University of Oklahoma Sports

[mugofbeer]

When l was at OU I never had a problem going to LNC. We drove or took the shuttle. Its not much of an effort to go there or to the proposed site.

[BG918]

There are always donors willing to foot the bill for anything the football team wants. Love's just paid for the softball stadium. Why! Because they are good and bring in national audiences. The BB team has been mediocre to bad for years. And college BB is a secondary sport except for in schools that don't have major football programs. Who would want to foot the bill for a new arena for OU BB. I wouldn't if I had the money and there aren't many bigger die hard Sooner lovers than me.

In the SEC alone Auburn, Ole Miss and Texas have new basketball arenas and Alabama has one proposed - all "football schools" that have also spent or will spend hundreds of millions of dollars on new arenas. And every single one of these arenas is on-campus.

[Bill Robertson]

In the SEC alone Auburn, Ole Miss and Texas have new basketball arenas and Alabama has one proposed - all "football schools" that have also spent or will spend hundreds of millions of dollars on new arenas. And every single one of these arenas is on-campus.

Great on them! Doesn't change the fact that it's been talked about for years that the LNC is a worn out mess. Yet no donor(s), the University, the City of Norman, etc. are interested in building a new arena anywhere.

[jedicurt]

In the SEC alone Auburn, Ole Miss and Texas have new basketball arenas and Alabama has one proposed - all "football schools" that have also spent or will spend hundreds of millions of dollars on new arenas. And every single one of these arenas is on-campus.

once again... if you want an on campus arena... you are going to have to wait another 20-25 years. there just isn't any support for it from people with actual money, and the OU foundation has other projects on the list well before it for the next 20 years. so it would have to go after all of them. the only two options on the table are, UNP or no new arena for 20 years. there isn't an option for a new on campus arena right now. can we please just move on from this idea?

[BG918]

once again... if you want an on campus arena... you are going to have to wait another 20-25 years. there just isn't any support for it from people with actual money, and the OU foundation has other projects on the list well before it for the next 20 years. so it would have to go after all of them. the only two options on the table are, UNP or no new arena for 20 years. there isn't an option for a new on campus arena right now. can we please just move on from this idea?

I will never “move on” from this issue. If that is the choice then I’d say wait another 20 years. Name one university that has built a new arena for its college basketball programs that is not on campus?

[jedicurt]

I will never “move on” from this issue. If that is the choice then I’d say wait another 20 years. Name one university that has built a new arena for its college basketball programs that is not on campus?

University of Louisville. built it in downtown Louisville in 2010. and that one was off the top of my head without research.

and okay. then just say you want to wait... because that is the option. i personally don't think we can wait

[BoulderSooner]

Name one university that has built a new arena for its college basketball programs that is not on campus?

the entire point of this is that OU is not the one that is building the new arena ... ..

and the college bball program that makes the most money in the country Louisville plays off campus ..

nc state also plays off campus ..

[Bill Robertson]

Unless the OU BB program can put together a string of competitive seasons it might be a lot longer than 20 years before they get a new arena. With NIL driving things more donor money is going to go to players and that lessens the money available to go to facilities. Especially for a team that hasn't been consistently good or well attended for years.

[traxx]

most students don't live on campus ...

Times change. When I was there most, not all, were in the dorms or a Greek house.

[Jersey Boss]

once again... if you want an on campus arena... you are going to have to wait another 20-25 years. there just isn't any support for it from people with actual money, and the OU foundation has other projects on the list well before it for the next 20 years. so it would have to go after all of them. the only two options on the table are, UNP or no new arena for 20 years. there isn't an option for a new on campus arena right now. can we please just move on from this idea?

So if OU should have made improvements 20+ years ago to the LNC and defered to other projects how in good faith should the second highest revenue sport be asked to wait another 20 years? Yet other pressing projects like a statue for Gasso can be funded?
It should be noted that the University can't be bothered to acknowledge the contribution Tubbs made to the program. It appears to me that the OU athletic department is derelict in maintaining a revenue + program.
It is not the function of city government to bail out the flagship University.

[jedicurt]

So if OU should have made improvements 20+ years ago to the LNC and defered to other projects how in good faith should the second highest revenue sport be asked to wait another 20 years? Yet other pressing projects like a statue for Gasso can be funded?
It should be noted that the University can't be bothered to acknowledge the contribution Tubbs made to the program? It appears to me that the OU athletic department is derelict in maintaining a revenue + program.

oh i won't disagree that the Athletic department is a large part of the cause for these problems.... but we can't go back in time and correct those. we are where we are. we didn't make improvements 20 years ago when they were extremely needed. we allowed the arena to continue to. but the reason other projects are getting funded is because they are starting to generate income in donations. Softball donors are now a thing. same with gymnastics. those sports keep bringing more and more prestige to the university. Basketball isn't currently doing that, atleast not at the rate the other are. the reality is that we are now at a point where we can't go back and fix decades of bad decisions. we just have to see what is already in the pipeline and funded, and what isn't... OU isn't going to adjust projects for this, and won't be able to do it and fund it for atleast 20 years.... so again the option is an arena not solely funded by OU and off campus, or nothing at all for a few more decades. that's just the reality. we can be mad at how we got here, but the fact is, we are here.

[Bill Robertson]

Times change. When I was there most, not all, were in the dorms or a Greek house.

Me too. But that's just one more part of the whole different world college life and sports are now.

[Bill Robertson]

So if OU should have made improvements 20+ years ago to the LNC and defered to other projects how in good faith should the second highest revenue sport be asked to wait another 20 years? Yet other pressing projects like a statue for Gasso can be funded?
It should be noted that the University can't be bothered to acknowledge the contribution Tubbs made to the program. It appears to me that the OU athletic department is derelict in maintaining a revenue + program.
It is not the function of city government to bail out the flagship University.

