Quote Originally Posted by Rover View Post
Pretty sure the low bid on the arena was honored as bid. The contractor's estimator failed to include a major cost (got him fired). But they didn't cut any amenities.
I can't locate the particular article that mentioned it, but a few mentioned that to keep costs under control, they cut certain things (not enumerated but seems like there were 20+) and decided to build it "builder's white" since we didn't have a tenant. It was the City's stated intent to eventually have the cost of those amenities paid for by the tenant. The City didn't stick to that announced intent as we split the cost with the 89ers/Redhawks and paid for all of it with the Sonics/Thunder

Quote Originally Posted by Bellaboo View Post
IIRC, Flintco did it for what they bid, 64 million. They just didn't work overtime.
Don't know if the scope of work changed or what happened exactly, but between the bid and the final cost, that is an increase $22.9M (over the bid amount).

Council launches $64.8 million arena, Journal Record, 4/7/99
This budget gap was even more pronounced than what Voter's were told pre-vote…

The 1st number under each project/date opened is the amount voters were told just prior to the election, except as noted, come from an Oklahoman article, Major-league status sought voters to decide on $237.6 million plan (Oklahoman, 11/14/93). The 2nd amount is the Final Cost from the City’s Website. Amounts in red are the $$$ amount it went over.

Ford Center (2002)
The Ford gets rather convoluted with the numbers. There were the Voters Told ($78.9), Budgeted amounts (after the vote, $74.8), bid amounts that went even lower ($64.8M), then estimates that were as high as $93M for a "complete" Arena at one point).

$78.9M (pre-vote)
$87.7M (final cost)
---------
$8.8M (over)