Barons done after next season?

[OkieHornet]

have always loved the hockey games at the fairgrounds arena the best out of the 3 venues we have. seems a little grittier, which matches the tone of the sport - more of a "barn". sightlines are really good, too. and it's pretty convenient as far as highway access and parking.

[Dubya61]

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.

This is an glass-half empty post about an alarmist thread.
You could say the same thing about an NBA team, if you wanted to. Take a look at the Washington Wizards.
1961 - 1962, Chicago Packers
1962 - 1963, Chicago Zephyrs
1963 - 1973, Baltimore Bullets
1973 - 1974. Capital Bullets
1974 - 1978, Washington Bullets
1978 - present, Washington Wizards

Or, you could look at the history of the AHL's Hershey Bears:
1938 - present, Hershey Bears

Or the AHL's Rochester Americans:
1956 - present, Rochester Americans

Given Jerry Seinfeld's observation of our loyalty to our sports, we're really just cheering for laundry, eh? Are the Raiders and Warriors on borrowed time, too?
There are, in fact, several vibrant AHL teams that began operation around the start of the current century: Hamilton Bulldogs (1996), Hartford Wolf Pack (1997), Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (1999), Norfolk Admirals (2000), Bridgeport Sound Tigers (2001), Chicago Wolves (2001), Grand Rapids Griffins (2001), Manchester Monarchs (2001), Milwaukee Admirals (2001), Binghamton Senators (2002), San Antonio Rampage (2002) ...
Sure, there are others with a shorter past and some that may fail or move, but I think that Oklahoma City's past with hockey and bright economic future may be the right combination to keep hockey in OKC. Further I think that the Barons / Oilers relationship is vibrant and forward thinking enough to be a strong foundation for future operations with the Barons. Finally, as was pointed out above,

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.

the Barons serve a fully valid purpose to the Oilers. If you want a jam-packed rock concert, maybe it's the venue that's a "fail".

[shawnw]

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

They have a Disney on Ice show there every year at the fair right? I don' think a rink is the problem. Having been in that arena recently, it's "fine" for this purpose, but could use a freshening up. However, I'm not in favor of shipping this particular activity out of downtown any more than I'm in favor of putting the soccer stadium at the fairgrounds.

[Urbanized]

The Barons will either (hopefully) succeed or they will fail, and ultimately it will have little or even nothing to do with the currently-murky future of the Cox Center years from now. I'm sure the guy is a nice guy - and I'm glad to find out that there is a fan blog for the Barons - but the piece is dumb, poorly-reasoned and not especially well written. Sorry if it's one of the posters here.

The only enlightening (and troubling) thing here is the realization that the Bullets changed their name to the Wizards THIRTY FIVE YEARS AGO!! I would have told you late eighties or early nineties. That revelation made me feel really, really old.

[BoulderSooner]

Changed in 1997

[OkieHornet]

The only enlightening (and troubling) thing here is the realization that the Bullets changed their name to the Wizards THIRTY FIVE YEARS AGO!! I would have told you late eighties or early nineties. That revelation made me feel really, really old.

the bullets changed to wizards in '97.

[OKCretro]

are the oilers still playing in the BOK center in Tulsa? or did they move out

[Dubya61]

are the oilers still playing in the BOK center in Tulsa? or did they move out

Still in the BOK.

[jedicurt]

This original blog post for this is from someone who screams doom and gloom every chance he gets when it comes to the Barons. Steve summed up what the City has told Prodigal and the Barons Advisory Board just 3 months ago... that there are NO plans to tear down the arena, just to redevelop the Exhibit halls. And as for the 3,015 average attendance. that is based upon the first 12 games of the season, and comparing to full season numbers. Attendance always picks up after Football Season is over. if you compare the first 12 games of last year to this year, we are up almost 10% in attendance.

The fact is that Edmonton needs a development team in the AHL, and we have several things that help us in this regard. number 1 is that it is very easy to get a flight from OKC to Denver and then Denver to Edmonton. and another is the fact that the player have glowing praise for our city. Many interviews with the players that have gotten called up to the big leagues have had nothing but great things to say about our city and their time here. i listen regularly to several Canadian Radio station podcasts that are Oilers stations and they comment on how many good things are said about OKC. Especially the things that the Barons organization does with Habitat for Humanity and Special Olympics. Having development players happy and developing to play at the next level are much more important for the long term viability of the Barons (in the eyes of Edmonton) than attendance ever will be

[Laramie]

Could a Tulsa or Wichita entry into the American Hockey League help the Barons?

Tulsa and Wichita are sporting new arenas:

Tulsa's BOK Center Ice hockey seat capacity 17,096

Wichita Intrust Bank Arena Ice hockey seat capacity 13,450

I know that the Central Hockey League's revival in 1992-93 brought out a new breed of Oklahoma City Blazer hockey fans as the new version of the league was more of a bus league with tailored rivals consisting of the Oklahoma City Blazers, Tulsa Oilers, Wichita Thunder, Memphis RiverKings, Dallas Freeze and the Fort Worth Fire. The Blazers were the sixth franchise to settle on a lease and ultimately became the league attendance setter.

Oklahoma City has a lot of activity going on inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Are there choice dates available for sports, concerts and entertainment events since the Thunder seldom play on Saturdays. If I recall, the NBA may have some rule preventing the placement of the basketball court on top of the ice? Los Angeles may be the exception.

