The Oklahoma City Dodgers are the 2023 Pacific Coast League Champions!

[GoOKC1991]

The first professional baseball championship for Oklahoma City since 1996! They are going to the Triple-A Championship game in Las Vegas!

[okatty]

Very cool. Went to three games this year and really enjoyed it. Great news!!

[Mississippi Blues]

Very exciting! Also their first championship not being called the 89ers or playing at the State Fair Ground.

[BoulderSooner]

AAA championship game is on Sat ..

[Laramie]

Championship Series -
Seasoned Dodgers prospects lead Oklahoma City to Finals sweep

September 27, 2023 - Oklahoma City Dodgers 5 vs Roundrock Express 2
September 26, 2023 - Oklahoma City Dodgers 8 vs Roundrock Express 3

Link: https://www.milb.com/news/oklahoma-c...t-league-crown

[SEMIweather]

Dodgers lost 7-6 to the Norfolk Tides in the AAA Championship Game. https://www.milb.com/oklahoma-city/n...023-game-recap

[Mississippi Blues]

Figured this wasn’t worth starting a new thread over but is there a short story to why the 89ers changed their name to the RedHawks? I was very young when that happened so I remember going to games in their final season at All Sports Stadium but nothing beyond that.

[Snowman]

Figured this wasn’t worth starting a new thread over but is there a short story to why the 89ers changed their name to the RedHawks? I was very young when that happened so I remember going to games in their final season at All Sports Stadium but nothing beyond that.

From what I heard the RedHawks branding started as part of an attempt to bringing in a higher tier hockey team, since there was either overlap or partnership with the group running 89ers, when that failed they decided to apply the merch/branding to the existing local baseball team.

[PhiAlpha]

Figured this wasn’t worth starting a new thread over but is there a short story to why the 89ers changed their name to the RedHawks? I was very young when that happened so I remember going to games in their final season at All Sports Stadium but nothing beyond that.

It sucks because I always thought the 89ers was their coolest branding as it had a real local tie in. Redhawks just never really did it for me and the Dodgers have nothing to do with OK at all.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^^^
Attendance and merchandise sales both went up substantially with the change to the Dodgers name. In retrospect it was a good change. Immediately communicates the connection to the LA dodgers, which as a brand is second only to the Yankees in MLB and one of the top brands in all sports.

[jedicurt]

From what I heard the RedHawks branding started as part of an attempt to bringing in a higher tier hockey team, since there was either overlap or partnership with the group running 89ers, when that failed they decided to apply the merch/branding to the existing local baseball team.

i thought it was all related to the move to Bricktown ballpark. new stadium, new team. as an attempt to try and drive merch sales

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^^^
That’s essentially correct. My understanding was that key 89ers ownership (which included Clay Bennett and the Gaylord family as majority shareholder at the time) likely had already invested in development of the RedHawks name and marks, as they were also among the potential owner group for an NHL club, which OKC seemed to be within reach of obtaining via expansion.

At the time the Blazers were the best-attended minor league hockey franchise in North America (never mind the fact that this was heavily bolstered by comps). Mayor Norick had connections with the NHL (including the fact that his son Lance’s NASCAR team was sponsored by the NHL), OKC had a new NHL-capable arena coming via MAPS, and the NHL gave OKC a serious look during the expansion process, including a Board of Governors visit to the city. At the end of the day Columbus and Minnesota prevailed, however.

So (again, this is second-hand info, so take it with a grain of salt) the 89ers ownership had brand new marks sitting on the shelf, and they were moving into a beautiful, brand new ballpark, so the decision was made to change the team’s name to drive excitement. Seems to have worked; the ballpark was absolutely PACKED for the first few seasons.

I can’t swear that this is the way it went down, and I don’t believe it was definitively reported upon, but it was really sort of a “worst kept secret” at the time.

[PhiAlpha]

^^^^^^^^
Attendance and merchandise sales both went up substantially with the change to the Dodgers name. In retrospect it was a good change. Immediately communicates the connection to the LA dodgers, which as a brand is second only to the Yankees in MLB and one of the top brands in all sports.

I was definitely cool with change from Redhawks to Dodgers and their branding has been really cool just still prefer the 89ers over anything. That ship has obviously sailed though. Similarly I’d hate to see the Tulsa Drillers, who have done some cool things with their branding, renamed.

[Urbanized]

Yeah, don’t get me wrong. I prefer ‘89ers for the sake of nostalgia, but the switch to Dodgers turned out to be a great business move.

[Dob Hooligan]

^^^^^^^^
That’s essentially correct. My understanding was that key 89ers ownership (which included Clay Bennett and the Gaylord family as majority shareholder at the time) likely had already invested in development of the RedHawks name and marks, as they were also among the potential owner group for an NHL club, which OKC seemed to be within reach of obtaining via expansion.

At the time the Blazers were the best-attended minor league hockey franchise in North America (never mind the fact that this was heavily bolstered by comps). Mayor Norick had connections with the NHL (including the fact that his son Lance’s NASCAR team was sponsored by the NHL), OKC had a new NHL-capable arena coming via MAPS, and the NHL gave OKC a serious look during the expansion process, including a Board of Governors visit to the city. At the end of the day Columbus and Minnesota prevailed, however.

