Latest news with #MetropolitanAreaProjects
Winnipeg Free Press
04-06-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Oklahoma City mayor appreciates Canadian fans supporting Thunder in NBA Finals
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt wants Canadian basketball fans to know that they've been represented at Paycom Center, the home of the NBA's Thunder, for decades. Holt spoke about the impact of NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort on Wednesday, a day before Oklahoma City hosted the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the league's championship final. He said he loved the idea of the Thunder being Canada's second-favourite team behind the Toronto Raptors. 'It's always been really cool that Lu and Shai are from Canada and we've got a Canadian flag in the arena, like every NBA arena,' said Holt in a video call with The Canadian Press. 'I don't know if Canadians think about that, but there's a Canadian flag that's been hanging in Oklahoma City for 20 years now, and it probably has even more meaning for Dort and Gilgeous-Alexander that it's there.' The NBA Finals will have four Canadians competing for the championship for the first time. Hamilton's Gilgeous-Alexander and Montreal's Dort will be in the Thunder's backcourt and Andrew Nembhard of Aurora, Ont., and Montreal's Bennedict Mathurin both play guard for the Pacers. 'All of it is surreal to me, as somebody who grew up here and always felt in the 80s and 90s like Oklahoma City was in an alternate universe, and nobody around the country and certainly around the world would ever pay us any mind,' said Holt, who noted that the Thunder had fans in New Zealand when Steven Adams was a member of the team and supporters in Australia when Josh Giddey played in OKC. 'But since the arrival of the NBA, you have this new international component to our profile that is really important to us now. 'Of course, the NBA is uniquely positioned to do that. There are really only two international sports that are played everywhere: soccer and basketball.' That international attention is by design. Originally a railroad town, Oklahoma City suffered economically after the United States Interstate Highway System was built. The oil crisis of the 1970s compounded those problems as energy is one of the state's major industries. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Mayor Ronald J. Norick introduced a radical capital improvement program called MAPS (Metropolitan Area Projects) in 1993, designed to build new or upgraded sports, recreation, entertainment, cultural and convention facilities in an effort to diversify and stimulate the economy. That included the construction of an NBA-sized arena, now Paycom Center, as its centrepiece. 'People don't invest in or visit cities they've never heard of and so suddenly, for the next couple of weeks, billions of people will at least give a passing glance to what is going on in the NBA Finals,' said Holt. 'Some of them will just check the score, but others will actually watch the games, and they'll see images of Oklahoma City and they'll think about us in a way that maybe they never have before. 'We'll capitalize on that opportunity, really, for years to come.' That's why it was so important for a new publicly-owned arena to be built in the city's downtown core, said Holt. Construction on the new venue — also called Paycom Center — has begun across the street from the existing arena and will be the home of the Thunder beyond 2050. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2025.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
I'm the OKC mayor. Copying Indy's sports strategy brought us to the NBA Finals.
Team success in professional sports often serves as a metaphor for a city's progress. As we face each other in the NBA Finals, the eyes of the world are on Oklahoma City and Indianapolis. Thanks to the exploits of our basketball teams, the cities behind that success are also in the spotlight. From this exposure, we both anticipate benefits for years to come. Students of Oklahoma City history will see it as poetic that we are facing Indianapolis at such an important moment in our city's history. I suspect you might not know why, so I felt compelled to share. In the early 1990s, for nearly two years, our two cities competed vigorously and publicly for a United Airlines maintenance facility that was purported to bring over 7,000 new jobs. In October 1991, United chose Indianapolis, despite Oklahoma City's herculean efforts, including voter approval of a sales tax to incentivize United. It was reported that we offered $200 million cash. The competition between cities for major economic developments is relatively common, and this opportunity ended up bringing far fewer and less stable jobs than were promised. And so this tale might have largely been forgotten had it not been the catalyst for what came next in Oklahoma City. Our mayor at the time, Ron Norick, visited with United Airlines leadership after the failed bid. The feedback and his own conclusions delivered clarity. Our city might have offered friendly people and easy living, but our downtown was dead, we had no professional sports and, generally, living in OKC was like living in an alternate universe outside of American pop culture. Norick was determined to learn from this defeat. So he got on a plane and flew to Indianapolis. There, he found a vibrant downtown and two major league professional sports teams. Like OKC, Indianapolis lacked mountains or an ocean, but it had a central meeting place and reasons for people to rally there. Through its downtown and its sports teams, and all the things that come with those amenities, Indianapolis offered a quality of life appropriate to a city its size. OKC was also a pretty large city, but after being hollowed out by urban renewal, an oil bust and a banking crisis, it felt more like a place where a lot of people just happened to live. Indianapolis — previously our foil — was now our inspiration. Norick decided to propose an initiative that was focused on our city's quality of life, with a particular emphasis on entertainment downtown. His initiative would be called Metropolitan Area Projects and would entail a temporary one-cent sales tax to fund the construction of nine projects (including the arena that is hosting Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals). The priorities might have seemed superficial, but as it turned out, our city's lack of such amenities was proving to be an existential crisis. In December 1993, our voters narrowly passed MAPS with 53% support. Sixteen months later, a domestic terrorist bombed our federal office building, murdering 168 of our neighbors. That was our darkest day, and it followed nearly 15 years of adversity. But, by 1998, MAPS projects were beginning to open. From that point forward, Oklahoma City has been on an uninterrupted upward trajectory that has become one of the greatest urban renaissance stories ever told. Opinion: Jim Irsay built everything we love about downtown Indianapolis OKC is now the 20th-largest city in the U.S., we have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, we have major developments coming online every month and we now boast all the trappings of a great American city, from James Beard-winning restaurants to hip entertainment districts. And we have not stopped investing. In fact, we are now on MAPS 4. Its $1.1 billion is being deployed as we speak. Our downtown has gone from one hotel in 1993 to nearly 30. And, like Indianapolis, we have leveraged sports. In fact, I joined our chamber of commerce and dozens of city leaders on a 2006 trip to Indianapolis, where we toured all of your sports venues, including your NBA arena. Less than two years later, our Thunder began their NBA journey. We are also the home of the Women's College World Series and seven events of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Thirty-four years after our United Airlines loss to Indianapolis, Oklahoma City is now in the NBA Finals, an achievement that feels like the capstone of an amazing American success story. It has been a journey inspired by you. Should another chapter be written in the weeks ahead, I regret to tell you that you'll have no one but yourselves to blame. David Holt, a Republican, is the mayor of Oklahoma City and vice president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He was elected mayor in 2018. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: How dying OKC learned from Indy to become an NBA Finals city | Opinion
Indianapolis Star
03-06-2025
- Business
- Indianapolis Star
I'm the OKC mayor. Copying Indy's sports strategy brought us to the NBA Finals.
