Will Tulsa become Oklahoma's next major league market?

[Laramie]

There is talk that the BOK Center could be a nice home for relocation of an NHL franchise.

Could Tulsa become home to an NHL franchise?

BizJournals link:

http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjourna...r-the-nhl.html

Tulsa ranked 21st and this city like its sister (Oklahoma City) has no major league sports competition. Oklahoma City is 47th on the list.

What are your thoughts?

[MustangGT]

Nice to hope but I would not hold my breath.

[dmoor82]

My thoughts are that this list is right when saying Tulsa could support the NHL better than OKC simply because OKC allready has a Pro team in the NBA,but this list is beyong stupid IMO just look at the cities that are ahead of OKC and Atlanta with it's low attendance just lost its NHL team to Winninpeg and the ATL still ranks high on this list!

[dmoor82]

Remember OKC was low on these types of lists' before we got an NBA team,they said the population was too low and our spendable income was too low and they also said we didnt have enough corporate sponsers!OKC with Houston made it to the final cuts for NHL expansion in 1997,but lost out to Nashville,Columbus and Atlanta!

[Laramie]

Remember OKC was low on these types of lists' before we got an NBA team,they said the population was too low and our spendable income was too low and they also said we didnt have enough corporate sponsers!OKC with Houston made it to the final cuts for NHL expansion in 1997,but lost out to Nashville,Columbus and Atlanta!

...and St. Paul, Minnesota in 1997.

I believe that you would get more support from OKC fans for an NHL franchise in Tulsa than Tulsans supporting the NBA in Oklahoma City.

The NHL would definitely insist that an NHL team probably favor the state's name. The Oklahoma Lightning in Tulsa and the Oklahoma City Thunder in OKC?

There are a number of NHL teams which could be thinking relocation--especially moving to a market like Tulsa where there is no major professional sports competition.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...trouble/page/5

It worked in OKC; why not TULSA!

Oklahoma's two major cities are ready to compete. The BOK Center is definitely NHL-ready and would only require a few renovations:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOK_Center

[kevinpate]

The NHL would definitely insist that an NHL team probably favor the state's name. ...

I don't know diddly on hockey, but aren't the majority of teams named for the base city and not the state?

[MikeOKC]

I don't know diddly on hockey, but aren't the majority of teams named for the base city and not the state?

I'm somewhat of a hockey fan and I can think of a few - Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils, might be others, so it's not unheard of.

[dmoor82]

^^Yeah your correct,there are alot of State named pro franchises also but the majority are city named!

[dmoor82]

I'm somewhat of a hockey fan and I can think of a few - Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils, might be others, so it's not unheard of.

Colorado Avalanche,Carolina Hurricanes,Minnesota Wild and I think thats it for the NHL!

[earlywinegareth]

I'm not a big NHL fan, but it would be a major coup if Tulsa could lure somebody. NHL is not a good idea for OKC considering it would conflict with the NBA - I don't think we'd have sufficient fan base with disposable income to do both. Regardless, it's a longshot from looking at the list of cities in the article...Tulsa's way down there.

I do think Tulsa is ranked too low...their market would reach into northwest Arkansas.

[dmoor82]

If Tulsa got an NHL team,I wouldnt care if it was the Tulsa ...... or the Oklahoma......I would support them either way because I am a huge hockey fan!

[Just the facts]

One major component missing from the On Number study - a place to play. Tulsa is the highest scoring city that has a place to play which doesn't already have a primary tennant. Every other city will either need to build a new arena or the existing primary tennant has control of the facility.

[BG918]

It could potentially work. Tulsa is around a million in the metro and there's the nearby NWA metro of nearly half a million. The BOK Center is a first-class venue and will be an even bigger draw once the mixed-use development to the east is completed, the Aloft opens to the south, and they do something with the federal courthouse.

[dankrutka]

Tulsa would obviously support the NHL much better than the WNBA (especially considering they have the worst team ever!). I've also thought that Tulsa might be able to support a MLS team if they built a 25,000 seat stadium downtown. That would be great for Oklahoma.

[windowphobe]

It would be easier for Tulsa to support a major-league sport, either MLS or the NHL, than it would for OKC to support two of them. If they can land a team, more power to them.

[BG918]

Hopefully they wouldn't be as terrible as the Shock. The WNBA is bad enough, but a 1-19 team is just awful.

I don't see the Shock, or the WNBA for that matter, lasting much longer.

[Kokopelli]

According to a recent study for the NBA there are 22 markets that could support a NBA team. An NBA team, according to the study, requires an income base of $34.2 billion for adequate support. Tulsa is # 17 on the list with 38.3 billion in total personal income. One would think that if they could support the NBA that they could support the NHL.

Here is a link to the full story
http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjourna...e=&CPIorderBy=

[Kokopelli]

In a related note bizjournal also had a study ranking cities that could support an NFL team. The study determined that an NFL team requires an income base of $36.7 billion OKC is rated at 51 in the study with an available income base of 15 billion.