I loved Billy Ball. It was a BLAST to watch. I loved hearing Tubbs talk on the radio for years after he wasn't the OU coach any more. And I would agree he absolutely deserves a statue and recognition for what he did for OU BB. But. If he had taken a BB program that played on a city park BB court that had to be cleaned off before games and turned it into a dominant, multiple year national championship program like Gasso has the SB program we wouldn't be having this discussion. We'd have a new arena.

[BoulderSooner]

Times change. When I was there most, not all, were in the dorms or a Greek house.

don't know when you were there
but

this has certainly not been the case since the 1990's at least ..

[Bill Robertson]

don't know when you were there
but

this has certainly not been the case since the 1990's at least ..

In the 70s this was true. At least for everyone but seniors and post-grads.

[Jersey Boss]

I loved Billy Ball. It was a BLAST to watch. I loved hearing Tubbs talk on the radio for years after he wasn't the OU coach any more. And I would agree he absolutely deserves a statue and recognition for what he did for OU BB. But. If he had taken a BB program that played on a city park BB court that had to be cleaned off before games and turned it into a dominant, multiple year national championship program like Gasso has the SB program we wouldn't be having this discussion. We'd have a new arena.

The OU softball team was over 3M in the red last year. Throwing good money after bad into a money losing program. Yet ignore and hamstring the MBB program. MBB makes money, despite the Athletic Dept.

[Bill Robertson]

The OU softball team was over 3M in the red last year. Throwing good money after bad into a money losing program. Yet ignore and hamstring the MBB program. MBB makes money, despite the Athletic Dept.

The SB team gets national recognition for excellence. The MBB team is bad at best. I'm not sure how the MBB team makes money when they're never on TV and can't fill the lower level of LNC. I also wonder how the larger SB stadium will affect the income numbers.

[Jersey Boss]

The SB team gets national recognition for excellence. The MBB team is bad at best. I'm not sure how the MBB team makes money when they're never on TV and can't fill the lower level of LNC.

Most if not all MBB games were on TV. Predominately ESPN or ESPN +. Also they share conferance revenue from post season tournaments. Is the SB team on tv? SB gets national recognition where SB is a thing. It is a niche sport like golf or baseball.

[BoulderSooner]

The MBB team is bad at best. I'm not sure how the MBB team makes money when they're never on TV and can't fill the lower level of LNC. I also wonder how the larger SB stadium will affect the income numbers.

every single MBB game is on tv ..

they are in no world "bad" ....

and they have twice as many SEASON ticket holders as the softball stadium holds ..

[The]

every single MBB game is on tv ..

they are in no world "bad" ....

and they have twice as many SEASON ticket holders as the softball stadium holds ..

Who tf cares? It’s a miserable experience and they’re not good.

[jedicurt]

every single MBB game is on tv ..

they are in no world "bad" ....

and they have twice as many SEASON ticket holders as the softball stadium holds ..

Women's Gymnastics had a higher average attendance per meet than MBB had per game this year... so lets not talk about our MBB program really having a lot of support.

[PhiAlpha]

By any means necessary, LNC needs to be replaced and quickly. If that is in UNP, then so be it. We can not keep playing in LNC for 5 more seasons, 20 would be a disaster.

[jedicurt]

By any means necessary, LNC needs to be replaced and quickly. If that is in UNP, then so be it. We can not keep playing in LNC for 5 more seasons, 20 would be a disaster.

exactly this. i am really curious if those who are on the "i would rather wait" side of things, have actually been in this place in the last 10 years. especially up underneath... it's just awful

[BG918]

the entire point of this is that OU is not the one that is building the new arena ... ..

and the college bball program that makes the most money in the country Louisville plays off campus ..

nc state also plays off campus ..

If OU was in OKC then playing in Paycom would make sense. Same situation in Louisville and Raleigh. Name one university in a college town that has built an off-campus arena in the past 20 years. Even Texas, which could've partnered with the City of Austin on an arena closer to downtown, built its new arena on-campus. The Duck Pond is where the arena should be located.

[jedicurt]

If OU was in OKC then playing in Paycom would make sense. Same situation in Louisville and Raleigh. Name one university in a college town that has built an off-campus arena in the past 20 years. Even Texas, which could've partnered with the City of Austin on an arena closer to downtown, built its new arena on-campus. The Duck Pond is where the arena should be located.

perfect. lets look at the Texas arena.... 375 million, where $130 million came from a single donation to the university specifically for the arena, then the rest was raised through a joint partnership between the Oak View Group and UT. Oak View actually raised the funds to build it, not the University of Texas. they just provided the land. Under the partnership agreement Oak View Group manages the building in exchange for the rights to keep most of the income from non-UT events, (close to 80%), and has sole authority to planning those events. under the agreement UT does still own the land and technically the building, but only has exclusive control of the arena 60 days each year, for men's and women's basketball, graduations and other school events.

that means that 300 days a year, someone other than the university is planning events and making more money off of those events than the university, and the university gets little to no say in any of those events. and the only thing the university had to give for the project was the land. find me the person willing to get the project started with a $100+ million donation specifically for an on campus facility, and then a private group that wants to come in and run it on campus, and sure. we have a plan.... instead, what is being proposed in Norman is pretty much something similar, but because the construction group wants it in a different spot where OU owns land, they are asking for that land, and not land on campus. because they don't want to build it there.

see the difference now? So unless you are willing to pony up the $100 million to get the discussion going... it's not happening.