NBA in Tulsa?

[Laramie]

Could Oklahoma support a second NBA franchise?  The Indiana Pacers could be looking at relocation:

Link:  http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hdjhQ3DnXglZFinKSlwcojEL2umAD9FK825O2

Why not Tulsa?   If Oklahoma City can--Tulsa most certainly can!


Tulsa (BOK Center)  http://gsmith.mysite.com/images/bok_center_4.jpg

The competition:

Louisville (new arena under construction):  

http://www.arenaauthority.com/

Kansas City (Sprint Center) Oversaturated Market(?):

http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/27600

http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2009/12/07/daily21.html

http://www.kansascity.com/sprintcenter/

Seattle (KeyArena)  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimlaama/381440568/


NBA ready arena in  Seatte appears to be dead.

[YoungTulsan]

lol

[rwarn17588]

Could Oklahoma support a second NBA franchise?  

No.

Next question.

[SXSW]

Tulsa would probably land NHL before NBA and even that's a stretch.  The WNBA and AFL may be the only pro teams we have for awhile.  I would like to see the Drillers bumped up to AAA and the Oilers up to AHL, and the TU Golden Hurricane a top team in their conference.  That is a pretty good sports offering for a city of our size, especially considering big time college sports at OSU is an hour away and OU/Arkansas are only 2 hours away.

[Hoss]

Tulsa would probably land NHL before NBA and even that's a stretch.  The WNBA and AFL may be the only pro teams we have for awhile.  I would like to see the Drillers bumped up to AAA and the Oilers up to AHL, and the TU Golden Hurricane a top team in their conference.  That is a pretty good sports offering for a city of our size, especially considering big time college sports at OSU is an hour away and OU/Arkansas are only 2 hours away.

I think the Oilers to AHL may not be as much of a stretch, as I've heard rumblings that the AHL would like to see something along those lines and get a "Texas/Oklahoma" division going, which would include the AHL franchises in Austin, San Antonio, Oklahoma City and here.

For those that don't know the current affiliations of those other three:

Austin = Dallas Stars
San Antonio = Phoenix Coyotes
OKC (starting next season) = Edmonton Oilers

And I know I've had several people say that the attendance wouldn't support AHL, but I think you'd be wrong.  The Tulsa CHL average attendance would compare to the top 10 attendance averages in the AHL.

[dbacks fan]

San Antonio = Phoenix Coyotes

Depending on how things go it may be the Winnipeg Jets instead of the Phoenix Coyotes.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/05/11/20100511phoenix-coyotes-deal-approved.html

[TheTed]

I'm not even sold that OKC can support the Thunder. It's way, way too early to judge that. If they're terrible in a few years, we'll have a better idea of OKC's level of support. They're still too new, then they got good quickly.

[bmuscotty]

Can Tulsa support the Shock? See how long the newness lasts....

Sellout for opener 'incredible'

The Tulsa Shock announced Wednesday that the team's inaugural game Saturday with the Minnesota Lynx is an official sellout.

The upper bowl of the BOK Center will be curtained off and tickets will not be sold in those sections (many WNBA teams do this). But all 7,479 seats of the BOK's lower bowl have been sold. An additional 200 to 400 overflow seats were made available and have been sold.

The BOK Center has made 200 standing-room only tickets available for the opener. Those tickets are $10 each and can be purchased by calling 599-9622 or online at tulsaworld.com/shock.

"We are excited to see the community embrace the Tulsa Shock on opening night," said team President Steve Swetoha. "Players, coaches and entire Shock organization appreciate the support and commitment the community has shown us — it's humbling."

As of now, only lower bowl tickets will be sold to the Shock home games.

"Our goal is to sell 7,479 (seats) every night," Swetoha said. "The lower level gives us the opportunity to have an intimate, energetic atmosphere. It's our goal to sell out every game, and it's great to have the support we have for opening night. Now, if we start selling every game out, we'll review our policy of opening the upper level. That's not something we have looked at, at this time."

