OU athletic director committed to entertainment district | News

The hiring of Roger Denny as OU’s next athletic director may signal the university’s plans to prioritize the advancement of the Rock Creek Entertainment District.

Denny, while working as an attorney in St. Louis, represented the bond issuers for Ballpark Village, a mixed-use district around Busch Stadium, home ballpark of MLB team the St. Louis Cardinals.

“Ultimately, what I saw in that deal…the thing I learned from that, is that you just have to keep plugging away at it and plugging away at it every time it turns, and you think the deal might be falling apart…we’ll stay in the fight longer than anyone,” Denny said in a Wednesday press conference.

Ballpark Village was executed in two phases. The first opened in 2014 and was a $100 million, 150,000-square-foot facility including bars, restaurants and event venues. The second phase of the district was a $260 million, 700,000-square-foot expansion including a luxury apartment building, ten-story office building, retail spaces and numerous restaurants.

Since the conclusion of its second phase in 2020, Ballpark Village has had a complicated success story. In 2025, an additional $4 million was reinvested into the area, bringing two new dining and entertainment concepts, but within the same year, taxable sales around Busch Stadium fell with businesses closing their doors. 

Aaron Park, owner of Ballpark Village apparel company Arch Apparel, told the St. Louis Business Journal he was closing his store after years of struggle. He attributed declining sales to decreased attendance at Cardinals games and Ballpark Village’s failure to generate foot traffic in the off season.

“Moving to Ballpark Village was the worst decision of my life,” Park told the St. Louis Business Journal.

The Daily reached out to Ballpark Village but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Denny said Ballpark Village was one of the first projects he ever worked on. While the project took almost seven years, Denny said it taught him a lot about managing large scale developments.

“It’s not just on the field; it’s not how we compete. It’s in everything we do. You have to stay in it,” Denny said. “Big projects like that aren’t easy, and a lot of them fall apart just because of the fatigue that comes with them. And the real work that goes into it is keeping the folks engaged, so that as that fatigue sets in, no one ever loses sight of all the reasons on the front end we said that (were) so important. 

“… That’s what we’ll look to do (with University North Park).”

Over the past few years, OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. has reiterated the university’s commitment to building a $1 billion arena and entertainment district in Norman’s University North Park area. 

Harroz told Daily editors in April 2024 if Norman City Council did not approve the entertainment district, the university, alongside donors, would look to other cities to build an arena for which its basketball and women’s gymnastics teams would be anchor tenants.

“I’m very hopeful and do everything I can to keep it here in Norman,” Harroz said. “But if this isn’t approved by the city council for whatever reason, then we’re going to be looking at other (cities), Oklahoma City, Moore, surrounding areas and figure out where is there a group that wants to do this.” 

The Daily reached out to OU Marketing and Communications Thursday asking if the university expects Denny to be a leading advocate for the Rock Creek Entertainment District. 

OU Marketing and Communications did not answer any questions in the Daily’s inquiry.

“The release, formal introduction and media opportunity outline the background and qualifications that informed his hire,” Marketing and Communications wrote.

In September 2024, Norman City Council approved the entertainment district project plan 5-4. The vote took place toward the end of the eight-hour-long meeting after a long public comment period. Residents expressed concerns with the funding model, which included the formation of a new tax increment finance district, or TIF. 

Shortly after the council’s vote, Oklahomans for Responsible Economic Development submitted a petition to send the entertainment district to a public vote. The petition is now being seen by the Oklahoma Supreme Court after a judge ruled the referendum petition insufficient in May.

Dan Quinn, former Ward 8 city council member and a real estate agent, was one of four Norman residents who filed a protest against the petition. Other residents who filed the protest include David Nimmo, president and CEO of Chickasaw Nation Industries; Kyle Allison, director of Allison’s FUN Inc.; and Vernon McKown, CEO of Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods.

In a Thursday email to the Daily, Quinn wrote that he was glad Denny had an interest in the entertainment district.

“I strongly believe in the project,” Quinn wrote.

Despite his faith in the district’s development, Quinn said he was concerned that the state Supreme Court is taking so long to render a decision.

The Daily reached out on Thursday to Rob Norman, Oklahomans for Economic Development’s attorney, for comment. Norman said he would respond as soon as time allows.

The entertainment district’s arena would house OU’s women’s and men’s basketball and women’s gymnastic sporting events. While OU women’s basketball and gymnastics have seen success and fan enthusiasm over the past few years, men’s basketball has consistently underperformed under coach Porter Moser, who joined OU in 2021. Prior to 2025, the team had not qualified for the NCAA tournament for three years, and never under Moser. In its over 115 year history, men’s basketball has never won an NCAA Division I national championship and has not reached the Final Four in a decade.

OU announced Friday it would hire Denny as its next athletic director, replacing long-time athletic director Joe Castiglione. Castiglione has served as OU’s athletic director since 1998 and will step into an emeritus role following the hiring of his successor. The Sooners won 26 national championships during his tenure.

Denny has served as Illinois’ deputy athletic director and chief operating officer since July 2021. Prior to his position at Illinois, Denny worked as an attorney at the St. Louis office of law firm Spencer Fane LLP with an industry focus on sports businesses. Denny advised clients on transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, executive compensation and taxation, private equity and corporate finance.

The search for OU’s new athletic director was led by Randall Stephenson, former AT&T CEO and current executive adviser to the president and athletics director, and supported by The Athlete Group and a 12-member committee of representatives across the university. 

Stephenson told The Oklahoman in September the university was looking for candidates with talent, business acumen and those with experience in sports media.

“As we think about the next athletic director, Joe (Harroz), Joe (Castiglione) and I have talked about how we need to begin to think about different talent pools,” Stephenson told The Oklahoman. “Where we go look for the type of individual that we think can be successful over the next 10 years in this kind of role. And so we’re going to be looking at some very different talent pools.”

In Wednesday’s conference, Randall Stephenson said they were impressed by Denny’s technical and operating skills.

“This guy just flat knows how to operate, and he knows how to build a plan. He knows how to put a plan in front of an organization, and how to drive execution through an organization,” Stephenson said.

OU released its job description for the role in October. Candidates were required to have a bachelor’s degree, demonstrated ability to lead high-performing teams and business experience in finance and marketing. Preferred candidates were expected to hold a master’s degree, experience with fundraising and alumni relations, and possess knowledge of NCAA regulations and name, image and likeness deals, revenue sharing and the NCAA’s House settlement.

Joshua McDaniel contributed to the reporting of this story.

This story was edited by Natalie Armour and Audrey McClour.