Trustees of the Tulsa Stadium Trust met in the Eide Bailly Conference Center at ONEOK Field on Thursday morning to discuss refinancing the stadium's bonds.
Members heard a presentation from Michael Newman of Hilltop Securities. His explanation for why the board should refinance emphasized cost-saving.
“Why you should do this? You save money. Do you have to do this? No, you don’t," said Newman during his pitch to the board.
Newman said the prospective new bonds would be A-rated. For context, the highest rating for bonds, which is an assessment of their riskiness, is triple-A.
"This is not anywhere near a junk bond that anybody expects we’ll have a problem paying debt service," said Newman to the board.
When questioned by a trustee about whether the bonds could be upgraded in the future, Newman said they probably wouldn’t.
The board voted to form a subcommittee to explore the issue further.
Aside from the bonds issue, the board discussed 50-thousand dollars' worth of damage from the Father’s Day storms. They also voted to appoint David Page, a previous trustee, to replace trustee Ginger Kollmann.