The story is titled "Los Angeles is the clear choice for an NFL team" and here is the link: http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjourna...e=&CPIorderBy=

[Tydude]

Tulsa could handle a NHL Team but they got to get rid of the Tulsa Shock. I am happy that they got a WNBA Team but the team sucks and the can't win a game

[White Peacock]

The BOK would be a killer NHL venue. Unfortunately, I think Tulsa is too weak of a city to pull it off. I'd be their #1 fan if it happened, but I think the NHL would see what a risk it would be. They don't want another dud - they need placement in cities that will bring in the cash and fill the seats. Seeing Atlanta lose their team, and watching Phoenix struggle every year, every season expecting them to be shipped off to a more profitable city, Tulsa would just be another risk.

Overall loose change in a city doesn't mean much if you don't have a ready-made fanbase. Hockey isn't big in Oklahoma. There's a dedicated hockey following, but it's small. Just go to a Barons game and find yourself embarrassed for the team. The Blazers would pack out the Ford center because Express gave away more tickets than they sold (I didn't buy a single ticket during their final season, but I made it to nearly every game). Now, the Barons aren't giving away truckloads of tickets, and people aren't buying them. This season, the team has decided to curtain off the upper levels so people will be more concentrated in the lower seats to give the illusion of a packed house. And this is for a team that has a much higher skill level than the old CHL Blazers. The tickets for AHL games are considerably cheaper than NHL tickets. If people won't spend $20 for AHL tickets, they're not the biggest hockey fans, and as such, they're not going to shell out $50 for nosebleed seats for an NHL match.

I'm worried that the abysmal attendance turnout will cause us to lose the Barons, and I'll be stranded in OKC without the only sport I actually enjoy watching. With that fear in mind, I truly doubt that Tulsa, with its smaller population and even lower level of national esteem, could land an NHL franchise, and if it did, I wouldn't bank on them being able to sustain it.

[Snowman]

As only the OKC and Tulsa metros are the only areas to have the kind of population and facilities that it might even be considered, it is the next possible major league market in Oklahoma. However due to it's smaller size it will probably take local ownership buy and move a team similar to how the Thunder came to OKC.

I don't see the Shock, or the WNBA for that matter, lasting much longer.

The WNBA will probably go on as long as the NBA keeps propping it up, it is surprising how women's college ball is so much better attended than women's pro ball across the country.

[Laramie]

NHL in Phoenix and now defunct in Atlanta:

Got to remember that Tulsa doesn't have the competition for major pro sports dollars which has its drawbacks in Phoenix & Atlanta. Phoenix/Atlanta were Fab Four Cities (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL).

Another advantage for Tulsa, it has an NHL arena in place. Tulsa is within 100 miles of Oklahoma City and 125 miles from Wichita.

This golden triangle among Oklahoma City-Tulsa-Wichita could make for some interesting major professional league scenarios.

[bluedogok]

That is one reason why I think Kansas City would have a hard time finding a NBA/NHL tenant for the Sprint Center, the Chiefs and Royals divide up all the potential alternate revenue that the NBA or NHL team could possibly get. The only way I think they get one is if a KC person where to buy a team and relocate them there like what happened with the Thunder. I don't see an out of state owner moving a team to KC. It is hard to support all four major level franchises unless you are just one of the major metropolises in the country. Even then I think it is more difficult in the south and west because most of the residents are transplants from somewhere else and bring along their team allegiances to their new home town. Most of the people that I knew in Dallas were from back east and were more fans of the teams where they came from instead of the DFW teams, I know many in Houston that are the same way. Many do follow the teams in their new towns but not with the same fervor that a "native" does.

[dankrutka]

You can't use minor league hockey (or the Shock) as a comparison for what would happened if Tulsa got an NHL team because the excitement level would be so different. OKC was not an NBA market at all, but we adjusted. I think that Tulsa could support an NHL or MLS team. Both Tulsa and OKC can support 1 major league franchise better than many cities can support their 3rd, 4th, or 5th...

[Laramie]

That is one reason why I think Kansas City would have a hard time finding a NBA/NHL tenant for the Sprint Center, the Chiefs and Royals divide up all the potential alternate revenue that the NBA or NHL team could possibly get. The only way I think they get one is if a KC person where to buy a team and relocate them there like what happened with the Thunder. I don't see an out of state owner moving a team to KC. It is hard to support all four major level franchises unless you are just one of the major metropolises in the country. Even then I think it is more difficult in the south and west because most of the residents are transplants from somewhere else and bring along their team allegiances to their new home town. Most of the people that I knew in Dallas were from back east and were more fans of the teams where they came from instead of the DFW teams, I know many in Houston that are the same way. Many do follow the teams in their new towns but not with the same fervor that a "native" does.

You are indeed correct!

Ranked No. 5, Kansas City is listed as one of the top 20 "overextended sports markets. "

http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjourna...e=&CPIorderBy=

You will start to see more markets like Oklahoma City, Orlando, Portland, Memphis, Sacramento & Salt Lake City which house one major league sports franchise. The NHL has not yet started to go after these markets. Raleigh is probably the only "breakthrough market" (first major league franchise) in the NHL. The NBA has many.

Kansas City would be a very risky market since it is already overextended; that weighed into Clay Bennett & PBC's decision to move the Supersonics to OKC even though Kansas City had offered the Sprint Center as a rent-free venue.