I agree with Sperry. That is, I think Lloyd Noble is pretty but not a basketball arena. The type of arena we need is just like Sperry describes.
This being said, I'm not sure how much the arena has to do with attendance. And, although I don't enjoy watching games at Noble, at least as much as I like the OSU, Tulsa and ORU arenas, I'm not in favor of building a new stadium if we don't have the money to do it. And, I don't know if we have the money.
In other words, I'm OK with Noble, if that is all we can afford. I have been told by pretty good sources that before the telephone scandal, Sampson was promised a new arena if he would commit to stay long term. And that Sampson put on a good face publicly, but thought there was a complete lack of atmosphere at Noble and lobbied for a basketball arena every chance he got. I don't know these facts for a fact, but have just been told this by a donor I know. Maybe someone on here knows whether this is true.
JMO, but I think the Thunder has and will continue to kill attendance at OU and OSU. I think attendance would improve with good teams, but just to some degree. People just have so much to spend on entertainment, and I think the proliferation and existance of casinos and now the expensive Thunder tickets have and will kill attendance at the Universities across Oklahoma.