2013 Conference USA BB Tournament to be in Tulsa

[RecycleMichael]

Live wells are a lot better than they used to be...

If I had a record fish, I would do whatever it would take to keep it alive. Even mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

[rdj]

The Conference USA tournament brings a lot of visitors to downtown restaurants and hotels. I am not sure how much of the outer area benefits, but I saw people wearing sports clothing for their team everywhere downtown last time. Of all the things I have seen at the BokArena, basketball works there the best. Maybe it is because the driving force behind the arena was Mayor Bill LaFortune who is a major basketball fan and still plays in a league every week.

The BASS tournament should be good for the lake, and I think it will spur new interest in Oklahoma lakes, which are beautiful and quite an attraction for our state. Oklahoma has more shoreline than the east and gulf coasts combined. I think fishing should be a continual campaign for the state tourism people.

It is interesting that the weigh-in is at the BokArena. The fishermen usually don't transport live fish that far each day. If the fish dies, it don't count.

Actually the BOK Center is not that good for basketball.  The way they designed the "ends" they don't match up well to extend the seating with temporary bleachers like most arenas use to get fans closer to the floor.  This hurts the ability sell tickets up close and the overall feel of the arena.

The transport of the fish will not be a problem.  Once the fish are secured at the dock by the BASS staff they will be injected with a chemical that will place them in a subdued state to ensure they don't lose weight on the way to the BOK Center from Grove.

As far as the BASS attendance.  The visitor numbers are not driven by "spectators" but by visitors that are in town for the large expo/trade show that accompanies the tournament.  They will host a large trade show at the Convention Center that will draw most of the crowd.

According to the Shreveport-Bossier Chamber of Commerce (http://www.shreveport-bossier.org/bassmaster-classic) they had 137,000 visitors to the 2009 BASS Master Classic.  Sorry I may have been a little low in my estimate of 70,000.

This is the Super Bowl of fishing.

[TulsaRufnex]

very much so

ditto

[Oil Capital]

It isn't a matter of them being a "visitor" or local, its a matter of our area having an event that will have 50-70k people partaking in a singular event. That a good portion of those people will be spending money they my not otherwise spend in the area. Plus what do you define as local anyway? It will be attracting lots of people from the whole region that means a shift in there habits and spending.

All of that is true.  But there is still a huge difference and it is important to distinguish between the numbers of visitors attending the event and the number of locals attending the event.  1.  Visitors will spend far more money per person per day (hotels, 3 meals per day, etc.). And 2.  A large portion of the local spending is generally NOT new spending.  It is displaced spending.  (i.e., money that would have been spent locally even withouth this particular event... But spent at other events, venues, restaurants etc)