Norman breaks ground on $1.1 billion Rock Creek Entertainment District, including new OU basketball arena

The shovels went in the ground on Tuesday, and for OU men’s basketball coach Porter Moser, the moment was almost surreal.

As speaker after speaker took the podium at the Rock Creek Entertainment District groundbreaking ceremony, Moser found his eyes drifting past them — toward the rendering of what will soon rise from 269 acres near I-35 and Rock Creek Road.

“I was sitting there, and we had some great speakers today,” Moser said. “But part of my gaze went right through the speakers and was just staring at that arena right there. And just envisioning the entertainment value. The fan experience of coming. You hear all these reasons why it’s hard to get to Lloyd Noble. The easy access. The restaurant district. The people coming in there. The modern venue. I don’t think there’s going to be anything like it.”

Tuesday’s ceremony marked the official start of construction on the $1.1 billion mixed-use development. A project that has been years in the making and is poised to reshape the landscape of Norman and OU Athletics for decades to come.

At the heart of Phase I is an approximately 8,000-seat multipurpose performance venue designed to host concerts, conventions and community events, while also serving as the new home for OU men’s and women’s basketball and women’s gymnastics. Rainier Development Company CEO Danny Lovell said the goal is to have the arena open sometime during the 2028-29 basketball season.

For Moser, that timeline carries real weight, especially on the recruiting trail.

“I do think the vision is something you do want with recruiting,” Moser said. “The sophomores and juniors in high school are really going to get it. I can’t tell you the entertainment value for the whole community. The financial, economic advantages for the whole community. It is just a game-changer. Let’s go.”

A new home for OU hoops

The broader district is designed as a year-round, walkable destination incorporating hospitality, retail, dining, office space, residential living and public gathering areas. The development is projected to generate more than 3,000 construction and permanent jobs over the life of the project. Approximately $800 million in private capital will be invested directly into the community.

OU Athletics Director Roger Denny didn’t mince words about what the new arena means for the Sooners’ basketball programs.

“It’s huge,” Denny said. “If you just look at our program and start to identify the areas for improvement, for our basketball program, this is about as big an area of improvement as we can get. And it’s not just in the game. The game-day atmosphere is certainly going to get a heck of a lot better. But everything around the game — just creating a sense of excitement. These are places where a lot of memories are going to get made over the decades to come.”

Denny also made a point to recognize OU women’s gymnastics, which will call the new venue home.

“It’s a fitting home for our women’s gymnastics team that absolutely is the dominant force in their sport right now,” Denny said.

For women’s basketball coach Jennie Baranczyk, Tuesday felt like the culmination of a long journey that started almost from the moment she arrived in Norman.

“This was one of the first few things we talked about in the first couple of months that we were here,” Baranczyk said. “To be able to sit around the table and talk about the dreams of what it could look like and feel like. And now to be seeing it — it feels like it’s been a long time.”

Baranczyk said her involvement in the process — from city council meetings to design sessions — gave her a deeper appreciation for the scope of what’s being built.

“This truly is an entertainment district,” she said. “You can see the businesses that are here, the local business owners from Main Street. This is something that can’t help but make Norman better and continue to grow. Is the arena going to be amazing for us? Absolutely. But we couldn’t be more excited to see what’s actually going into this.”

Moser put it simply: “You have to transition from having home games to homecourt advantage. It’s going to be a venue like no other in the country.”

For Norman, that transition officially began Tuesday.