Said BOK general manager John Bolton: "This is an incredible accomplishment. Not only do we have a sold-out opening game, but to have to add an additional 200
standing room-only tickets is a great indication of the success this team will have in Tulsa."
By LYNN JACOBSEN World Sports Writer

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=413&articleid=20100513_29_B7_TheTul670814

[Cats Cats Cats]

  "Sellout" .  Every game can be a sellout as long as you keep restricting the seating to whatever you sell.  Hurray for technical sellouts.

[OpenYourEyesTulsa]

I would support an NBA team in Tulsa and hope it happens someday.  We just need some rich guys to make it happen but it may take 10 or 15 years or more.

[Hoss]

Won't happen unless Oklahoma's two large markets grow to about 3 million each.  NBA won't support two small market teams in the same state.

I would like to see the NHL here, but realistically, I think the AHL would be a better fit, and gives us a natural rival (OKC).

[Laramie]

Won't happen unless Oklahoma's two large markets grow to about 3 million each.  NBA won't support two small market teams in the same state.

I would like to see the NHL here, but realistically, I think the AHL would be a better fit, and gives us a natural rival (OKC).

Good point!  When the Seattle Supersonics were for sale; Larry Elliott wanted to purchase the team and move it to San Jose and the NBA explained that with teams in Oakland and Sacramento and third team in that region wouldn't be approved.

...I think the AHL would be a better fit, and gives us a natural rival (OKC).

I feel that it will happend, it's just a matter of when.  There are too many AHL teams operating in the red and Tulsa would be a more attractive market with teams in Oklahoma City, Des Moines,  Austin, Houston and San Antonio

[SXSW]

AHL and AAA baseball would make me happy.  Good support for AHL could turn into an NHL team down the road and that would be really cool.  I really want to see TU continue to do well in football and consistently stay as one of the top 'mid-majors' like a Boise State or Fresno State.  The same for basketball, which was at that level in the late 90's/early 00's and could get there again.  The Reynolds Center is a great  on-campus venue for college basketball and really big games could sell-out the BOK Center if TU was at a high level like they used to be. 

It will be interesting to see what happens with this whole conference realignment talk.  If OU and OSU somehow go to the SEC with Texas and A&M that could leave the door open for TU to align itself with remaining Big 12 teams if Kansas, Kansas State, Texas Tech, and Baylor are left out.  Those teams along with UTEP, SMU, Houston, Rice, and potentially Memphis, Louisiana Tech and/or TCU (if the MWC and WAC are raided) could make for an interesting regional conference that would attract more fans than the current C-USA.

[Renaissance]

The league allowed the OKC move because the state was pitched as a single market.  Tulsa can't make the same play--they won't be able to pretend that people from OKC will come down the turnpike to support the Tulsa Tornadoes or whatever.  

We won't get an AAA baseball team until MLB expands from 30 to 32 teams.  At that point, there will be a need for two new AAA farm franchises to support the two new major league teams, and two more cities to take over the AAA franchises from cities that got promoted from AAA to MLB.

So, AHL is the quickest possibility, I think.  I can't think of any barriers offhand other than an interested investor.  Would Henry Primo make this play?

[Hoss]

The league allowed the OKC move because the state was pitched as a single market.  Tulsa can't make the same play--they won't be able to pretend that people from OKC will come down the turnpike to support the Tulsa Tornadoes or whatever.  

We won't get an AAA baseball team until MLB expands from 30 to 32 teams.  At that point, there will be a need for two new AAA farm franchises to support the two new major league teams, and two more cities to take over the AAA franchises from cities that got promoted from AAA to MLB.

So, AHL is the quickest possibility, I think.  I can't think of any barriers offhand other than an interested investor.  Would Henry Primo make this play?

As long as it's ANYBODY other than Jeff Lund.  I think Primeaux would be interested, but the bigger question is what NHL franchise would like to put an AHL farm team here?