Don’t expect OU to go from football school to basketball school under Denny, but he knows it’s important for those revenue sports to be respectable and profitable.
5. OU’s stadium projects get rolling
Though revenue generation and athlete compensation have become most schools’ top priorities of late, OU still wants to invest in sterling competition facilities, too.
It took longer than anyone at OU would have liked for a green light to build a new basketball arena that will replace the dilapidated, 50-year-old Lloyd Noble Center.
But finally, nearly three years after it was initially proposed, the Rock Creek Entertainment District — a more than $1 billion development in North Norman that includes a new OU arena — was freed from legal impediments in February and officially broke ground in May.
The 8,000-seat venue will be surrounded by hotel, retail, office, restaurant and housing spaces. Its developer is hoping to have the building ready for play towards the end of the 2028-29 Sooner basketball seasons.
“The Palace Project” — OU’s plan to renovate the aging west side of Oklahoma Memorial (football) Stadium — also emerged into the public eye in 2026.
The Sooners intend to construct numerous new suites and premium seats, and a new press box, to be completed in time for the 2029 season. The renovations will reduce stadium capacity by 7,000 and will displace many season ticket holders from their longtime seats.
It’s not a win for the common fan, but it’s a financial opportunity OU can’t turn down in the revenue sharing era. The construction will be mostly if not totally funded by big money donors who will then pay OU more dollars to sit in those suites for years to come.