More than just Thunder: Could a new NBA arena redefine the concert scene in OKC?

Scott Booker occasionally enjoys making the drive to Tulsa to catch a concert.

"But I don't want to do it every time one of my favorite bands comes to Oklahoma," said Booker, the CEO and executive director of the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma.

"Do I get jealous sometimes when someone's playing in Tulsa and not here? Absolutely. But we're working on it."

For decades, Booker, who is also the longtime manager of OKC-based Grammy-winning art-rockers The Flaming Lips, has been working to build up Oklahoma City as a musical hub.

So, Booker is supportive of a proposal to build a new OKC arena to eventually replace the 21-year-old Paycom Center — and not because he's a Thunder fan.

"I'm just not a huge sports guy. My focus has always been music," said Booker, who owned an Edmond- and New York-based record label group before launching ACM@UCO in 2009.

"I'm happy that it's happening — hopefully — to where we'll be able to keep the team, because I do think the Thunder being here is important for our city. But a bigger, better venue just means we're going to have bigger, better musical artists coming in here. So, yes, I'm very supportive."

Ahead of the Dec. 12 vote on the proposal to build a new arena, expected to cost a minimum of $900 million, most of the conversation — both in support and opposition — has centered on the OKC Thunder.

But only about half of the public ticketed events at the current downtown OKC arena are NBA games — and roughly the other half are touring events like concerts, stand-up comedians and family-friendly attractions like Monster Jam and the Harlem Globetrotters.

"The Thunder and major-league sports are such a big thing for the city that it's easy for us to get caught up in that and forget that concerts and other shows are really the main driver of having an arena. And it's the sole reason that we built one on three previous occasions," said OKC Mayor David Holt, who is leading the charge to pass the new arena proposal.

"We did not have a major-league, professional sports team when our voters approved new arenas in 1927, 1962 and 1993. I suppose you could argue that, in 1993, there was the hope, maybe, of someday getting a hockey team. ... But we built these facilities so we could stay competitive in the concert business, and we recognized that we had to do that about every 30 years."

What's involved in the OKC arena proposal coming up for a vote Dec. 12?

OKC voters will go to the polls Dec. 12 to decide whether to approve a temporary one-cent sales tax that would be the primary funding source to build the new downtown arena, which would be city owned.

If approved, the tax is set to begin after the similar MAPS 4 penny tax ends in 2028 and last for six years. Since the new tax would take the place of an expiring tax, it wouldn't change the impact on residents' pocketbooks.

At least $70 million from MAPS 4 that was designated for Paycom Center improvements would be diverted to the new arena. The location of the new downtown venue has not been revealed.

Under the proposal, the Thunder would play in a new home by the 2029-2030 season, if not sooner. If the plan passes, the Thunder will commit to play in the arena for 25 years, meaning the team's time in OKC will extend past 2050.

Thunder ownership, led by Chairman Clay Bennett, would contribute $50 million toward the building of the new arena. Holt has praised their contribution, pointing out that OKC's previous three arenas, including Paycom Center, were built solely by taxpayers.

But the Thunder owners' contribution, which would cover 5.5% of the minimum $900 million projected cost, is a major sticking point for opponents of the arena plan, as it falls well short of other NBA ownership groups' contributions to new venues.

"This is just a really bad deal. ... I don't think any of us are opposed to a new arena. It's just who pays for it," said Nick Singer, communications director for the nonprofit advocacy group Oklahoma Progress Now, which launched https://www.buyyourownarena.com to oppose the proposal.

"Yes, it may be a public building. Yes, there may be other events that's in there. But the deal we're being offered is a 95-5 split. And that's just inappropriate. It doesn't make economic sense. It doesn't make basic fairness sense."

How many concerts does the Paycom Center host in a year vs. Thunder games?

In 2022, the Paycom Center set a new record for the number of comedy or music shows it hosted in a year, bringing in 37 concert events.

That smashed the OKC arena's previous record of 29 concerts in a year, which was set in 2013.

The arena, which is managed by ASM Global, hosted a total of 50 touring events, representing about 42% of the public ticketed events, in the venue in 2022.

The 44 OKC Thunder games were 37% of the events the public could buy a Paycom Center ticket to in 2022. The 26 games for the Thunder's development league team, the OKC Blue, represented the remaining 22% of public events in the arena last year.

By the end of 2023, the arena will have hosted 52 touring events — including 29 concerts — accounting for 45% of the public events in the city-owned venue.

The 42 Thunder home games will make up 36% of the 2023 events in the arena, while the Blue's 22 games will be 19%.

A venue spokeswoman said Paycom Center hasn't hosted as many concerts in 2023 because of summer construction projects to install new scoreboards and seats in the arena. But the venue is bringing in more multi-day tours like Cirque du Soleil and Hot Wheels Monster Trucks this year.

Paycom Center General Manager Chris Semrau attributed the jump in the number of touring events to "a healthy supply of major tours who have returned to the road post-pandemic, combined with a very aggressive, intentional booking strategy."

