Ford Center Renovations in Danger of Budget Cuts

By Rusty Surette, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Several projects are being cut from the renovation plans to the Ford Center, and consumer spending is being blamed.

When the team now known as the Thunder was wooed from Seattle, it was promised a few things. First, it was promised a new practice facility. It's still being built.

There was also the promise of giving the Ford Center an extreme makeover. That's still happening too, but on a slightly smaller scale.

The final budget for the renovations and a new practice facility for the Oklahoma City Thunder is an estimated $112 million. That's roughly $9 million less than originally anticipated.

According to Oklahoma City's Special Projects Manager, Tom Anderson, the city will now spend $91.7 million on the Ford Center upgrades instead of the $100 million first planned. The city will also spend just $14.4 million on the practice facility instead of $20 million.

"We had to do some value engineering to cut back on some of the improvements that would be taking place at the Ford Center," said Project Manager Courville. "The bad economy is to blame." 

Less tax revenue for the city means less money to work with.

"We just had to balance what we originally had planned, based on what we had collected," Courville said.

The city has $5.5 million less to spend on the practice facility, but the team won't notice the difference.

"The practice facility construction came in much lower than we anticipated, so we had some savings there," Courville said.

Projects at the Ford Center getting the ax include a restaurant area, an outdoor terrace and a new warm-up court.

The city says it'll be finished with all the upgrades at the Ford Center after next year's NBA season.