OKLAHOMA CITY (OBV) – The design for Oklahoma City Thunder’s new arena aims to capture the spirit and energy of OKC and launch the next generation of great sports arenas.
Mayor David Holt and architect David Manica of Kansas City-based MANICA Architecture unveiled designs for the Thunder’s $900 million new arena during Holt’s State of the City address in the Oklahoma City Convention Center’s ballroom on Wednesday.
The city is building a big league, NBA caliber arena to keep the Thunder in Oklahoma City for many years to come. The city succeeded, reaching an agreement with the Thunder organization to keep the team, which won the 2025 NBA Championship last month, in OKC through at least 2053, which is 25 years after the expected completion of the new Paycom Center arena.
“The primary purpose of this arena initiative was to secure a future with an NBA team that we could not secure in our current arena. Our current arena is too small by square footage, lacks the amenities of a modern and more expensive arena, and it is growing too old,” Holt said while pacing across the ballroom stage. “This new arena will address all of those issues, and that is why we were able to attain a commitment that would otherwise elude a market our size.”
The arena will be at least 750,000 square feet. The current Paycom Center arena is 581,000 square feet, the smallest in the NBA by square footage. It seats 18,203 people for NBA games. It was originally designed to meet National Hockey League requirements. It is also the second-cheapest arena in the NBA, having received a total investment of around $200 million – far less than the most recently built NBA arenas, the Chase Center in San Francisco, which opened in 2019 and cost $1.4 billion to build, and 2018’s $524-million Fiserve Forum in Milwaukee.
The new arena will far exceed the current arena’s size by square footage, but will have a smaller seating capacity, according to Holt. The mayor did not provide an exact seating capacity figure.
“We didn’t need more seats. We need more square footage in the overall venue because we had the smallest by square footage in the NBA. To do what we’re doing with the seating bowl will bring down capacity for basketball. I understand it won’t bring down capacity for concerts, which should be similar to what we have today, but there will be a smaller capacity,” Holt said while speaking with the media after his speech. “I don’t know that we feel confident enough to say a [seating capacity] number today, but I think it is important to prepare yourself that there will be a few fewer seats.”
Holt said seating capacity for most contemporary professional arenas are in the 17,000s.
The NBA has seen 19 new arenas built between the 1999-2000 and 2024-25 seasons. Seating capacities for those arenas break down as follows:
- One, in Atlanta, has a seating capacity in the 16,000s
- Three, in Brooklyn, Sacramento and Milwaukee, have a seating capacity in the 17,000s
- 10 have a seating capacity in the 18,000s
- Two, in Los Angeles and Miami, have a seating capacity in the 19,000s
- Two, in Dallas and Detroit, have a seating capacity in the 20,000s
- One, in Denver, has a seating capacity in the 21,000s
The new arena will give OKC “big league city” credibility, Holt said.
“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 arena was unveiled to a packed house of Oklahoma City business leaders and public officials through 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 design is truly one of one, and it will come to define Oklahoma City,” Holt said on stage as he thanked Manica for the design.
The design has the grandeur of modern NBA arena, Holt said while speaking to the media.
“I think it highlights that grandeur. I think it leaves that impression. Whether it’s its size, whether it’s its materials, whether it’s just its simple beauty, you immediately realize this is not a small town arena. This is an arena befitting a top 20 city. This is the arena befitting an NBA city. This is the arena befitting a big league city,” he said.
Holt said he was struck by the beauty of the design.
“It’s the fact that it’s simultaneously cutting edge, but it also feels classic. I think that’s important. I think there’s arenas and stadiums out there that are cool, but you really wonder, ‘How quickly is this going to become dated?’ And though I can’t confirm — because I don’t really know how tastes will evolve — whether this will become dated, I sure don’t feel like it will. It has a timeless, classic quality to it,” Holt said.
The design gives the arena a dome-like shape. Some fans online suggested the name “Thunderdome” for the arena.
The arena will have the following:
- A west-facing main entrance that will be aligned with the adjacent Myriad Botanical Gardens and reflect Oklahoma sunsets;
- An elevated main entrance that is situated on a grand podium to create an “inspiring sense of arrival”;
- An interior design that prioritizes basketball and has optimized sight lines and a seating arrangement that is designed to facilitate energetic, loud and intimate experience;
- Thunder Alley, a vibrant, street-level fan activation zone, within its footprint; and
- A huge circular roof with an enormous Oklahoma City Thunder logo emblazoned on it.
Manica said unlike other architects vying to design the arena, he did not present any designs, preconceptions, or grand ideas for the new arena to city officials while interviewing for the job late last summer.
“What I did come with was sincerity in my heart and understanding of what this building will mean to this city and a willingness to listen — listen first and then dream,” Manica said. “That is the approach I believe would yield the most genuine and lasting result.”
Manica and his team 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. He said he understood the importance of designing Oklahoma City’s new Thunder arena.