So (again, this is second-hand info, so take it with a grain of salt) the 89ers ownership had brand new marks sitting on the shelf, and they were moving into a beautiful, brand new ballpark, so the decision was made to change the team’s name to drive excitement. Seems to have worked; the ballpark was absolutely PACKED for the first few seasons.

I can’t swear that this is the way it went down, and I don’t believe it was definitively reported upon, but it was really sort of a “worst kept secret” at the time.

I recall the NHL was adding 4 teams over a couple years in the late 1990s. Atlanta, Nashville, Columbus and Minnesota were the 4 cities chosen. Mayor Norick was a big hockey fan, and was the main owner of the OKC Stars of the CHL in the mid 1970s. That was the team that continued after the original Blazers, I think, kinda folded. The CHL of that time was a AAA level league. I recall Mayor Norick was an investor in the OKC expansion group, and I think he didn't really have much (or any) sponsors for his son's Craftsman's Truck Series racer, so he put the NHL Shield on the hood for a few races as a sweetener in their expansion effort.

I think the Gaylord's were the largest investors in both the Nashville and Oklahoma City NHL expansion groups. And kept their interest in the Predators for around 10 years.

All of these speculations led to the belief that the Gaylord group had already paid for the Redhawks brand package, and used the move of the 89ers to the new Bricktown Ballpark as an opportunity to monetize their expenditure.

[Mississippi Blues]

Thank you all for the responses, that helps a lot. RedHawks does sound like a hockey team name from the 90s, early 00s, so that makes sense. I remember being ecstatic when the change was announced but no small part of it was from my dislike of the RedHawks branding. I do like the Dodgers using the namesake as it does give a level of immediate recognition and ties Oklahoma City to one of the richest histories in baseball.

I feel it’s next to impossible this happens but for the sake of imagination, I love to think about them becoming an MLB franchise and changing their branding back to the 89ers.

[gopokes88]

It was worth it for OKLA branding alone.

https://www.lids.com/milb-oklahoma-c...ID:i-r1c0:po-3

[Laramie]

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.

[Laramie]

Thank you all for the responses, that helps a lot. RedHawks does sound like a hockey team name from the 90s, early 00s, so that makes sense. I remember being ecstatic when the change was announced but no small part of it was from my dislike of the RedHawks branding. I do like the Dodgers using the namesake as it does give a level of immediate recognition and ties Oklahoma City to one of the richest histories in baseball.

I feel it’s next to impossible this happens but for the sake of imagination, I love to think about them becoming an MLB franchise and changing their branding back to the 89ers.

Would love to see Oklahoma City join Milwaukee in becoming an NBA and MLB town and 89ers would have been my favorite.

It won't happen; our current Bricktown Ballpark expansion capabilities indicates that a 35,000-seat maximum expansion could
occur for that facility. Barry Tramel former writer with the Oklahoman felt that the number for MLB in OKC wouldn't work:

"Now OKC and baseball are mentioned together again, this time after new commissioner Rob Manfred talked about the possibility of expansion and ESPN was among the outlets that listed Oklahoma City as one of the 10 markets targeted for consideration. The others were Montreal; Charlotte, N.C.; San Antonio; Portland, Ore.; Las Vegas; northern New Jersey; Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico."-- https://www.oklahoman.com/story/spor...c/60735026007/

At least we are being mentioned whenever expansion or relocation comes up.

[mugofbeer]

I would think OKC would support an NFL team before a MLB team.

[SEMIweather]

Even if the NFL was a realistic possibility in OKC, the Cowboys would never let it happen.

[gopokes88]

Even if the NFL was a realistic possibility in OKC, the Cowboys would never let it happen.

Or the Chiefs, Hunt family is another powerful voice in the NFL.

[Dob Hooligan]

Here's what we know about today's NFL. The Commanders set the market for 2023 at $6 billion for the team. Add in $2 billion for an acceptable stadium and we are looking at $8 billion to begin play in OKC.

Don't see that happening.

[Shortsyeararound]

I miss the 89'ers, Allsports Staduim, going down the hill on cardboard, the Diamond girls, and Nick Capra!

[Laramie]

I would think OKC would support an NFL team before a MLB team.

That's a different animal.

An NFL stadium in OKC (preferably with a retractable roof) would cost $1.5 - $2 billion on city owned land--bare bone minimum. Could OKC support Division I Collegiate Football and an NFL franchise--fan support risky with an already established NBA franchise; however, we don't have the corporate entities to support NFL in OKC, unless the Tribes like Winstar (Thackerville, OK) and Choctaw Casinos & Resorts (Durant, OK) offered a ton of support.

Major League baseball would be very risky. You're talking about a future $600-$700 million minimum ballpark investment. You would have the rivals (Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals & Colorado Rockies). OKC would be the smallest MLB market in the U.S., we're a long way for being ready for MLB or NFL.