It’s been 20 years since Oklahoma City’s Paycom Center opened in the summer of 2002, just six years before the Seattle Supersonics relocated to OKC and became the Thunder in 2008.
At the dawn of its opening, the arena was called the Ford Center and hosted the former Central Hockey League’s Oklahoma City Blazers. It’s been around since the stilted Stanley Draper Expressway split downtown in half, sitting just south of the arena before it was eventually destroyed and replaced with a new, five-lane expressway.
Paycom Center turns 20 today! June 8, 2002 marks the dedication of the arena in downtown #OklahomaCity.