“Try to think of another building that people love to go to more than their hometown arena to watch their home team win,” he said. “These arenas mean so much to a community. I’m really dedicated and driven by understanding that this arena will be a uniquely meaningful project in the context of your city’s story.”
Manica and his team held a visioning session with Holt, city officials and Thunder officials before starting the design, asking them for their impressions of what the arena must be and must symbolize. He asked the officials what the arena would look like as a reflection of its community. He said he inquired about the defining characteristics and values of the city and its people.
“We heard words like unity, community, resiliency, authenticity, kindness and generosity,” Manica said. “And words like equality, diversity, integrity, hope and steadfastness kept coming up.”
He said he then asked the officials what characteristics should be incorporated into the arena’s style and structure.
“For the arena it self, aspirations of timelessness, beauty, wonder and sophistication — those words kept coming up,” he said.
Manica said he was especially moved by Thunder Chairman Clay Bennett’s vision for the arena.
“He said, ‘David, we’re not looking to design the next great arena of this generation. We’re designing the first great arena of the next generation,'” Manica said. “What I immediately understood was what he meant. This building had to be all of these things together: 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. And the idea that this arena would be one of one was born.”
Manica said the design carries a sense of equality and balance in its circular shape, offers transparency and authenticity from every angle through its glass exterior, is sophisticated and timeless in spirit and will be a vessel for memories and experiences for generations to come.
“But more than anything else, I want you to notice that in this design, unlike any other in the world, the community will come together as one. The crowd is united as one around the court, and all the concourses share the same singular volume of space. No matter where you are in the building, everybody’s in it together. And for me, that is what I have come to know and understand that Oklahoma City is all about. We are in this together,” Manica said.
The rendering that was unveiled on Wednesday is the arena’s initial design. The design will evolve and construction of the arena will incorporate elements that convey Oklahoma City and Oklahoma’s history and heritage, Manica said to Oklahoma Business while speaking with the media.
“I’m humbled to say there’s a lot of work left to do, and I think that kind of story will continue to evolve over time. There will be layers of meaning incorporated into the interiors and into every aspect and square inch of the building,” Manica said. “I think we’ve started something that’s really special for this place and for this city and for these people and there’s more to come.”
Both Holt and Manica touted the arena’s interior design, saying that the new arena will not only capture but heighten the current Paycom Center arena’s intimate fan presence and intensity, which has famously come to be know as “Loud City”.
“It’s much more intimate. The fans are closer,” Holt said. “There is definitely a very intentional effort to bring the fans closer. And for the reputation we’ve now gained in the sports world for our fans, that’s great — I would presume that that makes it louder. If I’m 20 feet closer to the court than I was before, even in the same seat, I would assume I’m a little louder to what’s happening on the court.”
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 current Paycom Center has been around for over two decades. The MAPS sales tax initiative funded the $89.2 million arena, which was initially referred to as the MAPS Sports Arena. It opened in June 2002 with a new name, the Ford Center. The name was changed to Chesapeake Energy Arena in July 2011, and then to the Paycom Center in July 2021.
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 previously said. “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.”
The Thunder and various entertainment attractions at the Paycom Center have been a boon to Oklahoma City’s economy and workforce.
Economic impact studies cited by city officials state that the Thunder has an annual economic impact of $600 million and 3,000 jobs.
The Thunder generated $55.8 million in direct spending in the pre-COVID 2018 calendar year, according to Greater Oklahoma City Chamber data.
Thunder games attract droves of fans from OKC and out of town, which brings large revenue to businesses in the city. In-town game attendees spend an average of $75 per game in gameday-related expenses, and Thunder fans from out of town spend $237 per game on expenses that include food, lodging, fuel and retail, Greater OKC Chamber 2023 data shows.
The current arena has also served as a go-to destination for big concerts and entertainment attractions.
A focus for the new arena will be to attract the best musical and entertainment acts in the nation, Holt said.
Manica said the building was designed to attract marquee performances.
“The ability for a building to host a successful concert is dependent upon a lot of different physical things. And when a building gets a disfavorable reputation in the industry for being a difficult building to load, it drops off the list of tour sites,” he said. “Now, you guys are right in the middle of all those buses going back and forth across the country. This building, with its sort of updates, will put it in a market for all those shows in a way that your existing building doesn’t really afford you to have just because it is of a previous generation of building.”
The structure takes into consideration the needs and demands of big concert tours and the crews that work them.
“The weird thing about concerts is they all kind of expect an arena to do the same thing. They expect the scoreboard to go up and out of the way because you don’t have a center home scoreboard right in front of the stage. Our building will do that. They want to have a big loading dock so that you can have plenty of trucks come in and load and unload their trucks quickly, get a show put up and broken down quickly so they can get on to the next show. Our building will have that. They want green rooms, star dressing rooms, crew rooms, laundry. It’s about making sure that they have everything they need, that they’re comfortable, that they enjoy their experience and they want to come back,” Manica said. “If they have a great time hosting a show in your building, they will want to come back and you will get a good reputation in the industry.”
The Oklahoma City Council will have to approve the arena’s final design. The 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.
