Not everyone happy about new fairgrounds arena naming rights deal
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The Oklahoma City Fairgrounds announced OG&E would be awarded naming rights to the new multimillion dollar arena being built to replace Jim Norick Arena, some people think the move is insulting to OG&E customers.
Leaders with OKC Fairgrounds announced the deal during a ceremony celebrating the arena’s topping out on Wednesday.
Voters approved construction of the $126 million arena as part of the MAPS 4 program.
But that didn’t include all the funding needed to get it built.
The fairgrounds turned to donors to close out the funding gap.
“Without them, we would not be here today,” said Ron Norrick, Chairman of the Board for the Oklahoma State Fair, Inc.
Norick announced OG&E would get to put its name on the new arena.
“Now it will be called the OG&E coliseum,” Norick said.
A news release from the fairgrounds says OG&E recently sold off their stake in a company they partly owned, and donated the money it made off the sale to its nonprofit charity, OGE Energy Corp. Foundation.
The release says OGE Energy Corp. Foundation then donated that money to the fairgrounds to finish the arena and get the naming rights.
Representatives with AARP Oklahoma say the move rubbed AARP members the wrong way.
“I don't know if it's just a, you know, lack of awareness or tone deafness,” said Sean Voskhul with AARP Oklahoma. “It's a head scratcher for a lot of people. Like, we're struggling right now and you're going to spend millions of dollars on a naming rights situation.”
He doesn’t understand why that money couldn’t have gone back to OG&E customers—the same customers he says OG&E is asking the state to impose a rate hike on.
“They've been very, very profitable,” he said. “And so those revenues could be invested back in their customers.”
The fairgrounds didn’t share how much OG&E paid for the deal.
News 4 reached out to OG&E, a spokesperson said “the terms of the naming rights agreement are not being disclosed”
The spokesperson also said “this gift from the OGE Energy Corp. Foundation was funded through shareholder dollars following the sale…” of the other company.
News 4 asked them why OG&E couldn’t have used those funds to buy down winter storm Uri costs OG&E passed on to customers.
The spokesperson said that question “assumes the company could have used proceeds for any use and this is incorrect.”