A sunny climate, abundant hotel space—more than 14,000 rooms in Oklahoma City and the metropolitan area—and a wide range of leisure, cultural, and recreational opportunities make Oklahoma City attractive to large and small groups of convention-goers.
The Cox Business Services Center, located in the city's business district, offers facilities for sports, banquets, concerts, exhibitions, trade shows, and stage performances. A recent $50 million renovation added 105,000 square feet of exhibit space, nearly doubling the old square footage. High ceilings and wide expanses of glass overlooking the downtown landscape evoke the open feel of the Oklahoma prairie. Meeting, exhibit, and entertainment areas totaling 1 million square feet include the Exhibit Hall, the Great Hall for banquets and ballroom dancing, and the Arena, which can seat up to 16,000 people. The arena houses an ice rink, basketball floor, and a portable indoor track. The Renaissance, a $32 million, 15-story, 311-room luxury hotel is connected to the center via skywalk, and a climate-controlled walkway also connects to the nearby Westin Hotel. Four blocks from the Cox Center is the Civic Center Music Hall (which underwent a $52 million renovation in 2001) with facilities for concerts, lectures, meetings, conventions, and stage shows. It can seat up to 3,200 people.
Funded by a one percent sales tax increase, the sleek new Ford Center arena opened in 2002 with seating for 20,000 and facilities to accommodate professional sporting events and national touring concerts. A premier project of MAPS, Oklahoma City's unique capital improvement program to upgrade the city's convention and municipal facilities, the Ford Center has 49 private suites and is home to professional hockey and arena football franchises.
The Oklahoma City Fairgrounds, with over a million square feet, also offers a 12,500-seat arena, a racetrack, and a baseball stadium. Among the city's other convention facilities are Frontier City, with its themed indoor banquet facilities that seat 5 to 1,000 people, and the popular Wagon Wheel Picnic Ranch, which can seat 25 to 5,000 people. Groups of up to 1,000 people can be accommodated at Metro Tech's Business Conference Center. Smaller and medium-sized groups can find meeting and event space at the Clarion Meridian Hotel and Convention Center or the Will Rogers Theater.
Convention Information: Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau, 189 W. Sheridan, Oklahoma City, OK 73102; telephone (405)297-8912; toll-free (800)225-5652; email okccvb@okccvb.org