh that's a long water taxi treck

I disagree, the water taxis already go West of that point.

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4640....5676677,15.5z

[whatitis]

I grew up in Tulsa and this is home to my first concert outside of Tulsa, Family Values Tour 1998 featuring Korn, Rammstein, Ice Cube, Limp Bizkit and Orgy. Drove up with 15 friends in two cars and drove back after the show the same night. I just remember my ears ringing and it being a pretty smelly car ride home...

I went to this show too but don't remember it being the state fair arena. But I honestly don't remember where it was at. Rammstein........was a weird performance

[Geographer]

Except the thing is, with the smaller schools, a WHOLE lot more people come to the games. The entire town turns out for those teams. Far more people than go to a 6A game.

I tend to agree with this. I grew up in a small town in western Oklahoma and the entire town traveled to almost EVERY regular season basketball game, and more so for playoff games...especially if it was state!

[Urbanized]

I disagree, the water taxis already go West of that point.

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4640....5676677,15.5z

Just to be clear: the boats you are talking about are the Devon River Cruises, which operate on the river. Bricktown Water Taxi operates on the Bricktown Canal. There is a 17' elevation difference between the two bodies of water. Besides the fact that there is no way to transit between the two elevations, neither boat is physically capable of operating on the other waterway. The water taxis would be underpowered and unsafe on the river, and the river cruisers are quite large and would physically not fit on the canal.

There is a point at the south end of the canal - known as Bricktown Landing - where you can disembark from one boat, walk between the two waterways, and board the other.

Regarding a landing at the fairgrounds, it WOULD be possible, but would be much more difficult and expensive today than before the I-40 crosstown was replaced. The drainage canal that runs out of the fair grounds could easily be adapted, but due to the new bridges at the I-40/I-44 junction, a boat would not fit underneath. This means the bridges would again have to be reconstructed. This would run in the many tens of millions if not more (probably more).

There are also pipelines and drainage infrastructure that run across the channel which would require relocation before a boat could pass over/under.

I'm not sure how easy it would be to secure federal funding for such a project so soon after the Feds paid for the current construction, so essentially you might need a MAPS for river/fairgrounds connection.

Sorry to be a wet blanket. It IS fun to think about, and in fact I brought it up a decade ago when we were in the conversation for river operations. We also visually surveyed the area to see if the engineering would work, and believe it would have. The idea didn't gain any traction, and the I-40 bridge reconstruction began soon after, making it next to impossible going forward.

[stile99]

Just to be clear: the boats you are talking about are the Devon River Cruises, which operate on the river. Bricktown Water Taxi operates on the Bricktown Canal. There is a 17' elevation difference between the two bodies of water. Besides the fact that there is no way to transit between the two elevations, neither boat is physically capable of operating on the other waterway. The water taxis would be underpowered and unsafe on the river, and the river cruisers are quite large and would physically not fit on the canal.

There is a point at the south end of the canal - known as Bricktown Landing - where you can disembark from one boat, walk between the two waterways, and board the other.

Regarding a landing at the fairgrounds, it WOULD be possible, but would be much more difficult and expensive today than before the I-40 crosstown was replaced. The drainage canal that runs out of the fair grounds could easily be adapted, but due to the new bridges at the I-40/I-44 junction, a boat would not fit underneath. This means the bridges would again have to be reconstructed. This would run in the many tens of millions if not more (probably more).

There are also pipelines and drainage infrastructure that run across the channel which would require relocation before a boat could pass over/under.

I'm not sure how easy it would be to secure federal funding for such a project so soon after the Feds paid for the current construction, so essentially you might need a MAPS for river/fairgrounds connection.

Sorry to be a wet blanket. It IS fun to think about, and in fact I brought it up a decade ago when we were in the conversation for river operations. We also visually surveyed the area to see if the engineering would work, and believe it would have. The idea didn't gain any traction, and the I-40 bridge reconstruction began soon after, making it next to impossible going forward.

Ah, thank you for the clarification. In my mind the River Cruise is basically there to take the I-40/Meridian hotel crowd to Bricktown, so in my head it's just lumped with 'water taxi', but the two are indeed rather different.

[AP]

I wonder what the actual ridership is on those cruises. Are people actually taking them from Meridian to Downtown? In my mind they aren't super efficient as I believe they have to go through two locks.

[bradh]

I wonder what the actual ridership is on those cruises. Are people actually taking them from Meridian to Downtown? In my mind they aren't super efficient as I believe they have to go through two locks.

I think they said the trip is like an hour because of that, which is unfortunate

[OKCinsomniac]

According to this, they've done well recently: http://newsok.com/article/5513699

[catch22]

I think the river cruise are more novelty than actual transportation, and I believe the tickets are relatively expensive?

[stile99]

$6 per stop, $15 maximum. Cheaper than a cab, tons more fun, not to mention room. As for every day transportation no, that would just be silly. As for a group of people from out of town staying at one of the hotels and wanting to go drinking in Bricktown, I would think it would be part of the 'experience'.

[catch22]

$6 per stop, $15 maximum. Cheaper than a cab, tons more fun, not to mention room. As for every day transportation no, that would just be silly. As for a group of people from out of town staying at one of the hotels and wanting to go drinking in Bricktown, I would think it would be part of the 'experience'.

Thanks. For some reason I was thinking they were $30-40

[Laramie]

Looking at the proposed images, I am not a fan of the retractable cheap seats that are located by the rafters. The design should do away with those because we all know that any event hosted by the proposed arena would never reach 100% capacity.

The new arena proposed is more of a replacement for the antiquated 51 year old $2 million State Fair Arena which broke ground in 1963. There will be many events that will not require opening the upper deck level; a new arena would help bring ice hockey back to OKC, possibly opening the door for an anchor tenant. A new arena would spur development along N.W. 10th from Pennsylvania west to Portland avenues.

