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Summary:
– Thunder begin training camp; arena preps new food and merch.
– New vendors join returning favorites like Pizza Hut.
– Thunder Reserve waitlist returns for future season tickets.
OKLAHOMA CITY — It was a short off-season for the NBA Champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Less than four months after raising the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy after defeating the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, the team kicked off training camp this week in preparation for the upcoming season.
But while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Lu Dort were just getting back to work, those who work behind the scenes at the Paycom Center have already been hard at work preparing for the new season.
“It seems like yesterday was June 22nd. Feels like the season is starting really quick, but I think everybody feels a sense of just like gratitude for just having been through this experience,” said Thunder Vice President Brian Byrnes. “What a powerful thing to like reflect upon, think about, and now be excited about creating the conditions to do it again.”
On Wednesday, the Thunder hosted their annual Game Night Food & Fits Preview. Invited guests, media members and influencers were given a look at the new food and merchandise that will be on sale at the arena throughout the 2025-26 campaign.
The preview provides old and new vendors an opportunity to showcase new items on their menus.
While restaurants like Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 Club, Freddy’s and Boomarang Diner will continue to be familiar faces, a few new eateries have been added to the concourse. They include Eddie’s Wings, the Perfect Pretzel and HTeaO.
Guests and social media influencers were able to get a first look at the menus for the Oklahoma City Thunder games at the Paycom Center. (Photo by Michael Kinney, The Journal Record)
After a long absence from Thunder games, Pizza Hut is returning to the game night festivities. They are bringing with them a number of food selections and their version of the Little Free Libraries as they look to connect with the community.
“You know how, when you grow up and you go away for a while and then you come back? So, we are thrilled to be back,” said Pizza Hut CMO Lynda Carrier-Metz. “We just felt like we were in a position operationally that we could do it well, and so we are doing OU as well. We have the staff, and people were really excited to get back in here.”
According to Byrnes, Pizza Hut’s reemergence at Thunder games shows local businesses see the value of having a relationship with a winning franchise.
“Pizza Hut was a partner with Thunder for a long time, and then they went away,” Byrnes said. “And then they started to realize that, you know, being a part of our ecosystem, being a part of our fan experience, being part of the arena experience is really powerful. It’s a great way to tell your story. It’s a great way to show best in class. It’s a great way to be really elevated in an important environment like a Thunder game.”
Along with watching winning basketball on the court, fans have high expectations when they come to a Thunder home game. Meeting those expectations every year means staying fresh and changing up some things while keeping the parts fans love.
“I think that just shows that there’s a real interest in being a part of something that is really culturally important,” said Byrnes. “Going to a big-time sporting event, supporting your favorite team, includes the whole experience. We call it the driveway-to-driveway experience.”
The overall demand to be part of the Thunder experience from residents and visitors to the state has only grown with the addition of NBA champions to the franchise’s resume. Because of that, they brought back their Thunder Reserve, which is the team’s official waitlist. For a $100 deposit, fans who wish to become future season ticket members.
“Soon after the end of the season, the end of the playoffs, we reached our capacity on season ticket products, and we immediately launched the Thunder Reserve,” said Byrnes.
“The thing about the Thunder Reserve that I think will be different from years past is that as we invite people to be a part of the Thunder membership program, we’re going to curate the experiences based on what your interest level is. For some people, it might be the ability to go to a couple of games during the course of the season and build priority points, and build loyalty that’ll help you when the time comes to buy the season ticket. In other cases, it might just be people who are willing to be in line and be ready. But it’s also about helping to curate that wait list in such a way that we understand what the consumer wants.”
Coming off a historic run in which the Thunder helped Oklahoma City reach record-breaking tax sales during the summer, Byrnes expects much of the same going forward.
“We would expect every game to be sold out. I don’t know that we’ll necessarily see more people in the building. That being said, I do think that we’re going to see a lot of new people enjoying the games. And whether that’s because there’s so much demand now and the secondary market has so much value that people want to be a part of this experience.”
Opening night is set for Oct. 21 when the Thunder host Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets.