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in dollars | architect = The Benham Companies, LLC. Sink Combs Dethlefs | services engineer = M-E Engineers, Inc. | general_contractor = Flintco Construction Co. | former_names = Ford Center (2002–2010) Oklahoma City Arena (2010–2011) | tenants = Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA) (2008–present) New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets (NBA) (2005–2007) Oklahoma City Blazers (CHL) (2002–2009) Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz (af2) (2004–2008) | seating_capacity = Basketball: 18,203 Hockey: 18,036 Arena football: 17,868 Concerts: 19,711 WWE: 14,708 }} Chesapeake Energy Arena, originally known as the Ford Center from 2002 to 2010 and Oklahoma City Arena until 2011, is an arena located in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. It opened in 2002 and since 2008 has functioned primarily as the home venue of the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Previously, Chesapeake Energy Arena was home to the Oklahoma City Blazers of the Central Hockey League (CHL) from 2002 until the team folded in July 2009, and the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz of AF2 from 2004 to 2009 when the team moved to the Cox Convention Center. In addition to its use as a sports venue, Chesapeake Energy Arena hosts concerts, family and social events, conventions, ice shows, and civic events. The arena is owned by the city and operated by the SMG property management company and has 18,203 seats in the basketball configuration, 18,036 for hockey, and can seat up to 19,711 for concerts. From 2005 to 2007 the area also served as the temporary home for the New Orleans Hornets of the NBA when the Hornets were forced to play games elsewhere following extensive damage to New Orleans Arena and the city of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina. During the two seasons in Oklahoma City, the team was known as the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. The response from fans while the Hornets played in Oklahoma City was an impetus to the city being discussed prior to 2008 as a future NBA market, either by relocation or expansion. ==History== It is owned by the City of Oklahoma City and opened on June 8, 2002, three years after construction began.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.okfordcenter.com/arena/index.cfm?page=arenainformation )〕 It is located adjacent to the Robinson Avenue exit of I-40 Crosstown Expressway in downtown Oklahoma City. The original ''Ford Center'' name came from a naming rights deal with the Oklahoma Ford Dealers group which represents the marketing efforts of the state's Ford dealerships, rather than the Ford Motor Company itself. The facility was the premier component of the city's 1993 Capital Improvement Program, known as Metropolitan Area Projects (MAPS), which financed new and upgraded sports, entertainment, cultural, and convention facilities primarily in the downtown section with a temporary 1-cent sales tax assessed. Despite the "metropolitan" moniker of the improvement program, the tax was only assessed inside city limits.〔 Originally billed and marketed as a "state-of-the-art" facility, Oklahoma City Arena was actually constructed to minimum NBA and NHL specifications. The arena was built without luxury amenities because of local concerns on expenditures on an arena without a major-league tenant, with the ability to create "buildout" amenities and improvements to the arena if a professional sports team announced it would relocate to the city. A plan for such buildout improvements began in 2007 in the wake of acquisition of the Seattle SuperSonics by an Oklahoma-City based ownership group in October 2006. Originally, city officials had hoped to include Oklahoma City Arena buildout improvements as part of a planned 2009 "MAPS 3" initiative. However, given the impending relocation decision of the Sonics ownership group in late 2007, the City Council of Oklahoma City placed a sales tax initiative on the city election ballot on March 4, 2008. This initiative was passed by a 62% to 38% margin, and extended a prior one-cent sales tax for a period of fifteen months in order to fund $121 million in budgeted improvements to the arena, as well as fund a separate practice facility for a relocated franchise.〔 Subsequent to the ballot initiative, City officials and Sonics ownership announced a preliminary agreement to move the Sonics franchise to Oklahoma City and the Ford Center. The deal included a provision for $1.6 million in annual rents to the City for use of the Ford Center (including marketing rights of luxury seating areas for all NBA and most non-NBA events), and a $409,000 annual supplemental payment in exchange for a transfer of arena naming rights and associated revenue to the Sonics franchise. The franchise move was approved by NBA ownership on April 18, 2008.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chesapeake Energy Arena」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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