Back when Kansas City pushed for an NHL team, they proposed the name Kansas City Mohawks; met with objections by the Chicago Blackhawks; eventually the team was called the Kansas City Scouts.

We (OKC) might have become an NHL city vs an NBA town back in the late 1990s.. The original Downtown Arena was built to house an NHL expansion franchise.

Columbus, OH snagged that fourth expansion franchise when Nationwide Insurance put its support behind the NHL's Columbus Bluejackets franchise--with guarantees toward an NHL arena in Ohio's capital city.



How close was OKC to becoming an NHL city. Commission Gary Bettman told the Mayor Norick and Bennett's group to get a press conference ready on the Friday announcing the new NHL Oklahoma Redhawks franchise ready to be released on Monday.

The team would have had to use the Myriad Convention Center's Great Arena (13,999 seats) temporarily while the new arena was being built. Skeptics of an NHL Oklahoma City franchise's biggest drawback--there was no way Oklahoma City could build a quality NHL arena for $90 million dollars.