No more Ford Center: Thunder are negotiating new naming rights

I think IT SHOULD BE MCDONALD CENTER

@Danny
The City does own the building and paid for the improvements. But gave away the naming rights to the Team, so that is why the Team is involved.

If handled correctly, the naming rights should have been worth about $90M (the same Memphis got for theirs and they are a slightly smaller market). That is in line with the Team's consultants and when you plug in their formula over the 30 year term of the lease w/the City, works out to be a conservative $86M (based on much lower than actual attendance).

The naming rights money now incorrectly belongs to the Team and will not go towards paying for the improvements (could have paid for them without costing the taxpayer anything). Nor will any additional money be going to the City in any new deal. The City will continue to get $409K/year under the terms of the Ford agreement. However, the Ford agreement was valued at $8.1M in a 15 year deal or $540K/year, so the City is actually losing $131K/year on it.

Back when Cornett was a Councilman, he voted against corporate naming of the building, saying that the City should be promoting itself and not some corporation. I hope he insists that any new name incorporates Oklahoma City/OKC in its official name (just as he insisted that it be included in the team name).

I hope its called the Thunderdome!

How about Hard Rock Casino Center. NBA action, blackjack, on site hotel, rock band swag, ect...

"Trail of Tears Thunderdome"

Two men enter, one man leaves!
Two men enter, one man leaves!
Two men enter, one man leaves!

please name the ford center the thunderdome. please.

the 7-eleven center?

Waffle House should get involved. We'd blow the roof off Waffle Arena!

I vote for "Taco Mayo Thunderdome"

On the scary side, since they are an Oklahoma company we might see something like Taco Mayo Center. Or we could go real retro and have a T. G. & Y. Family Center ;).

Fords suck anyway!

it is lucky that KD is not signed by CAA.
It is best that Melo goes to east.Denver is nightmare of thunder these two years because of Melo's performence.But does Denver want to trade him to NY which only have useless Curry?
And it is a chance to get nene if melo is traded

f5alcon :@Greg
The dailythunderdome?
The cloud
durantulas web

The funny thing is BOK and okc arena are owned by the same company.

BOK and "ford center" are not owned by the same company. the arenas are city owned and managed by the same company.

because everyone thinks it'll be devon or chesapeake center, then i think it won't be either.

let's offer to name it the googleplex in exchange for wifi.

Boeing isn't a Seattle company any more than it is a Wichita or OKC town. They moved their corporate headquarters and big management presence to Chicago about 15 years ago.

There's a report going around that Denver is definitely going to trade Carmelo before the season starts. I'm praying he goes east!

No more Ford Center? Boo hiss. I liked that name. It's nice and clean, and rolls off the tongue easily. Plus it's short and to the point. Compare it to the official name of OU's football stadium, which takes 15 minutes to finish and requires verbal rest stops along the way.

But, since it's apparently a done deal, I suppose something like Devon Energy Center or Chesapeake Energy Center would work okay. That way we could just shorten it to the Energy Center, or maybe just The EC. Sort of like The Brick.

For the probably-never-going-to-happen possibility of a non-corporate name, I vote for Jim Thorpe Arena. If there's anyone who deserves a high-profile arena or stadium named after them around here, it's him.

The dailythunderdome?
The cloud
durantulas web

@Greg
The funny thing is BOK and okc arena are owned by the same company.

It'll probably be Chesapeake Energy Arena and nicknamed 'The Peak". I thought Devon was constructing the tallest building in the state in downtown OKC? They might want their name on there as well just like the BOK Center is named after Tulsa's largest building.

I may have missed it in the bolts when I was on vacation, but the Thunder signed a contract with Love's earlier this month to make it Love's Loud City. And Hertz signed one for one of the second level terraces, as I recall.

PNT :What ever company buys the rights, they should use the term thunderdome.
Two teams enter…one team leaves.

This was not serious, by the way.

KingGondo :
Del Rancho Arena
Love’s Country Stores Center
Cracker Barrel Center
Bass Pro Shops Center
Eskimo Joe’s Arena
Boone Pickens Center
Gaylord Family Memorial Center
(Actually, Sonic Center does have a nice ring to it…)

if any of those names are chosen I might stop following the team.

