OKLAHOMA CITY (OBV) – Mayor David Holt capped off his State of the City address by unveiling designs of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s new arena.
Holt and architect David Manica of Kansas City-based MANICA Architecture presented designs of the Thunder’s $900 million new arena to a packed audience in the Oklahoma City Convention Center’s ballroom on Wednesday.
“This is our city’s fourth downtown arena, but it is our first true NBA arena, designed for basketball. It will be a much better experience for fans. It is also the first time we as a city have embarked upon a sports venue project with a budget befitting a big league city,” Holt said while standing in bright lights upon the ballroom stage.
The packed house stood and applauded the arena’s design after it was introduced in a dramatic video that played on huge screens above the stage. The video revealed a massive, opulent, circular arena that features a 360-degree glass exterior curtain wall, offering panoramic views from all interior concourses. The glass exterior conveys transparency and connection.
“This building had to be simple and yet sophisticated, completely unique but also familiar and timeless, beautiful but also highly functional and, above all, spectacular enough to bring the eyes of the world to OKC again, and for OKC and all of its people to proud of what they have done here together,” Manica said.
The arena will be at least 750,000 square feet in size and will have a west-facing main entrance that will be aligned with the adjacent Myriad Botanical Gardens and reflect Oklahoma sunsets.
It will have an elevated main entrance that is situated on a grand podium to create an “inspiring sense of arrival.”
The arena’s interior design prioritizes basketball and has optimized sight lines and a seating arrangement that is designed to facilitate energetic, loud and intimate experience.
It also features Thunder Alley, a vibrant, street-level fan activation zone, within its footprint.
The roof of the circular arena has an enormous Oklahoma City Thunder logo emblazoned on it.
Manica told OBV that the new arena will not only capture but heighten the current Paycom Center arena’s intimate fan presence and intensity.
The Thunder’s new arena is being built across the street from the current arena in downtown Oklahoma City, in the space that was previously occupied by Prairie Surf Studios, which was the production location of the hit movie Twisters as well as the first season of the popular Paramount Plus show, Tulsa King. The building originally opened in 1972 as the Myriad Convention Center. Its name later changed to Cox Business Services Convention Center before inevitably becoming Prairie Surf Studios.
Demolition of Prairie Surf to clear space for the new arena began in March.
The new arena is being funded in part by a 72-month, one-cent sales tax that will start when the MAPS 4 tax ends and will not increase the sales tax rate. MAPS 4 is the latest phase of OKC’s ongoing city revitalization initiative that began with the original MAPS in 1993.
Oklahoma City voters went to the polls in December 2023 and overwhelmingly approved a sales tax to fund the arena that will be the home of the OKC Thunder for many years to come. The proposition to fund a new arena passed with 41,129 (71 percent) YES votes and 16,797 (29 percent) NO votes.
MAPS 4 funding is providing $78 million for the arena. The Oklahoma City Thunder ownership group is kicking in $50 million.
Last month, the Oklahoma City Council signed off on the following agreements to keep the Thunder in OKC through at least 2053, which is 25 years after the expected completion of a new Paycom Center arena that is being built to host Thunder games:
- Arena Use License Agreement
- New Arena Food and Beverage Agreement
- Amended Facility Management Agreement
- Preferential Rights Agreement
“Becoming a big league city has changed us forever, as the last few weeks have reminded us,” Holt said last month. “Since 2022, we have worked as a community to secure our long-term status as a big league city. This agreement represents the culmination of that work. I thank the team ownership and staff, the Council, the City staff and ultimately the voters and residents for their work to bring about this day. Now, we know officially that our relationship with the Thunder is secure through at least 2053.”
MANICA previously designed the Chase Center in San Francisco, Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, the proposed Chicago Bears stadium in Chicago and the upcoming Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
The Oklahoma City Council will have to approve the arena’s final design. City Council previously approved hiring Flintco Construction and Mortenson Construction to be the arena’s construction team.
Oklahoma City Program Manager David Todd said construction on the new arena is likely to begin in the second quarter of 2026.
The new arena is expected to completed in 2028 and open by late summer 2028. The Thunder will continue playing in its current Paycom Center home until the new arena is completed.
