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City will own new arena; financing uses penny extension and private contributions, panelists say
Summary
Officials said the new arena will be owned by the City of Oklahoma City and financed with borrowing secured by the 1-cent sales-tax extension approved by voters; the team owners have committed $50 million and about $70 million in MAPS 4 funds were reprogrammed to support the project.
City officials told a business webinar that the new downtown arena will be city-owned and financed by borrowing that will be repaid with a sales-tax penny extension voters approved in a recent special election.
David Todd, MAPS program manager, said the project differs from a traditional MAPS pay-as-you-go project because it requires up-front financing. “We need to get the money now. We need to build the arena now and then collect the money,” Todd said, explaining why the project was structured as a financed facility rather than using only routine MAPS cash sequencing.
City officials said the Thunder is the primary tenant and will operate under a use-license agreement; the city will hire a private operator (Legends Global, formerly ASM) to manage concerts, bookings and facility operations. Todd said the Thunder ownership and operator have contributed to the financing plan: the ownership group committed $50 million and the city reallocated roughly $70 million of previously programmed MAPS 4 Paycom renovation funds to the new arena for consultant and early project costs.
Panelists said sponsorship and naming-rights revenue will be solicited by the Thunder, which retains revenue from those rights under its agreement. The panel also noted that the Paycom Center (the existing arena) may be offered for purchase by the ownership group at market price after the new arena opens and that the most likely long-term outcome is redevelopment or demolition and replacement on that site.
Officials emphasized city ownership and that the financing will be repaid through post-2028 collections tied to the penny extension; Todd said debt service will be repaid as those sales-tax receipts are collected into the early 2030s. The group said citizen approval (72% reported) gave the project its financial mechanism. “The city owns it,” Todd said of the future arena.
