Comments on: Ford Center Upgrades

By: dustbury.com » Taking the field

dustbury.com » Taking the field — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:49:13 +0000

[...] as those of us here in Oklahoma City spending $125 million to spruce up our $90-million sports arena must admit, it’s a never-ending process, as Lileks already realizes: Not only are we five [...]

By: michael u.

michael u. — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:41:28 +0000

dont worry, we will have a show for ol’ mic when he comes to court in june. and, it is nice to see other cities citizens realizing that this ownership group wants alot for nothing out of thier own pockets. why could’nt it be the aubrey/bennett center/practice facility?? they can easily afford $20 mil. shoot, we are going to cost them that in attorney fees up here in S-town. bottom line is, mic and his boys are in a game they dont have the playoff experience in. we do, and, we are 4-0 against other cities that have tried to take something from us, or, change our way of life due to thier greediness!! do you okies know, he vacations up here in Seattle?? he spends his money with us!HA! what a croc! and a hypocrite!! love, a 30 year sonic fan p.s. still a fan spending hard earned money on a team that the ownership group has made a laughinstock of the nba!!

By: RJ

RJ — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 18:05:10 +0000

“Lot of hogwash. I attended over a dozen games at the Ford Center during 2006 and all I heard was how pleased NBA players were at the facility. They said it compared favorable with other NBA arenas and they were happy to play there.”

They were happy to play there because of the packed house not the arena itself

Even so…What do you expect them to say…”Ford center is a horrible arena”?

“Where are the DETAILS? What about these upgrades are going to cost a freakin’ $120 MILLION?”

Yes you have finally figured him out…Cornett’s main goal in life is to rip off the citizen’s of OKC…He should be able to provide what every bucket of paint, and piece of tile will cost us

The upgrades are all detailed as well as the specific tax extension amount and period…No conspiracy here

By: Larry

Larry — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 08:36:29 +0000

“Nice post. A lot of details” WHAT??? This is just more of the generic list of improvements we have been hearing from the Mayor and the Chamber for a while now. Where are the DETAILS? What about these upgrades are going to cost a freakin’ $120 MILLION? The Mayor has said we won’t build anything we don’t need and if we don’t get a team, improvements would be cut back or delayed. If we don’t get a team, then there is no need for the expensive add-ons to the Ford (all the team specific items, the locker rooms, team offices, NBA TV studio etc, etc) Yet the ONLY part of this that wont be deleted from the list is the stand-alone, off-site, exclusive use, NBA practice facility. Roughly $20 to $24 million (where the tax gets shortened from 15 months to 12 months). Once you take out the NBA/team specific items, you are left with even a shorter list of improvements…but yet a $100 million price tag. Sure looks like we are going to have $10,000 toilet seats in the improved bathrooms!

By: Ron

Ron — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:28:18 +0000

Lot of hogwash. I attended over a dozen games at the Ford Center during 2006 and all I heard was how pleased NBA players were at the facility. They said it compared favorable with other NBA arenas and they were happy to play there. Why such a short time later to we suddenly “need all these improvements” to the same facility?

I’ll tell you why – it is for OKC taxpayers to underwrite the project and not team owners like Clay Bennett. Sure it looks good to David Stern and the NBA Board of Governors that a community blindly approved a huge measure like this – call it “MAPS for Millionnaires” because it seems to demonstrate a cry for having our own NBA team. In reality, it just shows how blindly we will follow “leaders” like Mick Cornett. Well, they’ve gone to the MAPS well once too often – Bricktown is a gold mine for select few and I yearn for the days when I could go downtown and not have to pay $5.00 for the privilege.

Have we not learned ANYTHING by mistakes of the past – like the ill-timed and ill-fated “Bass Pro” incentives that backfired? This town is run incompetently and must be the laughingstock of the midwest. We lose the Cowboy Hall of Fame, we lose GM, and now we’re talking about having our citizens underwrite part of the relocation “package” to lure the worst team in the entire NBA here. Are we that starved for “major league entertainment” that we’ll do anything to attain it? I say vote “NO” on March 4.

By: Raymond

Raymond — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 04:18:55 +0000

Nice post. A lot of details. Why not more like these mayberry.