New ARENA as part of entertainment District

jdizzle34 said:
This project is all but dead. Norman may be the only SEC college town that hates the college in it.

This will have an overwhelming no vote, so the city council will easily be able to justify saying "nah" to the new TIF.
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makila said:
I seriously question the feasibility of moving north at all with okc already with the ball in motion for the new downtown arena. Beyond sports, they'll be competing for the same entertainment to come to the arenas.

And ODOT is about to buy all the land down Indian Hills Rd, both sides of I35.

Also don't see OU getting behind something in another town, unless it's just leverage purposes. Doesn't make sense for OUs own interest.

Just my $0.02.
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the majority of season ticket holders live north of norman
 
jdizzle34 said:
This project is all but dead. Norman may be the only SEC college town that hates the college in it.

This will have an overwhelming no vote, so the city council will easily be able to justify saying "nah" to the new TIF.
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25 years in Norman and I've never understood why the town and university don't coexist better. It could be a mutually beneficial relationship.
 
BoulderSooner said:
the majority of season ticket holders live north of norman
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I am aware. The additional 15 min from UNP to LNC is their reason for not attending games now? What percentage of seats are sold currently to season ticket holders?

I've always wondered if there was a way to quantify what impact the Thunder had on OU BB attendance, if any at all.

My family has season tickets to both. I don't mind driving to downtown.

Imho I don't think okc metro can support two large arenas between downtown and South metro. Just dont think there is enough for it. Love to be wrong.
 
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makila said:
I am aware. The additional 15 min from UNP to LNC is their reason for not attending games now? What percentage of seats are sold currently to season ticket holders?

I've always wondered if there was a way to quantify what impact the Thunder had on OU BB attendance, if any at all.

My family has season tickets to both. I don't mind driving to downtown.

Imho I don't think okc metro can support two large arenas between downtown and South metro. Just dont think there is enough for it. Love to be wrong.
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I'm sure there is some effect of the thunder on attendance but it is small. Years ago I looked at attendance numbers before and after the thunder and it was pretty clear the biggest contributor to attendance was the success of the team

As for the extra 15 minutes being a reason to not attend games...it is for me. And it is often longer than 15 minutes depending on how big of a game it is.
This last season I took the fam to the UT game. We left downtown an hour before tipoff (6pm tip i believe). We didn't get into the arena until after 7:30 and the majority of that time was in Norman itself
 
SoonerBounce13 said:
I'm sure there is some effect of the thunder on attendance but it is small. Years ago I looked at attendance numbers before and after the thunder and it was pretty clear the biggest contributor to attendance was the success of the team

As for the extra 15 minutes being a reason to not attend games...it is for me. And it is often longer than 15 minutes depending on how big of a game it is.
This last season I took the fam to the UT game. We left downtown an hour before tipoff (6pm tip i believe). We didn't get into the arena until after 7:30 and the majority of that time was in Norman itself
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I agree that team performance is the biggest factor. Which is part of my skepticism on arena location making a substantial difference on attendance. Also understand that it's real world and not in vacuum though, and there can be a domino effect. I think if the team was great, then people would show up regardless of location. When the team is bad, one obstacle (such as drive time) easily becomes a reason for people to not attend.

Realize that point has been discussed ad nauseum as well though.
 
makila said:
I agree that team performance is the biggest factor. Which is part of my skepticism on arena location making a substantial difference on attendance. Also understand that it's real world and not in vacuum though, and there can be a domino effect. I think if the team was great, then people would show up regardless of location. When the team is bad, one obstacle (such as drive time) easily becomes a reason for people to not attend.

Realize that point has been discussed ad nauseum as well though.
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OU's biggest issue is getting people that have tickets to show up to games .. cutting down travel 15 min each way and giving food / drink options for before / after will help with that
 


AD Joe Castiglione now talking about the entertainment district/arena project before the Norman Planning Commission: “Sure, we need a new venue for our sports programs… but the idea of having something that could be put together with the benefit of the community… was a driver.”
 
I may or may not have mentioned this before, but I grew up in Auburn. A couple of decades ago, there was a proposed mega entertainment/shopping area to be built right off the interstate (granted without a basketball arena). Auburn shot it down because the town felt it didn’t fit what they were going for. Soon after, Opelika (a sister city just a couple miles down the interstate) accepted the proposal and the entertainment area was built there and called Tigertown. It’s a cool area if anyone plans to travel to Auburn for a game in the future.

Anyways, I say all this to say that Auburn now regrets not approving it as Opelika is absolutely raking in the tax money and their city/school districts have dramatically benefited from the whole ordeal. I’m not sure the specifics of this plan for the arena and entertainment district, or if I even agree with it myself. Just thought it was interesting to watch what feels like something I saw growing up happen all over again.
 
BoulderSooner said:
OU's biggest issue is getting people that have tickets to show up to games .. cutting down travel 15 min each way and giving food / drink options for before / after will help with that
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It is a valid point re food (and similar) items, agree about that. I referenced driving to downtown games. We do park.. one time, go eat, then go to game, have a drink after elsewhere, etc, then leave. Nothing around lnc and it's a pain.
 
I live fairly close to Lloyd Noble and can get in and out real quick so its not necessarily in my best interest for the new arena, but i dont mind it. Its OK to be anti TIF, but residents dont just say they are against it, they always have some snarky response about how "OU should pay for everything on their own, they have the money". Outside of the TIF, Norman appears stagnant to me in comparison to similar markets. Residents seem OK with this.
 
SoonerBounce13 said:
can OU just scale it down a bit and gain public support?
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It has public support. The Norman city council is anti OU and they hate anything that benefits OU. It blows my mind that we haven’t removed those people and replaced them with pro-OU people. What benefits OU usually benefits the city of norman. They love the financial benefits but still hate OU. idiots.
 
mict085 said:
It has public support. The Norman city council is anti OU and they hate anything that benefits OU. It blows my mind that we haven’t removed those people and replaced them with pro-OU people. What benefits OU usually benefits the city of norman. They love the financial benefits but still hate OU. idiots.
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I wouldn’t be so sure it has public support. I highly doubt it passes the vote
 
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