Barons done after next season?

[GoOKC1991]

"Need" For OKC Conference Hotel Might Push Barons Out Of Downtown

I don't see another arena being built, plus the Barons only draw 2,000 a game anyway (although it's 3,000 currently, but I I promise you from being at games, it's way less) hockey in OKC just isn't a draw anymore.

And I say after next season, because that's when the current lease ends.

[shawnw]

The Barons could play in the Peake without interfering much with shows or NBA games. We've done it before. Is it "worth it" to do so? Not my call, but I do believe it can be done.

[GoOKC1991]

The Barons could play in the Peake without interfering much with shows or NBA games. We've done it before. Is it "worth it" to do so? Not my call, but I do believe it can be done.

I would love that, but just don't see it happening. That's why the Barons have been in the Cox, it's not just the cheaper rent, they couldn't get in the Peake.

[shawnw]

The city owns both facilities. I think if Cox went away, they'd find a way to make the Barons work in the Peake before they risked losing them.

[Just the facts]

If Staples Center can host 2 NBA teams, an Arena team, an NHL team, a WNBA team, plus concerts and other shows: the Peake can host the Barons.

[GoOKC1991]

I think more than anything, the attendance is what will drive the Barons away. Will they get better attendance in another city? Who knows, but it's been awful for the Barons every season.

[Just the facts]

They might get better attendance in a better arena (Peake > Cox). Of course, that's if you believe every team who has demanded a new arena over the last 40 years.

[Richard at Remax]

I think more would attend it if were at the peake. just curtain off the upper deck and Im pretty sure capacity would be smaller than cox center, if not the same. they do this for the SA Rampage at the ATT Center.

[Dubya61]

This has been discussed so very much in other threads. There are two concepts presented here that merit divergent discussion.
1. Cox is (should be / might be) going away -- wither the Barons?
2. The Barons are not as popular as the Blazers were and simply can't complete with the Thunder.

With respect to the Cox Convention Center, see this: http://www.okctalk.com/general-civic...ox-center.html and Cox Covention Center - OKCTalk where the discussion seems to center around:
a. Don't demolish it until you've got a replacement in mind.
b. Don't demolish it -- it's very useful.
c. Demolish it and build structures with a higher purpose (maybe even taxable structures in this very important part of the CBD).
d. Demolish it and move all the Cox Convention Center activities to the 'Peake
e. Can't do it -- the Thunder play there
f. The Staples center changes the venue set-up much more frequently than the 'Peake ever would.

It's distressing to imagine that because we have the Thunder, other sports simply can't compete. Not one thread comes along that mentions the Barons that doesn't eventually have some post that says attendance sucks and the Barons are going to have to go away.
See http://www.okctalk.com/sports/29515-...ckey-town.html and http://www.okctalk.com/sports/28585-...-atop-ahl.html
Although I haven't seen the stats lately, the trend in attendance is up, not down. Further, the support from the Oilers to the Barons and Oklahoma City couldn't be better.
My hope is that we should secure reasonable prices for the Barons to share the 'Peake or start now to develop a better arena at the fairgrounds and let the Cox Convention Center go, when a higher purpose arises for the real estate.

[OKCDrummer77]

I think more would attend it if were at the peake. [b]just curtain off the upper deck[b\] and Im pretty sure capacity would be smaller than cox center, if not the same. they do this for the SA Rampage at the ATT Center.

They used to do that with the Blazers. I think they said that lowered the capacity to a little over 10,000.

[GoOKC1991]

The Barons current average is 3,051. Worst of the four seasons.

2010-2011: 4,155. 2011-2012: 3,684. 2012-2013: 3,527

[OKCretro]

few tid bits... some tickets to the thunder are cheaper than the Barons cheapest tickets.

I don't think Clay wants to share the arena with a triple a team, (sees this as being little league not Big League)

The blazers attendance over the years has been greatly exaggerated. I went to blazers game quite a bit in the early 90's. Many of the tickets people had were free. I actually liked them playing at the state fair arena more. I would say on average the blazer paid attendance was probably around 6k, their Christmas night games vs Tulsa were legendary

[shawnw]

It's not up to Clay. He doesn't own the arena.

[GoOKC1991]

few tid bits... some tickets to the thunder are cheaper than the Barons cheapest tickets.

