Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, City Council Approve Letter of Intent with OKC Thunder
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt and the OKC Council approved the letter of intent to keep the Thunder franchise in the city until 2050 on Monday, pending a Dec. 12 vote to build a newer, publicly-owned arena.
“Growing up as a kid in OKC, it was unfathomable to imagine Oklahoma City as a big league city,” Holt tweeted. “But our community rallied and realized an impossible dream. And in 15 short years, we’ve seen our GDP explode by 62 percent and our city’s population rank jump from 31st to 20th.
“We have to continue this momentum, and today was definitely a momentum day. Today, this OKC kid got to sign an agreement to keep an NBA team here in OKC beyond 2050.”
This announcement comes after the initial arena proposal on Sep. 12, where Holt proposed at least a $900 million arena cost propped up by a 5.5% contribution worth $50 million from Thunder ownership.
While there’ve been plenty of citizens voicing their support for the proposal due to its apparent benefits in potential to increase GDP and further improve the city’s population rank, many others are still voicing their disdain.
What is called for from the city government for this publicly-funded arena will be a 72-month one-cent temporary sales tax and $70 million in MAPS 4 funding, along with the Thunder’s contribution.
But as of now, it seems the city is in majority for the new arena and retention of the franchise, as the city council passed the resolution 7-2 before Holt signed off on the agreement.
“On behalf of the Thunder organization, I want to commend Mayor Holt and members of the City Council and express our deep gratitude for their leadership,” Thunder chairman Clay Bennett said of the vote.
As Dec. 12 is just under two short months away, the city’s residents will decide whether they’ll elect the Thunder to stay in Oklahoma City, or let the franchise walk away similarly to when it walked away from Seattle.
“One step does remain, and that is the vote of our residents on Dec. 12. We encourage everyone to come out and set the course for our city’s future,” Holt said.
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