My 2 Cents: MAPS 4 Proposal To Invest $120M Into Chesapeake Arena

After hearing hours of sales pitches, the mayor will now decide which projects will go into the MAPS 4 plan, present it to the city council in a couple of weeks, and then likely to Oklahoma City voters in December. By all appearances, MAPS 4 will address

Wednesday, August 14th 2019, 11:06 pm

By: News 9


After hearing hours of sales pitches, the mayor will now decide which projects will go into the MAPS 4 plan, present it to the city council in a couple of weeks, and then likely to Oklahoma City voters in December.

By all appearances, MAPS 4 will address community needs more than building fun, eye-catching new amenities.

For instance, the city wants to invest $120 million dollars in the Chesapeake Arena.

The arena is the single most important entertainment asset Oklahoma City owns, and we built it on the cheap in 2002.

In fact, it's by far the cheapest NBA arena built since 2000.

We spent $106 million upgrading it a few years later, but even with that, we're at the bottom of that list.

The plan is to add on to the northeast lobby, which is a mob scene on game night. And add a new food court to that area - generally open it up.

The plan includes an outdoor balcony eating area overlooking the new downtown park, which will be a nice draw. Also, a new food court area and expansion of the milling around space up top, the area the Thunder calls “Loud City.”

It's not a flashy project, but it needs to be done to keep us competitive with regional arenas, including Tulsa's BOK Center.

And just remember, Seattle let their Key Arena fall way below NBA standards, and their Sonics are now called our Thunder.  

I'm Kelly Ogle and that's My 2 Cents. 

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