It's a ticket to ride, thanks to McCartney

It's a ticket to ride, thanks to McCartney
By John Estus
Staff Writer

It wasn't just Chris Paul's passes and Desmond Mason's dunks that convinced the Ford Center's general manager the Oklahoma City arena had arrived.

It was also the songs of a Beatle.


"Paul McCartney was a turning point for us,” general manager Gary Desjardins said about the legend's 2002 concert there.

Desjardins remembers bidding against the self-proclaimed live music capital, Austin, Texas, for the concert.

Oklahoma City won. McCartney's show sold out in 40 minutes.

After that, Desjardins said his staff gained confidence that the world's top touring acts would realize the city and its arena were for real.

"Everything changed,” Desjardins said.

Worth more change?
Despite being open for only half the year in 2002, the venue brought in more than $20 million in concert revenue with acts such as The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, Tim McGraw, George Strait and Britney Spears.

"It opened a ton of eyes. I was surprised at how well those shows did,” Desjardins said.

He boasted that the arena has averaged more than 20 major concerts a year since then, in addition to regular events such as Blazers hockey and Yard Dawgz arena football games.

Desjardins likened the city's early support of the Ford Center as a major concert venue to how the NBA's Hornets were received.

"The market responded to the Hornets in such a big way, which really opened a lot of people's eyes.”

The question Oklahoma City voters are now asked is whether $121 million of their sales tax money that would mostly pay to upgrade the Ford Center is worth trying to change everything yet again. Civic leaders tout the March 4 sales tax election as a referendum on whether the city wants an NBA team — likely the Oklahoma-owned Seattle SuperSonics club that has applied to relocate here.

Just one puzzle piece
For Desjardins, who has managed Ford Center's operations since its groundbreaking in 1999, the vote and the arena's evolution are part of a bigger picture.

He stood by a window Thursday in one of Ford Center's upper level concourses and pointed toward the revitalized Bricktown district and then gazed south to the land stretching to the Oklahoma River.

The area is mostly bleak. Abandoned buildings linger between the few homes and businesses left in the one-time industrial district, which is in flux partly because the relocation of Interstate 40 has required the state to acquire a big chunk of the real estate there.

But the city's Core to Shore planning effort seeks to revitalize the area. Recently released sketches and animations show the area transformed into a vibrant urban community packed with homes, businesses, parks and entertainment from downtown to the river.

Although the currently unfunded Core to Shore vision would take decades to reach, Desjardins sees a rebuilt Ford Center as an anchor between the city's initial revitalization project in Bricktown and the ambitious plans south of the arena.

"I think this really fits into Core to Shore, in a big way,” Desjardins said of the proposed improvements.

Oklahoma's Main Street
That's part of the reason a new main entrance is proposed on the south side of the arena. If voters support the improvements, the new main entrance would be on the grand boulevard that is planned to replace the Crosstown Expressway bridge when I-40 is moved about a mile south in 2012.

As a key element to the Core to Shore plan, the boulevard has been envisioned by Mayor Mick Cornett as the state's Main Street. Desjardins said having a state-of-the-art arena there seems appropriate.

"It's not my building. It's our building, and it's something to be proud of. It adds to the quality of life for Oklahoma City,” Desjardins said.

He remembers "a lot of sleepless nights, lying in bed staring at the ceiling” during the stressful weeks before Ford Center opened in 2002.

Desjardins agrees that the Ford Center will be an entirely new arena if voters pass the proposal in March, a claim supporters of the improvements have made repeatedly. That means he'll have to open it once again, and spend more stressful nights in bed staring at the ceiling.

He said he's fine with that.