Mayor David Holt unveiled OKC United during his annual State of the City address on July 15, 2026, confirming the club's name, crest and colors ahead of a 2028 debut in the USL Championship. The ownership group behind it — Russell Westbrook, Baker Mayfield, Jalen Williams, Jozy Altidore and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone — turns Oklahoma City's newest professional sports franchise into a roster of athletes on the other side of the ledger, as owners rather than employees.
The ownership group
OKC United is majority owned by Echo Investment Capital, the Oklahoma City-based firm run by CEO Christian Kanady. The athlete roster spans four sports: Westbrook and Williams from the Thunder's NBA rotation, Mayfield from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Altidore from a Major League Soccer and U.S. men's national team career, and McLaughlin-Levrone from track and field, where she holds the world record in the 400-meter hurdles. Denver Broncos linebacker Nik Bonitto, a former Oklahoma Sooner, invested earlier in 2026 — Mayfield became the second former Sooner in the group when he joined.
Echo Investment Capital frames the roster as its "Connective Capital" model, designed to unite athletes, operators and community leaders around long-term development in the city rather than sell them a passive logo license. "This is a defining moment for Oklahoma City," Kanady said in a release carried by OU Daily. "We have always believed sports can be a catalyst for community and economic growth, and to have athletes of this caliber put their names and capital behind that vision is extraordinary."
The roster also includes cultural entrepreneur Nick Gross, founder of the entertainment company Gross Labs and, per Sportico, the son of bond investor Bill Gross.
The Chickasaw Nation's stake
The Chickasaw Nation's involvement predates the July unveiling: Echo Investment Capital and the tribe announced the investment in September 2025, made through the Chickasaw Nation's wholly owned subsidiary, Sovereign Native Holdco, LLC, alongside existing investors Echo and Russell Westbrook Enterprises. "The Chickasaw Nation has been a cornerstone of Oklahoma's history, a people whose resilience, service and leadership continue to shape this state in ways that benefit everyone who calls it home," Kanady said at the time. Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby framed it as a community investment: "Soccer can unite people, inspire youth and build confidence." That financial stake is separate from the crest's design, which draws on pan-tribal Oklahoma imagery rather than exclusively Chickasaw iconography — the sun-ray motif at the crest's center represents the 39 tribes headquartered across the state, and its border pattern is drawn from Sac and Fox Olympian Jim Thorpe's name.
The crest
Designer Matthew Wolff built the crest with creative direction from Westbrook, the club's creative director. The shield takes the shape of an arrowhead, a nod to Oklahoma's Native American heritage broadly. At its center, an interlocking "OKC" monogram sits inside a ring of 39 sun rays. A zig-zag pattern bordering the shield draws from Jim Thorpe's Sac and Fox name, Wa-Tho-Huk — translated as "Bright Path" — reflecting a view of life's journey as seasons of growth, change, adversity and success. The club's primary colors are Midnight Blue, Pink Sunset and Ivory Cloud, inspired by the Oklahoma sky.
Stadium and timeline
OKC United will play at the MAPS 4 Multipurpose Stadium, a Populous-designed venue seating just over 10,000 that broke ground in early June and is scheduled to open in 2028, the same year as the club's USL Championship debut. The venue, built with $121 million in public funding, sits two blocks from the Thunder's new arena and will also host United Football League games, concerts and other events. Oklahoma City previously fielded a USL team, OKC Energy FC, but OKC United is a new brand rather than a revival of that franchise.
The move fits a pattern Uristocrat flagged in June, when a run of deals across sports, tech and fashion signaled that ownership — not participation — had become the whole game. Mayfield's move into the owner's box adds to a full year off the field, following his run as part of the cast Netflix followed for "Quarterback" Season 3. Williams is putting his leverage into a franchise a short walk from Paycom Center, where the Thunder and Spurs went the distance in this spring's Western Conference Finals.
Westbrook's playing career has since ended: he retired after 18 NBA seasons as the league's all-time triple-double leader, leaving the ownership stake as one of his primary sports interests.
Source: OKCFOX, OU Daily, Yahoo Sports, USL Soccer, Sportico, Billboard
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