What are the chances of a Tulsa Beacon retraction?

[PonderInc]

How many people lose sleep waiting for the Broken Arrow Expressway to turn a profit?  All those governemnt subsidies, and they just keep sinking millions more tax dollars into it year after year.... I wonder how many cumulative millions (billions?) we've spent on it since it's inception...just trying to keep it from falling apart?

A unique and beautiful arena?  The chance to see world-class acts in our hometown?  Attracting tourists and tourism dollars from around the nation/world?  Helping Tulsans get some civic pride?

Priceless. 

[cannon_fodder]

Here's the deal, and it's a real shocker:

Arena's are not a free-enterprise proposition.

Tulsa is blessed with several very nice free enterprise venues:  the Reynolds Center, Skelly Field, the Maybe Center, the Spirit Event Center . .  . among others of smaller size (Brady, Caine's).  Which is great.  I prefer free enterprise to government any day of the week.  But no arena of note in the United States built in the last ~50 years is a product of free enterprise.  It no longer happens.  OKC has an NBA team because they played the game better than Seattle.  Dallas has the super bowl because they spent a gazzilion dollars to get it.  The game has been changed.  As much as I dislike this, there it is. 

Our choice was either to play the game or not.  Failure to play the game leaves Tulsa further down the rung of third class cities lacking a significant venue.  We loose out on entertainment, conventions, tourism, and the possibility of hosting major events (C-USA, NCAA, and more to come).

I agree that the projections of massive economic development are voodoo economics.  The arena circulates a large amount of wealth, but I'll guess that nearly as much money leaves Tulsa as is drawn into Tulsa (Tulsans money leaving with acts that otherwise would have been spent locally, BUT Tulsans' money staying and other peoples money coming that otherwise would have been spent elsewhere).  But the government should not provide services, venues, or community assets with an eye solely on profit.

The quality of life aspect of having a major arena should not be lost.  Like quality museums, River Parks, good roads, or even good schools . . . in and of itself it probably isn't going to drawn people (and thereby business) to Tulsa.  But it is another piece of the puzzle. 

Additionally, the ancillary economic benefits have been notable.  We have quietly landed new conventions.  Two significant basketball tournaments.  Talk of a WNBA team (say what you will, but it is hard to see how that would be bad for Tulsa).  And possibly a new league office moving to Tulsa.  And that's just what my outsider-not-paying-attention self can note.

At the end of the day Tulsa is better off with the new arena than without it.    You can continue to predict doom and gloom, but to-date that simply is not true.  Tulsa decided to play the game, but on our own rules.  We catered to what we perceived as a need in the community along the industry lines that would yield the greatest results.  The first year of the arena has been an amazing success, beyond predictions.   To claim that the arena has been a disaster at this point simply doesn't make sense.

[Conan71]

Talk of a WNBA team (say what you will, but it is hard to see how that would be bad for Tulsa). 

Possibly catching the gay, remember?