I don't think Clay wants to share the arena with a triple a team, (sees this as being little league not Big League)

The blazers attendance over the years has been greatly exaggerated. I went to blazers game quite a bit in the early 90's. Many of the tickets people had were free. I actually liked them playing at the state fair arena more. I would say on average the blazer paid attendance was probably around 6k, their Christmas night games vs Tulsa were legendary

Thank you!!!! I think I mentioned that in another thread, but nobody agreed. That's partly why the Blazers were gone right after the lease was up, the Yard Dawgz moved for their final two seasons to the Cox and the Barons have been in the Cox.

[GoOKC1991]

It's not up to Clay. He doesn't own the arena.

No, but if he has a request, the city will listen. I went to Blazers games, Yard Dawgz and go to Barons games, you start hearing things, and this is the main reason we have been told of the said teams folding, moving to and playing at the Cox.

[Dubya61]

The Barons current average is 3,051. Only Adirondack, Albany, Portland and Abbotsford are worse.

Albany began play the same year that OKC did. Adirondack and Abbotsford the year before. Portland has been an organized AHL team in its current location since 1993. The four you mention are located in regions with a long-standing hockey fan base and have relatively few peer or greater sports competitors with possible exception of Adirondack in eastern New York State. If that's your yardstick, I'd say the Barons are doing OK for a fledgling team.

[Just the facts]

The blazers attendance over the years has been greatly exaggerated. I went to blazers game quite a bit in the early 90's. Many of the tickets people had were free. I actually liked them playing at the state fair arena more. I would say on average the blazer paid attendance was probably around 6k, their Christmas night games vs Tulsa were legendary

I probably went to around 30 Blazer games - and never once bought a ticket. All I had to do was drive over to WWLS and get them for free.

[Bellaboo]

The original Blazers played at the Fairgrounds arena.....

[Joe Kimball]

The Fairgrounds Arena might still be an option? I remember that the Blazers used to switch back and forth, in fact, from the then-Myriad. Although I read in the Oklahoman of the ice being chippy and soft after the first time they played there (probably because the refrigeration was used to warmer ice for ice shows, and had a little dust? I don't know), wasn't the refrigeration renovated since the early nineties?

[Bill Robertson]

I'm not sure how much attendance matters in the AHL. The top attended team draws 9000 average. The bottom is 2500. The AHL is about having players ready to go to the parent team at a moment's notice. The purpose of the AHL team is more important to the parent team than AHL attendance.

[Snowman]

At least to the tread title, I doubt anything major will happen by the end of next season. They are not going to be doing any sort of demolition of the Cox site till after the new convention center is finished, which is projected for 2018, which of course could slip further. Whatever happens with the site next will probably take some time after that.

[Steve]

Since this thread began with a blog post based on my writing, let me just say this: nobody at City Hall is suggesting, or wanting, for the Cox Center to be torn down until at least after new convention center opens in 2019. And even with that, there is some talk about keeping the old Cox Arena intact, and just redeveloping the exhibit hall space on the west side and east side.

[Laramie]

I think more than anything, the attendance is what will drive the Barons away. Will they get better attendance in another city? Who knows, but it's been awful for the Barons every season.

Is the ice plant at the Jim Norrick State Fair Arena in operation? The arena seats 9,760 for ice hockey and the parking is free. I think the Barons could survive better on the west side of town at Fair Park.




Jim Norrick State Fair Arena, seating capacity for ice hockey 9,760

The Barons drew a crowd exceeding 9,000 on the inaugural night when the AHL first dropped the puck in Oklahoma City (2010-11) and it has been a difficult task and challenge to renew hockey since the arrival of the Thunder and the Blazers' departure.

[Dave Cook]

Come on, people. This is an alarmest thread if there ever was one.

The Barons will not even be in existance by the year 2019. Minor league hockey teams have a short life span. It's the nature of the beast.

Just take a look at the history of this franchise...

1984–1988
Nova Scotia Oilers

1988–1996
Cape Breton Oilers

1996–2002
Hamilton Bulldogs

2003–2004
Toronto Roadrunners

2004–2005
Edmonton Road Runners

2010–present
Oklahoma City Barons

Since our games resemble open practices rather than jam-packed rock concerts....I'd say the Barons are on borrowed time.

[Snowman]

Is the ice plant at the Jim Norrick State Fair Arena in operation? The arena seats 9,760 for ice hockey and the parking is free. I think the Barons could survive better on the west side of town at Fair Park.

The web page for the arena still list ice shows as something they do. Even if it needed updating they just put a new one into the Cox's arena like a year ago that looked modular enough it should be relatively strait forward to relocate it