Is OKC ready for an NBA all star weekend?

[Larry OKC]

ljbab728: Don't think anything came out of left field, just the natural flow of conversation is all. That said, it makes it soooooo easy to get of topic and if one doesn't go back and read the conversation, the last few posts might appear to be totally irrelevant.

Some suggest that you answer in a more appropriate thread, but unless you take the threaded conversation with you, the answer will be out of context and probably as disconcerting.

[andy157]

And this has what to do with the NBA and All Star Weekend ?

Hey cut ljbab728 some slack, he didn't ask you what the Union Presidents being paid by the City had to do with the performance of the Chamber of Commerce, did he? Pot, Kettle, Black

[rcjunkie]

Hey cut ljbab728 some slack, he didn't ask you what the Union Presidents being paid by the City had to do with the performance of the Chamber of Commerce, did he? Pot, Kettle, Black

Andy157. I'm simply amazed by your lack of intelligence, must have been a lean year when you applied to the OKC Fire Department.

Is the 157 your ranking in a class of 156 ? or is this the number of hours you spend trolling OKC Talk each month ?

[Kokopelli]

The last All Star game drew over 100,000 people or about 81 thousand more than will fit in the Ford Center. Now I love OKC and the Thunder but reality tells me that ecomonics will win out every time.

Speculation of this does bring up another question though and that is how soon will the Thunder outgrow the Ford Center? If their popularity continues at the same rate will the first MAPS 4 project be a larger arena (40-50th) to replace the Cox Center?

[ljbab728]

Andy157. I'm simply amazed by your lack of intelligence, must have been a lean year when you applied to the OKC Fire Department.

Is the 157 your ranking in a class of 156 ? or is this the number of hours you spend trolling OKC Talk each month ?

Junkie, and what does this have to do with an NBA all star weekend? LOL

[Larry OKC]

The last All Star game drew over 100,000 people or about 81 thousand more than will fit in the Ford Center. Now I love OKC and the Thunder but reality tells me that ecomonics will win out every time.

Speculation of this does bring up another question though and that is how soon will the Thunder outgrow the Ford Center? If their popularity continues at the same rate will the first MAPS 4 project be a larger arena (40-50th) to replace the Cox Center?

Personally think the talk of a replacement arena will begin about the time of the Teams 1st opt out clause. IIRC, is 6 years after the renovations are complete. Think the 6 year clock begins 2 years after (to form the "base" number of the performance based clause). That's if attendance falls by just 15%. I know, why do you need a bigger arena if attendance has fallen, but the same rational was used by Bennett in demanding a new arena in Seattle. On the other hand if attendance is still high (more sell-outs than not, the push will be that we need more seating (logical). So 8 years form now (mol)?

Keep in mind the talk of a replacement arena by the Mayor for the Ford was at its 5 year anniversary. They insist the current renovations will make the Ford "like a new arena" and even if it does, what is going to make the new "state of the art" arena that meets NBA standards last any longer than the original Ford did (it was "state of the art" and meet NBA standards too).

MAPS 4 can't realistically kick in for approximately 8 years too and that brings us back to the timing of the opt out clause.

[betts]

We're not going to need a much bigger arena for any significant period of time. New York City has an arena that holds only 1500 more people than the Ford Center, and they've got ten times the population we do.

Bennett's demand for a new arena did not have nearly as much to do with the actual number of seats as it did with other amenities such as suites. It probably had to do with the Key Arena lease as well, which made it almost impossible for the team to generate enough income to cover payroll. The Key could seat just over 17000 for a basketball game, which is not that much smaller than the Ford Center.

Regardless of when we start talking about a new arena, the amount of time until construction would actually start on it is probably much farther out than an additional six years. It will be 7 years until we could vote on a new MAPS, and judging from the time frames we're hearing with this MAPS, even were an arena to be on the ballot, we're probably looking at another 15 years or so until completion. The Ford Center has been open since 2002, so it could easily be 22-25 years old when replaced.

At this point in time, why should we speculate about a new arena. None of us really knows anything, and this sort of speculation simply seems designed to stir up ill feelings, without any real evidence that it's more than speculation. If Bennett asks for a new arena in six years, then he does, and we can talk about it then. He may not. No one here has a crystal ball.

[andy157]

Andy157. I'm simply amazed by your lack of intelligence, must have been a lean year when you applied to the OKC Fire Department.

Is the 157 your ranking in a class of 156 ? or is this the number of hours you spend trolling OKC Talk each month ?

junkie even with your third grade comeback you really know how to hurt a guy. You don't have to rub it in because I wasn't smart enough to operate a riding lawn mower like you. Sure I tried to get on with the Parks department, but I couldn't hack it, so I hope your happy, it took me 20 years to get over my shame.

[rcjunkie]

junkie even with your third grade comeback you really know how to hurt a guy. You don't have to rub it in because I wasn't smart enough to operate a riding lawn mower like you. Sure I tried to get on with the Parks department, but I couldn't hack it, so I hope your happy, it took me 20 years to get over my shame.

I didn't operate riding mowers, as a supervisor, I instructed Union Employees how to do it. I must tell you Andy, those Union Employees were difficult to train, all they were concerned about was (what times is break, what time is lunch, when do we get paid, how much of a raise am I getting, when are we getting new equipment, etc

It took you 20 years to get over the fact the the Parks Dept. knew you would be a problem employee and not hiring you, how long is it going to take for you to get over MAPS3 passing so you'll stop bitching and whining ? (or to put it in layman's terms, shut up, work with what you have, be thankful you have a job and do it)

[Laramie]

Once we increase our hotel-room accommodations only then will we be able to pluck a plum like the NBA All Star Weekend.

