New ARENA as part of entertainment District

Danny Lovell, chief executive officer of The Rainier Companies, said this agreement is between Rainier and the landowner, so neither the City Council of Norman nor the Cleveland County Commissioners need to approve it.
 
Developers plan construction phasing for Norman’s Rock Creek Entertainment District


The project features a planned 8,000-seat arena designed for concerts and University of Oklahomagymnastics, a billion-dollar project funded in a public-private partnership with $230 million in taxpayer funds. The remaining $800 million will come from private capital investment.
OU basketball is so bad they don't even mention them playing there, but instead that the NC-winning gymnastics team will. lol
 
The University will never announce a setback. You don't normally, in these situations, announce negatives. Just positives.

Which is why they could/ should have shifted the new arena "narrative" to something like "we really got our money's worth from the LNC" years ago. A positive that nets the conclusion we need a new gym.

That said, I worked at U of Colorado for a decade and it was customary for CU to wait for summer to start to announce unpopular local PR stuff like " yes, we are going to demolish the old building locals are trying to put on the National Historic Register and build a new conference center"....while university peoples are still heady from graduation or vacation starting and local Boulder peeps heady on the students leaving. Jus sayin.

Minimize blowback.

So, timing from Harroz perhaps.
 
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Which is why they could/ should have shifted the new arena "narrative" to something like "we really got our money's worth from the LNC" years ago. A positive that nets the conclusion we need a new gym.

That said, I worked at U of Colorado for a decade and it was customary for CU to wait for summer to start to announce unpopular local PR stuff like " yes, we are going to demolish the old building locals are trying to put on the National Historic Register and build a new conference center"....while university peoples are still heady from graduation or vacation starting and local Boulder peeps heady on the students leaving. Jus sayin.

Minimize blowback.

So, timing from Harroz perhaps.
my guess is that they announce a developer today
 
The county and Flintco have been in discussion soliciting a RFP for the project. Suspect its announcing them being hired as CM, or along those lines.

Also the same company who built the Norman library, condemned for mold and in litigation with the city currently.
 
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I wonder if they have new renders or anything like that? Name probably won't be for like a year.
 
I wonder if they have new renders or anything like that? Name probably won't be for like a year.
If so, hopefully more seats/bigger than 8000. Nothing like spending $330M for a brand new arena to be the smallest in the conference by 15%.

Doesn't need to be the biggest, but man, why do we have to always be at the bottom when it comes to basketball?

Time for the admin to think bigger on what OU basketball can become with a dream big mentality.
 
If so, hopefully more seats/bigger than 8000. Nothing like spending $330M for a brand new arena to be the smallest in the conference by 15%.

Doesn't need to be the biggest, but man, why do we have to always be at the bottom when it comes to basketball?

Time for the admin to think bigger on what OU basketball can become with a dream big mentality.
Not OUs money to do that with. The city already hates OU, and not enough donations for a 10k arena.
 
If so, hopefully more seats/bigger than 8000. Nothing like spending $330M for a brand new arena to be the smallest in the conference by 15%.

Doesn't need to be the biggest, but man, why do we have to always be at the bottom when it comes to basketball?

Time for the admin to think bigger on what OU basketball can become with a dream big mentality.
8k is perfect. Have seen attendance around “college” athletics? Its declining

It’ll be one the top venues in sec.
 
If so, hopefully more seats/bigger than 8000. Nothing like spending $330M for a brand new arena to be the smallest in the conference by 15%.

Doesn't need to be the biggest, but man, why do we have to always be at the bottom when it comes to basketball?

Time for the admin to think bigger on what OU basketball can become with a dream big mentality.
We are averaging like 5-6k per game? Texas just got a new arena and has only slightly more than 10k for basketball.
 
I am interested in how ticket prices change. Not something we can know about yet, but I am NOT making donations for my seats.
 
8k is perfect. Have seen attendance around “college” athletics? Its declining

It’ll be one the top venues in sec.
no it is not, it is too small .. there will only be about 6k "normal seats" .. OU will have more season ticket holders then seats and womens gym draws more then 8k normally ..


the 8k number was purely picked because of cost .. that is it not picked because it was the "right" size ..
 
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If so, hopefully more seats/bigger than 8000. Nothing like spending $330M for a brand new arena to be the smallest in the conference by 15%.

Doesn't need to be the biggest, but man, why do we have to always be at the bottom when it comes to basketball?

Time for the admin to think bigger on what OU basketball can become with a dream big mentality.
would need more money to go bigger then 8k
 
We are averaging like 5-6k per game? Texas just got a new arena and has only slightly more than 10k for basketball.
The Erwin Center was 17,000 (!). Even good Barnes UT teams couldn't have filled that night after night. So, they def had to dial back on capacity
 
Totally agree with this. The gymnastics team already averages around 9k for meets at the LNC, the new arena will be closer to 6k for the same meets when floor seats are removed. Cost aside, this is a short sighted buildout. Can't imagine how much more it would cost to add another thousand seats.
 
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