AHL to Oklahoma City; Tulsa, Wichita to follow...

[Laramie]

Once the AHL enters Oklahoma City, you can bet that Tulsa and Wichita will following.

The BOK Center will be great for the AHL, and Wichita, KS has a nice arena under construction near Old Town which will be ready in 2010:

Intrust Bank Arena (Downtown, Wichita, KS)

Intrust Bank Arena, Sedgwick County, Kansas - Welcome

It will be great having AHL franchises in this area with San Antonio, Houston and Austin with prospects of having Tulsa and Wichita on board with Oklahoma City.

[Blairman]

You will have to find willing owners, neither in Tulsa or Wichita

You are unbelieveable

[theparkman81]

I don't see Tulsa having a AAA hockey team for about another 5 to 10 years, because the last time I checked they don't have good attendence at their hockey games.

[El Gato Pollo Loco!!!]

This thread gets the prestigious Jean-Luc Picard award for excellence....

[Laramie]

I don't see Tulsa having a AAA hockey team for about another 5 to 10 years, because the last time I checked they don't have good attendence at their hockey games.

Many based our attendance of Calvary games as to how we would fair as an NBA city. The experts were indeed right. You can use minor league anything to gauge as to how a city will perform in the major leagues. Oklahoma City is a living example. I feel an AHL franchise in Tulsa and/or Wichita will be successful.


Quote by Blairman: "You will have to find willing owners, neither in Tulsa or Wichita

You are unbelieveable!"

Don't knock me for being a believer! This substance will always be my nature.

[jbrown84]

But we aren't talking about a jump from CHL to NHL. This is still minor league.

[Blairman]

Don't knock me for being a believer! This substance will always be my nature.[/QUOTE]

OK by nature you are unbelievable, so stop the babble

[Laramie]

Reply to Blairman:

And... (?) Meaning...(?) ...So What?

[metro]

Cavalry

Oh and are we getting AHL or is this still just speculation.

[jbrown84]

Search is your friend, metro.

[metro]

yep, search found my answer too.

[Laramie]

Cavalry

Oh and are we getting AHL or is this still just speculation.

Nothing set in stone at this point; however, all signs indicate that the AHL ( Edmonton Oilers are likely to become the parent club )will make a pitch for Oklahoma City after next season.

Here are some links with the first two being outside sources:

ReporterHerald- Blazers may be on the move from Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City? - OilersNation.com

Oklahoman:

http://www.newsok.com/article/3333670

[Luke]

Looks like the AHL deal might come to fruition after all.

Bye bye, Blazers.

[bluedogok]

If the Express people are involved it may very well retain the Blazers name, it has survived many ownership changes over the years and only six of the AHL teams carry the NHL team name out of 30 teams.

[bbarnett]

This is great news for OKC. I suggested in a thread last summer that OKC should try to jump "back" to a higher level (like we used to be during CHL-I). Anyway, I am happy about this news and hope it comes to fruition.

I live in Albuquerque now. They just announced that the Scorpions(CHL) are being put on hold. Albuquerque does not have the hockey tradition that OKC has and the city does not have a nice arena in the city. The Scorpions were playing in Rio Rancho-----a distant suburb and a hassle of a drive. Neither did the Scorpions have attendance numbers like OKC.

I do hope they keep the Blazers name. It has such a great history. BTW, the baseball team should re-take the 89ers name. The current owner's (dumfounding) decision not to keep the 89ers illustrates the point of why it would be best to keep the Blazers name. But since I did not live in OKC at the time that decision was made, perhaps there were some copyright issues in continuing the 89ers name?

Brian Barnett

[Laramie]

I second that!

I hope they keep the Blazers' name and continue with that rich tradition which has been built over this past 17 years.

The Cox Convention Center (Myriad-13,400 est) will make a great home for an AHL franchise and don't be surprised that after a one year hiatus, the Blazers average 11-12,000 upon their return.

A different brand of hockey will definitely bring back old fans like me who was spoiled by a better quality of hockey.

Moving up to triple-A may be just the thing this city needs.

Bring on Tulsa, Wichita and Omaha to add to the mix of cities Iowa (Des Moines), San Antonio, Houston, and Texas (Austin).


NBA - Major League (Basketball)
PCL - AAA (Baseball)
AHL - AAA (Ice Hockey)

This is definitely a great fit for Oklahoma City!

[metro]

Looks like they started negotiations for a AHL team starting today. Also on the news last night there was talk of COX Center upgrades to ensure success for an AHL team. I wonder how the City will approach this. They interviewed Mick Cornett and Jim Couch and they both seemed to be supportive. Wonder if we're going to get thrown for another MAPS 3 loop if the Blazers are wanting some COX upgrades. Looks like they are now pushing for keeping the Blazers name too, although Oilers wouldn't be bad since we are an oil state.

http://www.koco.com/video/19974511/index.html

It concerns me of the poor journalism in this piece and every piece I've seen on this topic. They act like it's the "Cities" team and that it's a publicly owned franchise, when they did no interviewing of Express Sports, the teams owners. Go figure, sloppy journalism.

