Mayor David Holt said he’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep the Thunder in Oklahoma City.
The Paycom Center has been the home of the Oklahoma City Thunder for over a decade, but Mayor Holt said as the city continues growing, it may be time for a new start.
“The NBA has changed our city forever,” Holt said.
By change, Mayor David Holt means putting OKC in a better position, noting our recent ranking as the 20th largest city in the nation.
“It’s no coincidence that our population and our economy exploded in the same 15-year period that we’ve been a major league professional sports city,” Holt said.
The Thunder recently signed a contract extension saying they’ll play at the Paycom Center through 2026, but they’re ready to begin discussion on a long-term plan for the franchise.
“We have the second cheapest arena in the league, we have the smallest arena in the league by square footage and we’re a 20-year-old arena,” Holt said. “We no longer have a state-of-the-art arena we have an arena.”
To get to the “state-of-the-art” level, the city is planning to use $70 million from arena funds in the MAPS 4 projects. Holt said planning is still in the initial stages. He’s not sure how much more money or where the money will be coming from for possible renovations or a new arena to compete with billion-dollar arenas in other cities.
But not everyone is sold.
“There’s a ton of ways we can finance this deal and maybe taxpayers are on the hook for some of it, but the idea of us taxing ourselves to build them an arena that they’re going to be the largest utilizer of is inappropriate. We just think taxpayers should get a good deal,” said Nick Singer, Oklahoma Progress Now director.
“All I ask is that you face reality. You have free will on whether we have an NBA team. But you can’t have an NBA team and do nothing for it,” Holt said.
The OKC Thunder released a statement saying:
“We appreciate Mayor Holt’s vision and leadership and we welcome the dialogue.”
