These days, it apparently doesn’t take much for certain sports owners to prove their loyalty to some people. This week in Oklahoma, several local leaders claimed that the upcoming new arena for their Oklahoma City Thunder was already a “symbol of growth” and showed the ownership group’s “commitment” to the area. State lawmakers continued to say that even though the arena is not built yet, it was continuing to provide an “economic boost for the state.”
This got me a bit curious. I have read about the NBA’s rising TV contracts giving every team almost $200M in the near future. But I haven’t read anything about companies flocking to the area or businesses deciding to move closer to the arena.
As you will soon see, the reasons given for the arena causing economic growth and the owners being committed are laughable.
“Lawmakers (Senator Paul Rosino and Representative Andy Fugate) highlighted that the team’s recent playoff run helped boost state revenue and inspired further investment in Oklahoma’s capital.” – News9, 07/20/25
I wonder how much the NBA team jump-started the state revenues. Just last week, Oklahoma released the state revenue numbers, and they showed a growth of just 0.2% compared to 2024. Interestingly, only “individual income tax and use tax collections showed increases” compared to last year. So, no, there was no boosting of state revenue compared to prior years.
Don’t get me wrong. I understand that the Oklahoma City Thunder just won their first NBA title and that likely means more product sales, ticket sales, and such. But that impact is not in itself boosting revenues for any state.
Let’s see what else they point to.
“Rosino pointed to the Thunder’s recent re-signing of key players, including the team’s “big three,” as a sign of strong mutual commitment between the franchise and the city…Beyond basketball, Rosino and Fugate looked east, discussing Pennsylvania’s recent success in attracting $90 billion in new investment tied to energy, AI, and data centers.” – News9, 07/20/25
What? The Thunder resigning players and another state having financial success? That’s it? I am concerned that these public officials have almost no economic sense whatsoever. I see this and am reminded of how the Thunder used paid-for business to write nice op-eds about the team. Included are no facts or economic reports, but simply how this team brings it from a money perspective…whatever that means.
Let’s talk about the owners for a second. On average, an NBA owner pays 74% of the purchase price of a new arena. But the Thunder owners are different. The owners, with a total worth of over $1B, decided that they would only kick in $50M for a $900M arena. The other $850 would be left to taxpayers. I guess we are just supposed to forget how the Thunder owners lied to locals in 2023 when they said they would make a “significant financial contribution” to any new arena?
While the mayor felt the need to commend the owners for this $50M amount, everyone else was shocked at how a group of people could ask for so much and yet provide so little in the same deal. Who cares if animal shelters and public services need to be shut down due to these costs? We are talking about the NBA!
Then again, this is the same mayor who touted that a new arena would bring thousands of jobs and millions of dollars to taxpayers…but never bothered to tell or show anyone where he got the numbers from.
Thankfully, there are other parts of the new agreement that favor taxpayers. Just kidding. While the city owns the new arena and must pay for “all capital maintenance and improvements,” the owners will “receive all naming rights revenues.”
This doesn’t even include the fact that the owners intentionally rushed the entire process. This was so that both the public and local leaders would have as little time as possible to look over and approve of quite long and hard documents. Does anyone realize that since 2009, the state of Oklahoma has given $75M to the Thunder under an incentive program called the “Quality Jobs Program”? Who cares about space and energy companies anyway when you have the Thunder! Did we also forget about the $100M put into the arena by the city in 2008? The $115M put in by the city in 2019? $23M just two years ago?
In the NBA, the value of teams is rising at a rather insane pace. In 2006, the current owners of the Thunder bought the team for $350M. Now, the value of the team hovers around $3.5B. But that doesn’t matter because these owners are committed to the area. Right? Some have even claimed that these owners bring a “tremendous selflessness” towards the team and city.
About that.
“A source close to Thunder Chairman Clay Bennett told the Tulsa World that the rising value of NBA franchises makes it quite likely that the Thunder’s partners will want to sell soon.” – Tulsa World, 07/07/25
I love this one quote from a Thunder source who states that “They didn’t get into it for the investment, but ….” We get it. Money talks. I guess when Clay Bennett states that this new arena will propel the city into the “next generation,” he means with whoever owns it then too?
