KC Star: One and done for OKC?
This is a great piece from the KC Star. It paints OKC in a GREAT light.
Random prediction: The Big 12 Tournament will fall into a three-city rotation: KC-Dallas-OKC, and that'll be the rotation for years to come. We're at the big boys table now, kiddos.
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One and done? Not if OKC has its way
Centrally located Oklahoma City thinks the Big 12 basketball tourneys should be a local staple.
By BLAIR KERKHOFF
The Kansas City Star
OKLAHOMA CITY | Surely it was nothing more than a coincidence. The unveiling of a 20-foot-high street clock, just north of the Ford Center, served as Oklahoma City’s public welcoming of the Big 12 Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
As the balloons flew and the band struck up “Oklahoma!” you could see the gleam in Mayor’s Mick Cornett’s eyes.
Cue the symbolism. Oklahoma City’s time has come.
This week, Big 12 officials started the process of awarding future sites. Oklahoma City isn’t waiting for the final horn to sound on its first Big 12 hoop experience to ponder its options.
It wants in.
“For us to elbow our way in to get an event that’s been going to Kansas City and Dallas is significant,” Cornett said. “This has placed us on a new plateau, and we’d like to be part of the Big 12’s future.”
So does Kansas City, which plays host to the tournaments next year with the men playing at the Sprint Center and the women at Municipal Auditorium.
The event hasn’t been awarded beyond 2008.
For years, this state’s coaches — from former Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson to Sooners women’s coach Sherri Coale to former Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton — swore the championships would be a smash hit in Oklahoma. They pointed to the state’s passion for sports, especially college games.
NCAA tournaments played to full houses. The softball College World Series and Big 12 baseball tournaments are anchored in Oklahoma City.
But a weeklong basketball event in Oklahoma City wasn’t possible until 2002, when the Ford Center opened for business, giving the city buildings to host the men’s and women’s events. The Cox Convention Center, formerly the Myriad, sits across the street.
“The proximity of the venues make this a fan’s paradise,” Coale said.
Thursday, the men’s tournament caught something of a break when it came to making an early impression. The local teams would have preferred waiting a day to start, joining the top-seeded teams, but ninth-seeded Oklahoma opened the men’s tournament by defeating Iowa State. Seventh-seeded Oklahoma State beat Nebraska in the evening session.
It made for a better-than-usual opening day crowd, and Sooners guard David Godbold played the edge for all it was worth, imploring the partisan crowd to urge on the Sooners in the final moments of a close game.
Fans outside the Ford Center could watch the action on big-screen televisions and party on closed Reno Avenue, which borders Bricktown, the city’s entertainment district. The visitors liked the setup.
“I was pretty excited when I heard it was coming here,” said Tim Puvogel, a Kansas fan from Salina, Kan. “It’s a doable drive, and the city seems excited about it.”
That’s music to Cornett’s ears. He sees the tournaments not just as a weeklong boost to the local economy but as an opportunity to promote Oklahoma City as a sporting event destination.
“We had the Olympic Festival here in 1989, but I’d call this the biggest convention-like sports event in the city’s history, maybe the state’s history,” he said. “It validates our city’s renaissance.”
• • •
When it comes to geography, the Big 12 venue competition has always been tilted toward Kansas City.
For the marquee basketball tournaments and the football championship game, several Texas cities — Dallas, Houston and San Antonio — typically showed interest. Each has played host to a football game, and the title game returns to the Alamodome in December.
Dallas has been the only Texas site for hoops, but the others have wanted in as well.
Among northern locations for football and basketball, there’s been only Kansas City, at least after St. Louis stopped showing much interest.
One event for Dallas, one for Kansas City. One for Houston, one for Kansas City — and that’s how Kansas City wound up with more of the league’s crown jewel events, with seven of the first 10 basketball tournaments and four football games.
With its centralized location, Oklahoma City could change the dynamic. The average distance from Big 12 campuses to Oklahoma City is 55 miles closer than it is to Kansas City.
“You can get here in less than a day’s drive from anywhere in the Big 12,” Cornett said. “It’s the only place in the Big 12 where that’s possible.”
Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said he doesn’t sense the interest from schools to lock into permanent sites, such as Kansas City for basketball and Dallas for football.
“Many of those I talk to believe there is less value for a single site for a sport,” Weiberg said. “Moving it around, I think, is the way to go.”
Kansas City has always been in line, and thinks its position has never been stronger with the Sprint Center and the Power & Light District set to open later this year.
“In the past, we had to manufacture our amenities, set up tents or put the entertainment in Hale Arena,” said Kansas City Sports Commission Executive Director Kevin Gray. “We’re in a position to put our best foot forward.”
Dallas as a future basketball site is less certain. Dave Brown, general manager of the American Airlines Center, said he wanted to keep college balls bouncing in his building. He’s proposed playing both the women’s and men’s tournaments there, a prospect the league might consider given the uncertain future of Reunion Arena, site of the women’s tournament. Reunion is expected to be shut down by 2008.
“That’s a possibility,” Weiberg said. “We would lay out in our request for proposal the format and dates we anticipate using, but we don’t want to stifle the creativity of a city. We’ll listen to new ideas.”
• • •
A difference in this round of championship site proposals is more certainty in the venues.
Over the past few years, the Big 12 resisted awarding future sites beyond one year because it didn’t know how voters would react to proposals to the new basketball arena in Kansas City and football stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Now that the Sprint Center is nearly a reality and the new football stadium to be operated by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is to open in 2009, the Big 12 can move forward. Weiberg said it’s possible for championship sites to be awarded through 2013 with an announcement as early as the league’s annual May meetings.
Weiberg said he’s heard good things about Oklahoma City but the important feedback comes after the tournament from the schools. The league office wants to know about fan experiences. One concern about Oklahoma City was the number of quality hotel rooms in the downtown area.
“Some people think having to stay in Norman (20 miles away) is too far,” Weiberg said. “But we’ll know more about that in the next few weeks.”
The $89.1 million Ford Center doesn’t have the amenities of the $420 million American Airlines Center in Dallas or the $276 million Sprint Center. But the building, which has played host to the NBA Hornets during their New Orleans relocation for two seasons, doesn’t work against Oklahoma City, and the Myriad is an ideal size and setting for the women.
Cornett can recite a list of several more of his city’s advantages, and they’ll all go in Oklahoma City’s proposal for future tournaments. But the highest compliment was made three years ago when the Big 12 gave the nod for this year’s event.
“It sent a message that Oklahoma City could measure up,” Cornett said. “We know we can.”
Title towns
The Big 12 hopes to soon clear up future championship sites.
BASKETBALL
1997-2002: KC 2003-04: Dallas 2005: KC 2006: Dallas 2007: Okla. City 2008: KC
FOOTBALL
1996: St. Louis 1997: San Antonio 1998: St. Louis 1999: San Antonio 2000: KC 2001: Dallas 2002: Houston 2003-04: KC 2005: Houston 2006: KC 2007: San Antonio
Originally Posted by Turanacus
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