[Swake2]

Looks like they are now pushing for keeping the Blazers name too, although Oilers wouldn't be bad since we are an oil state.

If Oklahoma City tried to call the team “Oilers” the Tulsa Oilers would sue the crap out of them. Rightfully so.

[metro]

true.

[bluedogok]

If Oklahoma City tried to call the team “Oilers” the Tulsa Oilers would sue the crap out of them. Rightfully so.

Not likely, it would be in a different league and the team affiliation would be with the Edmonton Oilers. The CHL/Tulsa ownership probably wouldn't have the resources or legal grounds for a fight since they do not have exclusive rights to the name. IF they copied logos and such, then you could have a trademark infringement suit but that is about all.

With that said, Oilers is the team name for Tulsa and should stay there, the OKC team should be the Blazers, which maybe if the CHL has some copyright claims on it (in addition to Express) they can use the possible use of the Oilers name as leverage to get a release of the Blazers name.

[the_Mont]

The NHL's Oilers have two minor league franchises: the Springfield Falcons and the Edmonton Road Runners. The Road Runners are a dormant team at this time, and this is the team we would get if Edmonton chooses to place their AHL team here. Their agreement with Springfield ends after this next season, so Oklahoma City would be their lone AHL club. Here's the logo that is listed on the Road Runners' Wiki page. The name change could be a moot point since the team has an existing team, jerseys, signage, merch, etc.

[metro]

City Council authorizes negotiations with AHL Hockey Club, LLC

(July 7, 2009) - Oklahoma City Council approved a letter of intent today with AHL Hockey Club, LLC authorizing negotiations for an American Hockey League (AHL) team to play at the Cox Convention Center beginning with the 2010-2011 hockey season.

The AHL is a feeder league for the National Hockey League.

Pending negotiations of the Arena Use License Agreement, the City will enter into a five-year contract with AHL Hockey Club, LLC. At the end of the five years, the team has the option of extending their contract for two additional three-year leases. The agreement may be terminated if the average paid attendance falls below 4,000 per game.

The team will pay the City $7,500 per game. In return, the City will negotiate renovations to the Cox Convention Center that could include:

Renovations to the Cox Center’s ice-making system
Addition of loge boxes, a VIP club and party deck
A season ticket holder’s club on the upper deck
Improvements to meeting rooms
Professional signage, moving lights and projection lighting
Interactive advertising panels
Upgrades to locker rooms
AHL Hockey Club, LLC is affiliated with Express Sports, who have owned the Oklahoma City Blazers since 2000. The agreement with the Blazers lapsed with the 2008-2009 season and, as a result, will no longer play in Oklahoma City.

The letter of intent is on the City’s Web site at City of Oklahoma City | News.

[Dave Cook]

Laramie....

FYI, Omaha was just in the AHL a few years ago and failed very quickly, relocating to Quad City (which has failed this past season as well). Speaking of failing, Des Moines just lost their second team in three years. The AHL DOES NOT WORK in Des Moines, despite a brand new Wells Fargo Arena.

Despite all of that, let´s enjoy our AHL OKC team while they last. Should be good entertainment for a few seasons at least.

[Laramie]

Sweet & Sour:

Yes, I'm aware that Omaha was in the AHL; they played in the new Quest Center there.

You're right, without Omaha, Des Moines may follow the same pattern. The Des Moines team could then transfer to Tulsa and build from OKC's success! The BOK Center would welcome them with open arms.

My observation is this--with some old CHL rivals to compete with, a franchise in Omaha might have survived. Omaha at one time had a A-league franchise averaging 5,000 fans per game.

"Despite all of that, let´s enjoy our AHL OKC team while they last. Should be good entertainment for a few seasons at least"--Agree with you 100% and they will have my support!

[bombermwc]

Well here's my question about the whole deal. The Blazers have been well supported here, but they were starting to lose money because of dropping attendence. It wasn't dropping because the team was bad or because people didn't like the Blazers anymore. It was dropping because the Thunder stole some folks and the economy turned sour. We still have an excellent attendence record as far as the CHL goes, but that's not saying much. Look at the arenas that most of the cities we played had. We're looking at less than 10K seats in most of them...think old Tulsa arena.

Now here's the problem i see happening. With moving up a level, they're going to want to charge more for tickets because they'll have to recoop the higher cost of the player salaries. Dont' think for a second that they will cost the same as the Blazers' players...and those players won't be back. Out of their own mouth, they said they weren't good enough for that league....which is why they played in the CHL to begin with.

So with higher prices, and still being in not great economic times, do we expect a brand new team to be received well? It's the same owners as the Blazers, so they could still be called the Blazers, but with all new players. So it's like watching an entirely new cast of a show......It's the same Daren on Bewitched, right?

So do we really think that people are going to want to pay more just because it's one level up? It's still minor league...not NHL. There's a HUUUUUGE difference in supporting the pros compared to the minors.

The cavies are actually a good comparison. Minor league team....did extremely well as far as record, but attendence blew. We move to NBA and it's great. We had our try at the ABL or whatever for a while, and they had bad attendence too.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling that in a few years, we'll be without hockey again...and then wishing we never screwed up the good thing we had going.