Team success in professional sports often serves as a metaphor for a city's progress. As we face each other in the NBA Finals, the eyes of the world are on Oklahoma City and Indianapolis. Thanks to the exploits of our basketball teams, the cities behind that success are also in the spotlight. From this exposure, we both anticipate benefits for years to come. Students of Oklahoma City history will see it as poetic that we are facing Indianapolis at such an important moment in our city's history. I suspect you might not know why, so I felt compelled to share. In the early 1990s, for nearly two years, our two cities competed vigorously and publicly for a United Airlines maintenance facility that was purported to bring over 7,000 new jobs. In October 1991, United chose Indianapolis, despite Oklahoma City's herculean efforts, including voter approval of a sales tax to incentivize United. It was reported that we offered $200 million cash. The competition between cities for major economic developments is relatively common, and this opportunity ended up bringing far fewer and less stable jobs than were promised. And so this tale might have largely been forgotten had it not been the catalyst for what came next in Oklahoma City. Our mayor at the time, Ron Norick, visited with United Airlines leadership after the failed bid. The feedback and his own conclusions delivered clarity. Our city might have offered friendly people and easy living, but our downtown was dead, we had no professional sports and, generally, living in OKC was like living in an alternate universe outside of American pop culture. Norick was determined to learn from this defeat. So he got on a plane and flew to Indianapolis. There, he found a vibrant downtown and two major league professional sports teams. Like OKC, Indianapolis lacked mountains or an ocean, but it had a central meeting place and reasons for people to rally there. Through its downtown and its sports teams, and all the things that come with those amenities, Indianapolis offered a quality of life appropriate to a city its size. OKC was also a pretty large city, but after being hollowed out by urban renewal, an oil bust and a banking crisis, it felt more like a place where a lot of people just happened to live. Indianapolis — previously our foil — was now our inspiration. Norick decided to propose an initiative that was focused on our city's quality of life, with a particular emphasis on entertainment downtown. His initiative would be called Metropolitan Area Projects and would entail a temporary one-cent sales tax to fund the construction of nine projects (including the arena that is hosting Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals). The priorities might have seemed superficial, but as it turned out, our city's lack of such amenities was proving to be an existential crisis. In December 1993, our voters narrowly passed MAPS with 53% support. Sixteen months later, a domestic terrorist bombed our federal office building, murdering 168 of our neighbors. That was our darkest day, and it followed nearly 15 years of adversity. But, by 1998, MAPS projects were beginning to open. From that point forward, Oklahoma City has been on an uninterrupted upward trajectory that has become one of the greatest urban renaissance stories ever told. Opinion: Jim Irsay built everything we love about downtown Indianapolis OKC is now the 20th-largest city in the U.S., we have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, we have major developments coming online every month and we now boast all the trappings of a great American city, from James Beard-winning restaurants to hip entertainment districts. And we have not stopped investing. In fact, we are now on MAPS 4. Its $1.1 billion is being deployed as we speak. Our downtown has gone from one hotel in 1993 to nearly 30. And, like Indianapolis, we have leveraged sports. In fact, I joined our chamber of commerce and dozens of city leaders on a 2006 trip to Indianapolis, where we toured all of your sports venues, including your NBA arena. Less than two years later, our Thunder began their NBA journey. We are also the home of the Women's College World Series and seven events of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Thirty-four years after our United Airlines loss to Indianapolis, Oklahoma City is now in the NBA Finals, an achievement that feels like the capstone of an amazing American success story. It has been a journey inspired by you. Should another chapter be written in the weeks ahead, I regret to tell you that you'll have no one but yourselves to blame.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ryan Walters encountered an Oklahoma Supreme Court roadblock this week
State Sen. Carrie Hicks says we must acknowledge what has not worked and commit to strengthening our public schools. The time for division is over ― the time for action is now. BETTER SCHOOLS ARE POSSIBLE: A local CEO asks: Why on earth are we continuing to allow a small fraction to destroy a legitimate chance of fixing Oklahoma's broken education system? BRIDGING THE GAP: In order to bridge education gaps, Oklahoma Legislature needs long-range plan like Oklahoma City's MAPS (Metropolitan Area Projects, a series of public improvement programs aimed at revitalizing the city and improving its quality of life.) This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Ryan Walters' court roadblock could be a $3 million blessing | Opinion
