New Arena Name

[dmoor82]

Devon Center/ Arena,Sandridge Center,ChesapeakeCenter/Arena,Sonic Center/Arena,MidFirst Center,Hertz Center/Arena!just a few.

[theparkman81]

Well how about the Boeing Arena or Center, since Boeing is bringing jobs to the city, but I also like Devon Energy Arena as well.

[Thunder]

Just curious, why do they want to change the name? They hate the Ford name or what? Or they looking for more money?

[ljbab728]

Just curious, why do they want to change the name? They hate the Ford name or what? Or they looking for more money?

Money rules, Thunder. They would be happy to keep the Ford name if the money was right.

[Thunder]

Then, I am sure Ford will pay more money.

[SkyWestOKC]

Ford Motor Company is not paying for it. The local Ford dealers put up some money to have the name put up there. Ford had nothing to do with it except for giving permission to the local owners to do it.

[Larry OKC]

As long as it brings in more money than the paltry amount we were getting from the Ford dealers, I'm delighted to have a new name. I think the Devon Center has a nice ring to it, and Devon certainly has a lot of cash with their offshore oil interest sales, despite having to pay for a building. It would give them some additional national exposure as well.

The "paltry amount" apparently was the best deal the City could work at the time. Tulsa didn't get much more than that for the BoK. The BoK was worth $11M but over 20 years ($550K/year) where the Ford was $8.1M for 15 years ($540K/year) And, as you well know "we" won't be getting anything out of any new naming rights, all of that money was given away to the Team (to a building they didn't build or pay for the improvements on).

Did Ford pay $8.1 million already or how much are they paying annually? If they paid in whole, then I think Ford should get their money back. If annually, then Ford should stop paying.

Naming rights simply is to sponsor and support the arena and team? I'd say Devon should be the one, but to actually name it the Thunderdome. I don't care about the name already being used elsewhere! The name is fitting for this arena and everyone is already calling it the Thunderdome.

The money from the naming rights don't support the arena at all since the money now incorrectly has been given away to the team. According to published sources, the $8.1M is correct and works out to be $540K/year. Yet we are only getting $409K/year w/the Thunder lease. Losing $131K/year in the process. Not not to mention the $90M or so that we gave away. The naming rights should have been worth at least the $90M Memphis got for theirs (a slightly smaller market). And the $90M is hand in hand when you take the teams own consultants conservative estimates formula extended for the full term of the lease ($86M)

Would like to think the Mayor has returned to his original opposition to corporate naming rights (he voted against it when he was councilman) since he insisted that the team name formally include Oklahoma City/OKC, I hope he can exert some sort of pressure on Bennett et al to include OKC as part of the official name of the building. When he voted against it, he said that we need to be promoting the city and not some corporation.

[OKCisOK4me]

Even though it'd be a long title name, I'd love to see Southwest Airlines take this one. They are OKC's primary airline and I think it would do them some good. Do they have naming rights on any other kind of sporting venue?

And please don't let it be Sonic, although it would be awesome to see some Seattleites whine. I can just see it--free bag of tatertots for the first 1,000 fans. Nothing like puffin up the kids!

[SkyWestOKC]

Southwest Airlines Arena isn't necessarily that long. American Airlines Arena in Dallas, and I think Miami is also named that.

[OKCisOK4me]

I also was debating whether to say something about Alcoholics Anonymous Arena in Dallas but chose not to!

[CGYOKC]

Southwest Airlines Arena isn't necessarily that long. American Airlines Arena in Dallas, and I think Miami is also named that.

Dallas is the American Airlines Center

Miami is the American Airlines Arena

[euphjay]

Southwest Airlines Arena isn't necessarily that long. American Airlines Arena in Dallas, and I think Miami is also named that.

Dallas = American Airlines Center
Miami = American Airlines Arena

[therondo]

I've always thought that coliseum sounded nice, so maybe Chesapeake Coliseum or Devon Coliseum? I threw my 2 cents in....

[Platemaker]

I think this Cox Ring sounds pretty good.

[MikeOKC]

I don't think it could actually be any company run by one of the owners of The Professional Basketball Club, LLC. A CEO approving naming rights to be paid to the Thunder would essentially be paying himself as an owner of PBC,LLC. That would rule out Chesapeake, Sandridge, MidFirst, American Fidelity. Don't kill the messenger -- that just wouldn't fly.

[Platemaker]

[betts]

But, there are arenas that do that: two examples that come to mind are Quicken Loans in Cleveland and Amway Arena in Orlando. In both cases, the team owner owns that particular business. I would guess they get a hefty tax deduction for purchasing the naming rights. I'm not saying that's what is going to happen here, but there's nothing prohibiting it. I still think Devon is the logical local company, since Larry Nichols wanted to be a part owner of the team. He backed out when he found out there was no guarantee they could move to OKC. This would be his way of contributing to the success of the team in OKC.

[MikeOKC]

"two examples that come to mind ..." Betts: How did you know that? There's an answer for that argument, but I want to wait until how you knew that...almost like prepared for the criticism. I don't mean that in a bad way, I'm just really curious.

[MikeOKC]

I'll go ahead with what I was going to say.....with the above standard, you are right. That would keep MidFirst and American Fidelity in the hunt as they are private companies. Your two examples in Detroit and Orlando are private companies. No publicly-owned company whose CEO is an owner of the Thunder could even think about it.

[Spartan]

I think this Cox Ring sounds pretty good.

+.

I like Devon Dome. Or Sonic Center.

[Thunder]

If Sonic wins the bid, then that will be super cool to name it Sonic _______. We'd just need someone to purchase the Space Needle, dismantle it, and deliver to us. Still would like to see an official Thunderdome name to the building.

[ljbab728]

The naming rights should have been worth at least the $90M Memphis got for theirs (a slightly smaller market).

Not that it makes any significant difference, but the 2009 census estimates for the Memphis metro area were 1,304,000 and for OKC were 1,227.000.

[Larry OKC]

Not that it makes any significant difference, but the 2009 census estimates for the Memphis metro area were 1,304,000 and for OKC were 1,227.000.

Oooops, I left out the "TV" part. Don't have the specific numbers handy but the "NBA database" (that used to be available on NewsOK.com) had all of the arenas listed, date/costs/% public financing/TV market etc). If memory serves think Memphis was 2 spots lower than OKC.

[Larry OKC]

I'll go ahead with what I was going to say.....with the above standard, you are right. That would keep MidFirst and American Fidelity in the hunt as they are private companies. Your two examples in Detroit and Orlando are private companies. No publicly-owned company whose CEO is an owner of the Thunder could even think about it.

But aren't the associated companies of the Thunder ownership group the major corporate sponsors of the Thunder? If there isn't a problem there and they can convince their Board of Directors that it is a sound financial move to be the naming rights company, don't see why not.

[betts]

"two examples that come to mind ..." Betts: How did you know that? There's an answer for that argument, but I want to wait until how you knew that...almost like prepared for the criticism. I don't mean that in a bad way, I'm just really curious.

I love the NBA and make it my business to know as much about it as possible. It's one of my biggest hobbies. I just happened to know about those two arenas because I know their names and I know what businesses their owners are in. I don't know what business every single owner is in, but I know quite a few and I know the names to almost every arena. That's why. Nothing sinister! I also own okcthunderfans.com, and people over there can vouch that I pay attention to more than just the game.