Oklahoma State athletic director Chad Weiberg provided his thoughts on the status of the OSU hockey club amid a buzz-worthy week for the team.
STILLWATER — It’s the middle of basketball and wrestling season at Oklahoma State, with the football transfer portal just cooling down, and spring sports starting to warm up.
Yet for a couple days last week, the Oklahoma State hockey club had all the buzz on social media after a Barstool Sports hockey podcast and College Hockey News posted reports discussing a $200 million arena and a move to the NCAA Division I level.
The OSU club team has generated a good amount of excitement with its impressive season — most recently with a pair of wins at Penn State — and got a unique bit of attention when former OSU football coach Mike Gundy made a video promoting their Bedlam game at the BOK Center in Tulsa in late February.
However, talks of a multi-million-dollar arena or a move to DI vary in range from premature to extremely unlikely.
Let’s take a look at some important details:
What does OSU athletic director Chad Weiberg say about OSU hockey?
Oklahoma State athletic director Chad Weiberg is appreciative of the work done by the hockey club to raise its profile, but his comments suggest there’s little room to maneuver toward a DI jump, based primarily on the financial state of college athletics at this point.
“It is impressive to see what the OSU hockey club has done over the last few years,” Weiberg told The Oklahoman. ”They've created a great organization with significant backing and have become one of the best club teams in the country. The club is committed to adding value to OSU, not taking from existing resources, which I appreciate. The athletic department and the hockey club share a desire to innovate and to help propel the university into the future.”
OSU athletics operated at a loss of roughly $5.2 million for the 2025 fiscal year, which suggests the university is not in position to add a non-revenue varsity sport. Adding a men’s sport like hockey would also raise some Title IX equality issues that would have to be addressed. As a club team, OSU Athletics does not oversee the hockey program.
Even with a large donation up front to start the program, the longevity of such an endeavor would still be costly.
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— College Puck NXT (@CollegePuckNXT) January 28, 2026
Initial OK State Hockey Arena renderings by: Mcanear Architecture posted on their Instagram! https://t.co/9RAMRzJ3kSpic.twitter.com/3R56sNjCtD
Are arena renderings real?
Images were posted by various social media accounts showing renderings from “McAnear Architecture" which belongs to OSU student Braden McAnear. Both his website and his Instagram account have posts of the renderings he created in collaboration with fellow student Lakin Osmus, specifically detailing them as “part of a student design opportunity.”
The Instagram post also states that the renderings “represent a conceptual vision for what a future ice hockey arena could be. They are not official designs or commissioned renders.”
So, yes, the renderings are real, but they were not created as part of any actual plans by anyone to build an arena.
What’s next for OSU hockey?
OSU hockey has established itself in a prominent place nationally among club teams and has relevant financial backing to attract players and build a strong schedule.
The club has won six straight games and is scheduled to play a pair of games at Tennessee on Feb. 6-7.
That is followed by games at Nebraska on Feb. 13-14 before ending the month with the aforementioned Bedlam game Feb. 28 in Tulsa.
Scott Wright covers Oklahoma State athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Scott? He can be reached at [email protected] or on X at @ScottWrightOK. Sign up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys newsletter to access more OSU coverage. Support Scott’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com or by using the link at the top of this page.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Will Oklahoma State hockey go NCAA Division I? Chad Weiberg weighs in
Category: General Sports