"In 2018, we revamped our approach to securing touring content, and we saw a big jump in '19. We had an even bigger jump in 2020 prior to the disruption," he said. "We worked throughout the pandemic to position ourselves so once the industry was ready to return that we were on the radar of decision makers and already positioning Oklahoma City to be a must-play on those tours." 

So far, Paycom Center's 2024 calendar boasts 17 touring events, including headlining concerts for Drake, Olivia Rodrigo, Fall Out Boy and Oklahomans Turnpike Troubadours and Zach Bryan.

"In many ways, the shows we get today are really the result of an incredible work ethic and strategy that the team at the arena is deploying. ... But they are ultimately a little hamstrung," Holt said.

"The reality is, for the last 15 years, we haven't even had the best arena in the state. But we're the largest city, and we're the 20th-largest city in the country. And we deserve, certainly, to continue to compete. So, it really becomes as much about maintaining as it does about elevating us to a new level."

Why is OKC looking to replace the Paycom Center?

One of OKC's original Metropolitan Area Projects Plan, or MAPS, projects, the 18,000-seat downtown arena carried a $89.2 million price tag. Rock legends the Eagles played the inaugural concert at what was then called the Ford Center in 2002.

In 2008, the Eagles also played the first concert at Tulsa's BOK Center, which Tulsa taxpayers paid $178 million for, with an additional $30 million in private donations paying for enhancements. (The Eagles recently announced that they are bringing their farewell tour to the BOK Center in 2024.)

The contrast in the two arenas was immediately apparent — and not favorably for OKC, where voters approved a 2008 proposal to extend to 2010 the one-cent sales tax that was scheduled to expire for MAPS for Kids to fund $100 million in arena upgrades.

But Holt said upgrades can't fix the Paycom Center's biggest deficiency: Its size.

"It's very small, and I'm not talking about the capacity," he said. "It's not about the number of seats."

What could concertgoers expect from a new OKC arena if the plan passes?

At 581,000 square feet, the OKC arena is among the smallest in the NBA.

"Size is your backstage area. It's your concourses, it's your restaurants and food and beverage operations. All of those are where we are one of the smallest NBA arenas in the league. And we're limited by the size of the venue and the footprint we're on," Semrau said.

"Make no mistake, we need a new venue for the Oklahoma City Thunder ... but there's so many more benefits the city would realize."

The arena has four primary loading docks and needs more to accommodate contemporary touring productions, he said.

"Tours are getting bigger all the time. Many tours now do have more than 20 trucks of equipment that they need to unload as part of the show, as well as 12 or more buses to carry the artists and crew," Semrau said. "Space even to put them is a premium in our current location, and we're maximized at how many you can unload at a given time. ... To get in and get out fast is a huge selling point — or a large detractor."

He said concertgoers could expect their entire experience to be elevated with a new arena, including high-end sound quality, improved sightlines, wider concourses and better food and drink options.

"There's a whole level to unlock with a new facility. There's events that we haven't even begun to imagine or pursue that now we could be in the conversation for with a modern facility: sporting events or award shows or things that people just wouldn't think about ever coming to Oklahoma City today. Those dreams are not inconceivable," Semrau said.

"That should be the expectation of the community, if they support a new venue: That quantity will go up, but also the different types of events will increase."

What competition is the OKC arena encountering in the concert business?

Semrau said OKC concertgoers don't have to look far in any direction to see the potential payoff for building a new arena.

"New venues have opened up in (the last few years in) Fort Worth, Texas, and Austin, Texas. Both of those venues are in the top 10 ticket sales for tours in the world. ... That's the competition that we're also up against fighting for shows," Semrau said.

"It is a much greater battle than Oklahoma City vs. Tulsa. ... Every time I talk to a group, they always say, 'Why does everybody go Tulsa?' But they may not be willing to support a new arena."

Singer, who opposes the OKC arena proposal, pointed out that the Thunder owners could build their own venue to host their games, as well as concerts and touring events — similar to San Francisco's $1.4 billion Chase Center, which the Golden State Warriors privately financed.

"If it's a good idea for the private sector, then they should do it. ...  Should the public be on the hook to subsidize the relatively small slice of our community that can afford to go to Thunder games and concerts?" he said. "We just have so many things in our city where we need public funding to address social issues or infrastructure issues. ... An arena is very expensive."

At ACM@UCO, Booker said building a new city-owned arena would be an investment in the burgeoning local music scene that has helped enhance the quality of life in OKC, making it a more desirable place to live in and visit.

"The city's been helpful, but it's been individuals that are making music things happen here: The Tower (Theatre), The Criterion, Beer City, all these places have been popping up, and it's people taking a risk and doing this to bring more shows to town. ... This (arena) means the music industry as a whole would look at Oklahoma City in a different light," he said.

"And Oklahoma City is literally on everyone's route: Even if they're not playing here, they're coming through. ... It's a great way to say, 'We're one of 20 largest cities in the United States, and we need to start being a market for entertainment that levels up to that' — because we're not yet."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Proposed OKC Thunder NBA arena could also change music scene