Quote Originally Posted by Laramie View Post

NFL is a pipedream? I heard this about the NHL and NBA in the 1990s. Naysayers said that we would never get an NHL team and that an NBA franchise was an impossibility.

Well, the NBA is here and the NHL was what we were targeting. We grabbed a bigger fish to fry with the NBA than the NHL; yet, this was the city in 1997 that finished tied with Houston in the 1997 NHL expansion as we took a back seat to Nashville, Atlanta, St. Paul and Columbus.

Don't get me wrong; I respect your opinion--you might be right.

If we hadn't went right ahead and built the Indoor Sports Arena (ex Ford/Chesapeake Energy Arena), you are correct, the NBA would not be here.

We do need some type of stadium; let's get one in place, just in case the opportunity affords itself...

Had we left the Indoor Sports Arena off the original MAPS project in 1993; there would definitely be no NBA or the remote possibility of getting one.

San Antonio? The Alamo Dome will be outdated by the time an NFL team becomes available.

St. Louis? If they lose the Rams; I doubt if they will get an NFL team anytime soon. When Houston let the Oilers leave for Nashville, it took a new stadium and an expansion franchise to get back into Houston.
There is a big difference between the NFL and the NBA. The Thunder in the 2011-2012 season, according to Forbes Brought in $126 Million in revenue. during the 2011 NFL season, the worst team in their league brought it $226 Million (My Oakland Raiders). The Thunder was the 10th best team in the League, with only the Knicks have more in revenue than an NFL team. Even the Lakers did not bring in more revenue than a single NFL team.

The economics to support something like that is much greater than i think people realize. The NBA is is a Millionaires League... the NFL is a Billionaires League, and i just don't see OKC having even the remote chance of being able to support such an entity.

I know i know, everyone brings up the Packers, but the whole state of Wisconsin and their almost 6 million people are their Market... that extra 2 million people makes a difference.

I also am still of the belief that if Seattle had approved a deal for a new arena, we still wouldn't have an NBA team.