What ever company buys the rights, they should use the term thunderdome.

Two teams enter...one team leaves.

@Lefty
...for the win! Nice wit, yo!

Broington's Arena or Loud City Center.

I love you Nick, don't ever leave me:

Nick Collison: @jHARD13 happy birthday. Although I'm a little sick of hearing about it. You're an adult now. You don't have to tell everyone

T. Boone Pickens/Gaylord Family Memorial Arena and Convention Center

i think it either be Chesapeake Energy Center or Deven Energy Center

With Chesapeake wanting to be the biggest independent oil and gas producer in the US, you know they want their name out there. Go with Aubrey McClendon's personality and in ownership, I would be surprised if it is not Chesapeake Arena in a while.

@qrex
There are two: Dallas and Miami.

I personally think that Chesapeake is the most likely candidate. Aubrey McClendon is an owner, they have tons of money, and are probably interested in increasing their national profile the most out of any local company (considering I'm sure they have plans to get more and more CNG cars on the road, and the corresponding CNG stations to fill up these cars).

The name "Chesapeake Center" will get said a LOT over the next 10 years as the Thunder make playoff runs and continue to be shown on national TV.

American Airlines Arena is in Miami. American Airlines Center is in Dallas which is their biggest hub and parent company AMR's home.

@PNT

Where is American Airlines Arena again?

The KD Palace.
He can afford the naming rights. Let's just name the damn thing after him now and get it out of the way.

The release does make it sound like they are negotiating with more than one company. I hope this is the case.

In a perfect world:

The Lost Ogle Arena

Being serious for a second, I fully expect it to either be Boeing or one of the local energy companies. I mean, the whole Thunder organization has been about making OKC into a "Big League City" while staying true to its roots. They're about hard work and committment to the community and whatever, and the big reason OKC has gotten through this recession better than most is because of those two industries. Mayor Cornett talks about it all the time when hyping OKC, so it just makes sense to me that they would try and push something like that.

I fully expect it to be Boeing, Cheasapeake, SandRidge or Devon.

BrettM2 :
Probably a long shot, but maybe something with Boeing or aviation. We are getting another 600+ Boeing jobs to go with the thousands in aviation here in the metro.
Who, outside the ownership group, is possible?

Boeing probably wouldn't want to get involved, considering they're a Washington company, and even the name of the Sonics came from the jets they built back in the day.

Honestly, I'm fine with Chesapeake Center or Devon Center. Inoffensive, unique, and reflect the local nature of the team.

OK I've got the winner...

The Gary England Thunderdome!!!

Local companies are the most logical but who says it has to be? There are several of arenas that have no local ties to company on its name. Pepsi Center in Denver comes to mind.

Probably a long shot, but maybe something with Boeing or aviation. We are getting another 600+ Boeing jobs to go with the thousands in aviation here in the metro.

Who, outside the ownership group, is possible?

I would like to see a company outside the ownership group pony up to get the naming rights.

@KingGondo

@Jax Raging Bile Duct
Thank you. I'm here all week!

PNT :Does anyone think that this is also the reason that Sonic has not really supported the Thunder?

Yes. And there's absolutely no way Sonic would be involved in the naming rights. End of story.

Don't think AT&T Center in OKC is gonna happen. The Spurs play @ AT&T Center in San Antonio, which is AT&T's home. I like Sonic Center but it would be a PR nightmare. Does anyone think that this is also the reason that Sonic has not really supported the Thunder?

Lefty :
Toby Keith’s I Love This Basketball Arena

Lol.

Watch the Cherokees pony up 25mil for "Cherokee Nation Arena".

Lefty :
Toby Keith’s I Love This Basketball Arena

Winner!

Wimgo Center?

Toby Keith's I Love This Basketball Arena

I kind of wish the BOK was in OKC. The arena just looks spectacular from the outside, especially in comparisson to the arena formerly known as the "Ford Center". Not to mention a recent poll ranked the top 50 venues in the world for ticket sales in the first quarter of the year - BOK finished 9th in the world, 2nd in the US. Ford Center was 49th.