Oklahoma Athletics Director Joe Castiglione discussed the potential of a new basketball arena on Wednesday following a university board of regents meeting that saw the approval of contract extensions for basketball coaches Porter Moser and Jennie Baranczyk.
Momentum toward a new facility has only intensified of late after both coaches recently declared their desire for one.
Moser said during a Feb. 17 press conference he’d discussed the matter with Castiglione after being hired away from Loyola-Chicago last April, and Baranczyk, formerly the coach at Drake, added her support on Feb. 18. The Sooners’ current arena, the Lloyd Noble Center, opened in 1975 and holds up to 11,562 fans.
“The future of Lloyd Noble has been something we've studied, and in the past several years, obviously, there has been an initiative that came forward from the community to try to create a special mixed use development with an arena as its centerpiece,” Castiglione said.
“We were very involved in those discussions going forward and previously, and then just recently, we've been approached by several in the community to ask whether we would consider re-engaging in those conversations. And so we told them that we're always open to trying to find ways to partner with the community, strengthen our community, because a strong community is great for us, too.”
The OU Foundation played a large role in previous arena conversations. Guy Patton, president and CEO of the group, said after Wednesday’s meeting that while the foundation isn’t currently discussing a new arena with university administration, Castiglione's desire for an up-to-date home for the Sooners has been heard.
Furthermore, Patton said the OU Foundation would support a new arena if the university decided to pursue it.
In 2017, a project was created when the city of Norman revealed plans to conjure a new entertainment district that would house OU basketball and other amenities. The OU Foundation requested tax incentives through the University North Park tax increment district in 2018, according to the Norman Transcript.
The foundation’s intentions were to build the arena on land it owned between Rock Creek and Tecumseh Road about six miles from OU’s campus. But, after opposition from community members and a lawsuit regarding records allegedly subject to the state open records act, the OU Foundation withdrew its request in July 2018.
In 2017, OU agreed "in principle" to be the multi-purpose arena’s anchor tenant. Castiglione said the university’s interest was "very high," according to a previous article from The Daily.
Consider that interest renewed as attendance struggles persist at the current 47-year-old facility despite it resting only one mile from the dorms and two miles from Campus Corner.
“Some of the ideas that they have talked about right now, I guess you could say, are very similar to what was presented earlier,” Castiglione said. “But it's way too early for me to say anything more. We're just in the stage of hearing more about what they may want to bring to us.”
Additionally, Castiglione was asked about other athletics-related facility upgrades, but did not provide any updates. The foremost among those is a new $27 million softball facility, Love's Field, which is scheduled to open in 2024.
