The New Orleans Pelicans are eyeing a major makeover for the Smoothie King Center, rolling out a sweeping master plan that would redo the lower bowl, modernize aging building systems and slightly bump up capacity. Team officials are pitching it as an early blueprint to guide talks over a long-term lease and how to pay for everything, not as a done deal. For now, the proposal is strictly conceptual, with two alternate design schemes on paper and no public price tag attached, as reported by NOLA.com.
The master plan, obtained by the Times-Picayune, was commissioned by the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District and finished last year by design giant Gensler alongside local firm Eskew Dumez + Ripple. It lays out two construction schemes that zero in on the lower bowl and premium spaces. The documents show the arena would add about 2,155 lower-level seats and push capacity from roughly 18,310 to about 19,963, with fans pulled in tighter around the court. Pelicans officials have already walked NBA commissioner Adam Silver through the plan in New York, and the team’s current lease at Smoothie King Center runs only through June 2029.
Equipment And Infrastructure Flagged As Urgent
Behind the shiny renderings is a blunt facilities study that calls out gear that has simply aged out. On the list: the arena’s original 1999 sound and public-address system and three walk-in freezers that have been in service for years. The 2016 center-hung video board is also tagged for replacement within the next two years, and portable risers plus exterior lighting are labeled high-priority fixes. According to Sports Illustrated, those technical shortcomings were a key reason the Pelicans pushed for a deeper assessment of the building.
Seating, Sightlines And Construction Phases
Designers sketched out two different construction approaches, each intended to be tackled in offseason chunks so the Pelicans’ schedule stays mostly intact. Both versions are built around the same idea: move fans closer to the action and carve out more premium club areas. Instead of just stacking on extra rows, the plan reworks the geometry of the lower bowl, a move backers say should sharpen sightlines and pump up the in-arena atmosphere.
Sports Business Journal reported earlier that Gensler was first brought in for a facility needs assessment, a step that cleared the way for the more ambitious master-plan work now in play.
Paying For It Will Take Politics, Not Just Design
One big missing piece is the cost. The master plan does not include a dollar figure, although Pelicans and state officials have said they expect any deal to look a lot like the recent Superdome overhaul, with a mix of team money and public support that would still need a legislative sign-off. Changing the team’s lease terms or tapping public funds would require action from state lawmakers before renovations could move forward.
As NOLA.com notes, the plan is already being shopped around to political power brokers and league leadership even as the nuts and bolts continue to be refined.
Next Steps And What Fans Should Expect
Officials say the master plan will serve as the roadmap for nailing down detailed cost estimates, phasing strategies and permitting timelines before any formal funding request lands at the legislature. If state lawmakers and the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District sign off, architects propose stacking the work into back-to-back offseason phases to avoid sacrificing too many home dates.
If that political support does not materialize, the same study could point to other options, including the possibility of a brand-new arena. For now, team leaders are framing the document as a planning tool while they keep talking with the league and state decision-makers about what comes next for the Smoothie King Center.