The return of AA ice hockey which should be ripe for OKC around 2020 would provide a year round booking of events for this much needed arena. If OKC were to join Tulsa & Wichita in the ECHL, you can bet that there will be some sold out events especially with the new building.



The present State Fair Arena was built as a replacement for the Stockyard Coliseum which was built in 1922 (43 years old). The old Coliseum was destroyed by fire in 1970.

[Colbafone]

The Jim Norick Arena looks like a giant metal barn that you would find somewhere near Washington, Oklahoma or something. It is beyond ugly. I get that sort of works being within the confines of our fair grounds, but to be honest, that new arena looks pretty great. With the new Expo Center, this could really bring back some the lost appeal of the fair grounds. I'm for it. Although, I sort of wish it were a TAD larger. Maybe up to as much as 13,000. I just feel like that might grab a few more national events, or bring a year round sporting attendant. But then again, I have no idea what I'm talking about.

[hoya]

The old stockyards coliseum looks pretty awesome. Too bad the new one couldn't look like that from the outside.

[HOT ROD]

Folks, we now know who will be first in line for the next Maps 'pork barrel' handout. Sorry to be snarky but I've seen this before from the fairgrounds - ....

I know others comment on the value to the city and I don't disagree, but why not use those proceeds from those shows/events to become self sustaining? I think it might be argued that the fairgrounds has received more MAPS dollars as an entity than any other - yet unlike other venues the fairgrounds has a well defined, dependable revenue stream.

I am 'hopeful' - crossing my fingers, that this time they can start to self fund -ala WRWA- or at least come to MAPS with projects that will benefit the entire city and not just a specific interest (regardless of the draw).

[whorton]

Alright! One more legacy building at the fairgrounds to be demolished.

Great State fair of Oklahoma, my posterior. . .

[Laramie]

Alright! One more legacy building at the fairgrounds to be demolished.

Great State fair of Oklahoma, my posterior. . .

The Fairgrounds Arena was obsolete at the time it was built. There are plans to replace it with a more modern facility. It helped Oklahoma City obtain its first triple A hockey franchise (The Blazers, NHL Bruins affiliate) back in 1965; many of us remember that the ice surface looked like a frozen pond in Piedmont. They finally had to cement the concourse playing surface in order to make for clearer ice. Although it was our first new arena; it's not as iconic as the Municipal Auditorium (Civic Center Music Hall) constructed in 1937.

The arena was the first home to the successful National Finals Rodeo (NFR) which we lost to Las Vegas because we couldn't keep up with facility growth (seating & amenities) demands--we stand to lose many of our current horse related events if we don't replace this facility.

Sagging ceiling with structural deficiencies.

Engineers contracted by Oklahoma City say the Norick Arena roof has reached its shelf life: http://www.koco.com/news/engineers-s...epair/26582272 Can't continue to put $1 million bandages on this building.

The repairs to the antiquated State Fair Arena (just waiting for the ceiling to fall in) will cost more than building a new arena from scratch. Why keep pouring money into this raggedy old rusty structure.

[ljbab728]

More detailed information from the Oklahoman and William Crum.

http://www.oklahoman.com/new-big-house/article/5515992

The site plan includes replacing the current arena with a new barn, including an “avenue of champions,” plaza and makeup arena connecting the existing barns complex to the new building.

Under one proposal, demolition of the old building and construction of facilities connecting the barns and the new arena would be timed to be complete by early summer, when the season for the highest-profile national and international equine events begins.

The same proposal includes a timeline estimating about seven months for design and two years for construction of the new building.

[Pete]

I get the sense this will not be a MAPS project.

They are moving pretty quickly and as BDP had previously mentioned, have access to hotel use tax money plus the general revenues from the fairgrounds itself.

I don't think we'll see another full-blown MAPS for several more years and this project seems to be on the fast track.

[HOT ROD]

^^ Hooray Pete. I honestly can't believe it.

I think it is about time they utilize their own sources and wait to ask for MAPS for civic projects (like say, restoration of the Space Needle/Monorail). Ive been somewhat upset with their past projects because it appeared as if they were trying to use MAPS as a cash cow for revenue producing events [and likely therefore pocketing the $$ from said events]. Good to know (or at least suspect) that they will use those $$ to reinvest in themselves.

IMO, MAPS is a capital investment tool for civic projects not a cash cow for venues to abuse. Looks like the fairgrounds are starting to follow this theory more closely; which is great.

[Laramie]

Our peer city north, Omaha, NE; they have managed to build projects without a vehicle like MAPS.

Oklahoma City (631,346 urban/1.3 million metro) is very similar in size & demographics with Omaha (443,885 urban/915,312). Now, we don't want to damage our city's credit rating; however, there are projects that can be built without the use of the MAPS initiative.

Omaha built their arena as apart of their convention center complex ($297 million bond issue in 2003); the arena is equipped for basketball, ice hockey & an Olympic size pool for qualifying events: they built TD Ameritrade Park @ $130 million (private-public funding) to keep the college baseball world series. OKC is doing something similar with the Women's College Softball World Series.

We have the luxury of an arena downtown (The Peake) with a new convention center complex (planned) adjacent to it; also a new arena at the fairgrounds (400 acres of city-owned property) where we can develop other areas (Classen 10 Penn/OSUOKC @ Portland Ave., to Meridian hotel corricor) besides the core.

The new downtown convention center along with all the barns & facilities at State Fair Park; OKC has two convention center tourist type districts to attract 'out-of-state' dollars to potentially grow our economy.

[_Kyle]

Reviving this thread... Anything new?