In 2023, Oklahoma City voters overwhelmingly opted to support a new $900 million arena for the Thunder. The new facility will be just north of the Paycom Center, where demolition of Prairie Surf Studios began in March. The city's optimistic projection for the arena's completion is June 2028, but it could be as late as June 2030.
Team ownership has agreed to pay for only about 5.5% of the arena — much less than teams have contributed for other recently built NBA arenas. The rest will be paid for with existing MAPS4 funds and a 6-year extension of the city's penny sales tax. In exchange for the new arena, the Thunder signed a 25-year agreement to stay in Oklahoma City – which has been extra infatuated with the team amid its 2025 playoff run – and agreed to pay up to $1 billion if they attempt to leave before the contract is up.
Now, city council has approved the team's lease at the new arena and nailed down some details about the management and operation of the new arena.
The new facility will be operated by SMG, which has managed the facility currently called the Paycom Center since it opened in 2002. The contract with SMG covers the first five years of arena operations and includes a community benefits agreement that spurred arguments among city council members.
According to the agreement, the operator of the new arena will work to hire Oklahoma City residents from groups facing disproportionate unemployment, including unhoused people and people who are part of programs for reintegration and recovery.
Arena employees will receive "regionally competitive wages" on a comparable level to city employees. Mayor David Holt says his interpretation of that language would apply to subcontractors as well, although City Manager Craig Freeman says there's room for interpretations that only include immediate employees, not subcontractors.
"That's why you have lawyers," Holt said. "Everybody's going to say something a little different."
Arturo Alonso, who serves southwest Oklahoma City in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, spoke during the public comment period. He emphasized the effort and intentionality it will take to ensure the arena recruits people who will benefit the most from the new jobs.
"We need real, on-the-ground outreach," he said. "Partnering with trusted organizations, knocking on doors in our hardest hit neighborhoods, and making sure people who have been disconnected from work know they have a path forward."
The operator agreement is based on the one in place at the Milwaukee Bucks arena in Wisconsin. The Bucks' contract includes a "labor peace agreement," which requires the arena operator to remain neutral if its employees decide to organize. The most recent version of Oklahoma City's contract does not include that language.
"We need to put the labor peace agreement back in," Alonso said. "It's a simple idea: the operator doesn't bring in an outside consultant to spread misinformation about labor organizing. In exchange, the workers agree not to strike."
Including Alonso, four of the five public commenters asked for the labor peace agreement to be put back into the contract. It was not, despite voiced support from Councilmen James Cooper of Ward 2 and Camal Pennington of Ward 7.
Ward 1 Councilman Bradley Carter proposed removing the stipulations about compensation and recruitment as well. He said he's been to many Thunder games, including Game 5 of the NBA Finals the night before the City Council Meeting.
"Not one time have I seen anybody frowning or complaining about either their wages or their work environment or anything that's going on," he said. "I'm really leery about, especially as a business owner, the government stepping in and starting to tell me how I have to treat someone or what I need to do."
Ward 6 Councilwoman JoBeth Hamon called concerns about interfering with the free market "disingenuous."
"This is not 'free market,'" Hamon said. "The public — like, the collective 'we' — are subsidizing these private businesses already making money off of our public dollars."
Carter's proposed amendment to remove the hiring program and wages failed 5-4.
The overall facilities management agreement for the new arena passed 8-1. SMG has already signed the agreement.
Council also approved the Thunder's lease at the new arena, a food and beverage agreement for the new facility and an agreement that would give Thunder ownership the right to purchase and demolish the Paycom Center once the new arena is finished.
After the meeting, Holt thanked the council, city staff and Thunder ownership for securing the Thunder's future in Oklahoma.
"Most of all, thank you to the people of Oklahoma City, whose willingness to invest in our city has been rewarded many times over," Holt said in a social media post. "We have been reminded of those rewards these last few weeks, and as we celebrate our NBA Finals run, it is wonderful to know that our big league status is now secure for another generation."
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
