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The OU Rock Creek Entertainment District ($1B) breaks ground 12 May
Posted on 5/7/26 at 1:04 pm
Posted on 5/7/26 at 1:04 pm
The Rock Creek Entertainment District that will house the Sooners’ new arena will break ground Tuesday, May 12.
The Rainier Companies CEO Danny Lovell, University of Oklahoma President Joseph Harroz Jr. and more will speak at the event.
Construction for the arena, which is expected to seat around 8,000, was originally thought to be completed by 2027-28, a timeline that will be pushed back due to legal challenge delays
Will house OU men’s and women’s basketball, as well as women’s gymnastics.
Sooners AD Roger Denny last night:
“It’s going to be incredible. All of a sudden, you can go for a game, and instead of sitting on Highway 9 for an hour trying to get out of there, you can go hang out and have a great meal or a drink in the district and have a good time.”
The Rainier Companies CEO Danny Lovell, University of Oklahoma President Joseph Harroz Jr. and more will speak at the event.
Construction for the arena, which is expected to seat around 8,000, was originally thought to be completed by 2027-28, a timeline that will be pushed back due to legal challenge delays
Will house OU men’s and women’s basketball, as well as women’s gymnastics.
Sooners AD Roger Denny last night:
“It’s going to be incredible. All of a sudden, you can go for a game, and instead of sitting on Highway 9 for an hour trying to get out of there, you can go hang out and have a great meal or a drink in the district and have a good time.”
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Posted on 5/7/26 at 1:05 pm to OU Guy
Posted on 5/7/26 at 1:07 pm to OU Guy
That looks awesome.
Posted on 5/7/26 at 1:14 pm to OU Guy
I’ve done investments with Danny Lovell’s companies. He’s a top notch guy so I bet this is going to turn out great. Good for OU.
Posted on 5/7/26 at 1:15 pm to Dixie Normus
quote:
Dixie Normus
Was Hugh G. Rection already taken?
Posted on 5/7/26 at 1:24 pm to OU Guy
Wow. 8,000 seats.
Posted on 5/7/26 at 1:25 pm to OU Guy
Great concept and hope it works well for yall! Very sincerely! If there’s one thing Norman can use to go along with OU’s storied sports traditions, it’s better entertainment options. Again, congrats!
Posted on 5/7/26 at 1:32 pm to OU Guy
quote:
Construction for the arena, which is expected to seat around 8,000
$1B for the smallest arena in the SEC?
Interesting choices.
Posted on 5/7/26 at 1:42 pm to Dixie Normus
More
Rainier Development Co., a Dallas-based firm, signed an agreement with Oklahoma officials last week to build and develop the 269-acre "Rock Creek Entertainment District," according to the Dallas Business Journal's Mike Albanese. The district projects to transform the basketball experience in Norman, making Oklahoma men's and women's basketball games a popular hot spot like the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder.
The new entertainment district in Norman—reportedly set to complete Phase 1 of the three-phase project in late 2028 or early 2029—comes with a $1.1 billion price tag, per Albanese. What will the Sooners receive from the hefty price tag? Perhaps the most impressive sports and entertainment district in all of college sports.
A new 8,000-seat arena opening for the 2028-29 season will house Oklahoma's men's and women's basketball and women's gymnastics teams and will sit in the center of a district that includes hotels, restaurants, office and retail space and 1,000 residential units, per Albanese.
Chron Article LINK
Rainier Development Co., a Dallas-based firm, signed an agreement with Oklahoma officials last week to build and develop the 269-acre "Rock Creek Entertainment District," according to the Dallas Business Journal's Mike Albanese. The district projects to transform the basketball experience in Norman, making Oklahoma men's and women's basketball games a popular hot spot like the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder.
The new entertainment district in Norman—reportedly set to complete Phase 1 of the three-phase project in late 2028 or early 2029—comes with a $1.1 billion price tag, per Albanese. What will the Sooners receive from the hefty price tag? Perhaps the most impressive sports and entertainment district in all of college sports.
A new 8,000-seat arena opening for the 2028-29 season will house Oklahoma's men's and women's basketball and women's gymnastics teams and will sit in the center of a district that includes hotels, restaurants, office and retail space and 1,000 residential units, per Albanese.
Chron Article LINK
Posted on 5/7/26 at 1:42 pm to Dixie Normus
duplicate
This post was edited on 5/7/26 at 1:43 pm
Posted on 5/7/26 at 2:04 pm to ManBearSharkReb
quote:
$1B for the smallest arena in the SEC?
Interesting choices.
Its intentional. Current one is way bigger and has no character. Almost impossible to sell it out and it looks bad with way less than full capacity. Making new one smaller to give character and if it sells out great, will create demand. If not it will still have character. Also can be used for concerts and other events
Posted on 5/7/26 at 2:10 pm to OU Guy
Take this to the Chokelahoma board. Nobody else here cares
Posted on 5/7/26 at 2:27 pm to OU Guy
Looks like it’s going to be corporate and plastic AF.
Posted on 5/7/26 at 2:32 pm to OU Guy
Nice! Looks like a great venue.
Posted on 5/7/26 at 2:52 pm to Wellborn
I love the capacity! Quality over Quantity. When OU played those couple games in the old field house it seated about 7000 and was loud AF. Make it a tough ticket to get and sell it out every night instead of having 5000 empty seats like almost every SEC school in basketball.
Posted on 5/7/26 at 6:54 pm to ManBearSharkReb
quote:
$1B for the smallest arena in the SEC?
Interesting choices
It is 1 Billion for the whole development...
The arena is just part of this. Gonna be a bunch of beer joints, restaurants and stores and a hotel out there.
This located on an old Navy base that was located north of Norman toward Oklahoma City... It is a huge area and includes the University airport. They have developed some of it but there is still acres and acres just sitting there. So they decided to put it there as it is closer to a lot of the fan base in OKC.
The size of it is based partly on what they could afford (they aren't paying for the "entertainment" piece of the project) and partly because they can't compete against the Thunder for attendance.
.
This post was edited on 5/7/26 at 6:55 pm
Posted on 5/7/26 at 6:55 pm to OU Guy
Kentucky is about to start building one of those
Posted on 5/7/26 at 7:03 pm to kywildcatfanone
quote:
Kentucky is about to start building one of those
Any renderings?
Whats cool about this for OU is the city is paying for most of it.
More random renderings of Rock Creek
Posted on 5/7/26 at 7:50 pm to OU Guy
Doesn't compare to just north of LSU's campus up Highland Rd. Try all you want, you can't achieve that level of culture.
Posted on 5/8/26 at 10:18 am to OU Guy
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