Yukon residents hope city scraps amphitheater plan after study reveals money woes

Yukon residents told News 9 on Friday that they believe the Yukon city council will decide against the development of a new concert venue after a feasibility study detailing its financial impact concluded earlier this week. 

The City of Yukon hired an out-of-state consulting firm earlier this year to conduct the study. 

Zak Kastl, an opponent of the amphitheater, criticized the study’s findings, saying it omits key information. 

“The Lucky Star Amphitheater over in the El Reno area is open now; it's advertising and so, to me that's a direct competition to any proposed amphitheater in this place, and that was completely omitted from the study." 

Lakin Kastl, who also opposes the amphitheater, cited an overly optimistic study:

"They anticipated their numbers based on the venue being sold out at every show in the main season, and so far, we haven't even seen the performance numbers come from the Colorado Springs Ford Amphitheater." 

The study showed that the tax revenue sharing agreements that Yukon had to enter with the city of Oklahoma City and VENU will result in a loss of 91.8 million dollars in expected sales tax revenue over the next 30 years. 

Charles Scott told News 9 he believes the city council recognizes that the amphitheater is no longer a good idea. 

"At the last city council meeting, they did something that was our first indication that they may not be supporting this. They voted to put the property up for surplus to sale. They started the zoning process. Then, one of the city councilmen who has been a proponent of this amphitheater, publicly stated that he shifted his vote and he no longer supports it." 

Scott said he and others remain optimistic. 

“It's a dead duck. It's not going to happen. That's my hope,” he added. “All of these people with all these yellow signs-- they're hoping that it's over.”