Building and expanding our ability to host conventions will be a start as MAPS 3 projects--Convention Center and Modern Street Car projects are completed. These project are important because with them comes new high rise hotels and possible expansion of existing downtown hotel rooms.

We need to become a tier II convention city, our current 12,000-plus metro hotel rooms are not going to cut it. We will need over 4,000-5,000 hotel rooms downtown and exceed 16,000 - 20,000 hotels rooms in the OKC metro area. We should reach that plateau sometime after 2015!

The new convention center should generate more hotels and hopefully a couple of hotels exceeding 600-750 rooms downtown.

[ljbab728]

I didn't operate riding mowers, as a supervisor, I instructed Union Employees how to do it. I must tell you Andy, those Union Employees were difficult to train, all they were concerned about was (what times is break, what time is lunch, when do we get paid, how much of a raise am I getting, when are we getting new equipment, etc

It took you 20 years to get over the fact the the Parks Dept. knew you would be a problem employee and not hiring you, how long is it going to take for you to get over MAPS3 passing so you'll stop bitching and whining ? (or to put it in layman's terms, shut up, work with what you have, be thankful you have a job and do it)

Junkie, I'm not going to tell you that your comments are out of place but keep your last response in mind the next time you call someone else out for making a response that isn't on the topic of the thread. As long as the original topic isn't totally forgotten and put aside, a few side issues should be acceptible.

[BG918]

Once we increase our hotel-room accommodations only then will we be able to pluck a plum like the NBA All Star Weekend.

Building and expanding our ability to host conventions will be a start as MAPS 3 projects--Convention Center and Modern Street Car projects are completed. These project are important because with them comes new high rise hotels and possible expansion of existing downtown hotel rooms.

We need to become a tier II convention city, our current 12,000-plus metro hotel rooms are not going to cut it. We will need over 4,000-5,000 hotel rooms downtown and exceed 16,000 - 20,000 hotels rooms in the OKC metro area. We should reach that plateau sometime after 2015!

The new convention center should generate more hotels and hopefully a couple of hotels exceeding 600-750 rooms downtown.

How many hotel rooms are there currently in downtown OKC?

[Larry OKC]

How many hotel rooms are there currently in downtown OKC?

From the Chamber's Convention Center Report (CCC = Cox Convention Center)

(pg 8) On average, there are approximately 2,900 total hotel rooms within one-half mile of competitive and comparable markets primary convention facilities. Including existing and planned properties, there are approximately 1,600 existing hotel rooms within one-half mile of the CCC, which ranks tenth among the competitive and comparable set of markets reviewed. The limited hotel rooms proximate to the CCC is a competitive disadvantage when looking at similar national and regional facilities.

[rcjunkie]

Junkie, I'm not going to tell you that your comments are out of place but keep your last response in mind the next time you call someone else out for making a response that isn't on the topic of the thread. As long as the original topic isn't totally forgotten and put aside, a few side issues should be acceptible.

[andy157]

Junkie, I'm not going to tell you that your comments are out of place but keep your last response in mind the next time you call someone else out for making a response that isn't on the topic of the thread. As long as the original topic isn't totally forgotten and put aside, a few side issues should be acceptible.

When he doesn't take his meds he first becomes forgetful which then leads to his mindless rambling.

[betts]

Perhaps we ought to create a separate thread where you two can take potshots at each other and the rest of us don't have to sift through them to find significant conversation.

[Laramie]

How many hotel rooms are there currently in downtown OKC?

I would estimate that there are approximately 1,200-1,300 hotels rooms downtown not counting the Residence Inn.

[Laramie]

How many hotel rooms are there currently in downtown OKC?

I would estimate that there are approximately 1,500 hotel rooms downtown not counting the Residence Inn.

Major hotels rooms dowtown are Sheraton (395), Renaissasce (311), Skirvin Hilton (225), Courtyard by Marriott (225), Hampton (200) and Colcord (108).

[betts]

I thought I remembered hearing that a minimum number of hotel rooms for an All Star game is 30,000. Obviously, those don't all have to be near the venue. But regardless, I think our lack of a roofed NFL stadium might be the deal breaker these days.

[OKCMallen]

Jeez, and who cares if we get it anyway? Let's not be greedy here. Let's have 5 consecutive years of great attendance first.

[Laramie]

I thought I remembered hearing that a minimum number of hotel rooms for an All Star game is 30,000. Obviously, those don't all have to be near the venue. But regardless, I think our lack of a roofed NFL stadium might be the deal breaker these days.

I'm not so sure that 30,000 hotel rooms was the minimum--however, it wouldn't suprise me!

As far as having a dome; when Phoenix hosted the "All Star" weekend they used the U.S. Airways Center. I'm sure the dome in Glendale (Arizona Cardinals) would have been more attractive!

An OKC dome/retractable roof stadium would be nice for a one time event in Oklahoma--especially if we had high speed rail and utilized both Oklahoma City and Tulsa. That's what it's going to take to bring the NCAA final four to OKC--an arena with minimum seating capacity of 23,000 and plenty of quality hotel rooms.

[Larry OKC]

From the Chamber's Convention Center Report (CCC = Cox Convention Center)

The ULI presentation said we had 2,000 rooms total downtown (the Chamber's number was just in a half mile radius of the C.C.)

[ultimatesooner]

man, if people are complaining about the Crawl for Cancer ruining the wholesome family atmosphere downtown. let them around the NBA all star crowd

[metro]

NBA All-Star game isn't a charity, let alone one saying they're helping kids with cancer.

[ultimatesooner]

NBA All-Star game isn't a charity, let alone one saying they're helping kids with cancer.

I never said anything about a charity. I was saying the NBA all star crowd behavior would make the crawl for cancer crowd look very tame