The Oklahoma City Council voted Tuesday to put taxpayer funding for a new OKC Thunder arena on the ballot in a special election December 12.
Mayor David Holt’s proposal for the new arena promises to keep the Thunder in Oklahoma City for another 25 years. The team’s current long-term agreement ended earlier this year, but they’ve agreed to stay if a new arena is built.
An OK Progress Now-funded campaign called buyyourownarena.com is asking the owners of the Thunder to pay for the new arena.
Communications director Nick Singer told reporters the proposal is an unfair bargain for taxpayers at a city hall press conference.
“We need to demand a better deal. We need to ask the owners of the Thunder, who are fantastically wealthy, deep ties to Oklahoma, generational businesses here, to pay their fair share and buy their own arena,” Singer said
The new arena would cost at least $900 million to build, with $70 million planned to come from MAPS 4 funds and $50 million from the owners of the team. The remaining funds would come from a 72-month one-cent sales tax.
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