After many long years of waiting, the owner of the OKC Thundder Owner called for a celebration.
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook will be commemorating a long journey to the top of the basketball hierarchy with their opening game of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night. It might be good for team co-owner Aubrey McClendon, whose business is named on the Oklahoma City arena, to have someone else take center stage for a change.
The second-biggest natural gas producer in the United States, McClendon, has been under regulatory and shareholder scrutiny following allegations that he utilized company funds for personal purposes.
The most obvious evidence that McClendon mixed personal interests with Chesapeake business is probably the Chesapeake Energy Arena. McClendon, the 19% shareholder in The Thunder often sits a few rows back from courtside during home playoff games.
The Oklahoma City-based energy company pays up to $4 million a year to brand the Chesapeake Energy Arena, which is “known by the cool kids as The Peake,” according to Jenni Carlson, a sports columnist for NewsOK. The company also has a $36 million sponsorship deal with the NBA team.
