As expected, the Oklahoma City council approved a public vote on a new Thunder arena yesterday, voting 7-2 to put the measure on a special ballot on December 12. Following the council vote, Mayor David Holt exulted in the plan, but mostly in the spectacle of democracy itself:
“I just think that when it comes to the concerts, major league sports, quality of life, the economic impact and growth, the international brand, the economic ability to help all people … and the philanthropy, the fact that we can do all that without a tax increase I think is a win-win,” Holt said.
“But the people get to decide,” Holt said. “I think that’s the most beautiful thing of all.”
As for what the people will actually be deciding on, the spending breakdown, as a reminder, would be:
- Public money: $850 million.
- Rich dude who owns the Thunder: $50 million.
Nikki Nice, one of the two councilmembers to vote against putting the arena deal on the ballot, took particular notice of that ratio:
“The math is not mathing as far as 95% and 5% is concerned,” Nice said. “72 months is a long time for people to have to pay for something that they may never get to experience.”
(Not entirely sure that last sentence parses, but “the math is not mathing” deserves to be a t-shirt, if not a magnet.)
There’s already a “no” campaign for the December vote at buyyourownarena.com. Also here’s me talking about the Thunder arena proposal last week, not for the first time and almost certainly not for the last. It’s going to be a long next 11 weeks.
Mayor’s got a point. You just can’t argue against the economic prosperity and world-class status an NBA sized arena has conferred onto cities like Detroit, Buffalo, Birmingham, Wichita, Worcester, and even Oklahoma City itself.
I agree. Birmingham has the Legacy Arena, where the G League team plays, and they hosted the G8 summit in 1998.
Never mind, the G8 summit was held in Birmingham, England, not Birmingham, Alabama.
And Birmingham has a Premier League team as well. The Wolves.
Wolves are officially known as Wolverhampton Wanderers. Birmingham is home to top-tier Aston Villa and second-tier Birmingham City.
Please please please let us see the OKC owners threaten to sell the team to be moved to Seattle.
Thank you for this.
Daniel M
Berkeley, CA
That would solve two problems at once.
It seems to me that if the argument for an arena is “we need it to be a world-class city,” then you’re not a world-class city.
If you were a world-class city, you wouldn’t need major sports teams to prove it. It should be the other way around. If your city is really something to write home about, the leagues will want to be in your market and willing to invest in their own facilities to do so.
Also, the term “world-class city” is completely meaningless and the definitions of it I have seen are all circular. I realize that makes everything else I wrote superfluous, but it’s a better punchline that way.
I also realize that if you have to explain the joke, it’s not a joke.
That’s a damn good website that points out all of the pratfalls associated with dumping public money into any sports related edifice.