According to the 2013 Mid Year World Wide Ticket Sales Top 100 Arena Venues on selected arenas:

26 Sprint Center, Kansas City
32 Toyota Center, Houston
40 Verizon Center, North Little Rock
42 American Airlines Center, Dallas
43 BOK Center, Tulsa
53 Century Link, Omaha
55 Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita
57 Chesapeake Arena, Oklahoma City
60 Target Center, Minneapolis
63 United Center, Chicago

Mid year would probably stretch from January to June 2013 pre NBA regular season.

Source: http://sprint_center.s3.amazonaws.co...SalesChart.pdf

Let's hope we can get our rival cities (Tulsa, Wichita) back before ice hockey on the AAA level leave Oklahoma City.

"Oklahoma City looks oh-so pretty as I get my kicks on Route 66." --Nat King Cole.

[jedicurt]

i think if both were to come into the AHL, they would find it difficult at first, but yes, i very much think it would help the Barons. if Wichita and Tulsa were added to the division with OKC, Cedar Park, and San Antonio, and Charlotte and Abbotsford move from it, it would do a lot to help attendance, and the over all feel of OKC for the Barons.

[OKCretro]

about that list of populated arenas. I think Clay doesn't allow many conerts/circus other things during the late spring is because he needs open dates for playoff games. Look at the united center or pepsi center, they are actually lower than okc and they house 2 major league teams. Places like Tulsa and Wichita schedule all sorts of concerts/ monster truck events to fill the place up because they don't have a primary tenant.

Sometimes less is more......

[Garin]

Barons hockey is ten times better hockey then the Blazers hockey, but the attendance for a Blazers game was always around 9-10k people. I think ticket price has a lot to do with it cheap entertainment for a family of 4 or 5.

[OKCretro]

attendance and paid attendance is very different.....

[Snowman]

about that list of populated arenas. I think Clay doesn't allow many conerts/circus other things during the late spring is because he needs open dates for playoff games. Look at the united center or pepsi center, they are actually lower than okc and they house 2 major league teams. Places like Tulsa and Wichita schedule all sorts of concerts/ monster truck events to fill the place up because they don't have a primary tenant.

Sometimes less is more......

I think that was a requirement by the NBA before relocation was granted

[Garin]

attendance and paid attendance is very different.....

Someone paid for them right?

[Urbanized]

Changed in 1997

the bullets changed to wizards in '97.

Thanks. I thought that sounded terribly wrong. But it was on the Internet, so I believed it!

[jedicurt]

The Blazers consistently gave out free tickets. Thousands of them per game. Hence the 9-10k numbers. Many teams around the AHL still do this as well. Lake Erie and Hershey give away hundreds if not thousands of tickets for free each game. The Barons have made a habit of trying to not repeat the mistakes of the Blazers and to have numbers that truly reflect the Hockey Market in OKC.

so yes. the Blazers paid for those tickets... and the end result was that they were not able to stay financially solvent playing in the Peake (Formerly the Ford Center).

It has been Prodigals statement that they are much closer to the league average when it comes to tickets sold and used, than the teams at the top of the attendance list would like you to believe.

Go purchase the AHLLive feed for a hershey game on a tuesday... they will announce that attendance was close to 9,000 because of tickets sold, but you will see that the real attendance is much closer to about 3,500-4k for those games

[Dave Cook]

Concerning adding Tulsa and Wichita in the mix....how in the world has Tulsa survived over the last several years? I've been to a handful of games in Tulsa in the last few years and the crowds have been shockingly bad...even worse that Oklahoma City. I'm not kidding, the last Oilers game I attended, I bet there weren't over 600 people in the stands. Just awful.

Now having said that, as much as I dislike Wichita, they do pull in a crowd and support that team well. I've never seen a 'bad' crowd in either the old or new arena. Give them credit, they've managed to maintain that product through good seasons and bad.


Also, in regards to the long standing teams back east (Hershey, for example).....some of those AHL teams on the East Coast have been around for years. You're not going to find that for the Western teams. How long did Omaha last? Kansas City? Quad Cities? How long do we give Des Moines this time? I'll give credit to Peoria...they've hung on.

Jeez....the Barons make the Oklahoma City Stars years seem like the good ol days.

[Dave Cook]

The Blazers consistently gave out free tickets. Thousands of them per game. Hence the 9-10k numbers.

I've never understood why people continue to make such a big deal out of this. Yes, the Blazers gave out free tickets and 9,000 people showed up. It added to the atmosphere and made the experience that much more.

The Barons are GIVING AWAY CARS - for Cripes sakes - and it does absolutely nothing to boost the crowd.

Face it....the Barons as a franchise....just doesn't work.

[Snowman]

... Also, in regards to the long standing teams back east (Hershey, for example).....some of those AHL teams on the East Coast have been around for years. You're not going to find that for the Western teams. How long did Omaha last? Kansas City? Quad Cities? How long do we give Des Moines this time? I'll give credit to Peoria...they've hung on. ...

Any idea on how many of the northern teams will have frozen rivers/lakes/possibility of much cheaper outdoor rinks so playing could be a much more traditional sport among children and teens, which would be bound to help the popularity. A lot of the ones clustered together have a reputation for cold winters.

[Dave Cook]

Any idea on how many of the northern teams will have frozen rivers/lakes/possibility of much cheaper outdoor rinks so playing could be a much more traditional sport among children and teens, which would be bound to help the popularity. A lot of the ones clustered together have a reputation for cold winters.

Ya reckon????

This was one thing that gave me the giggles back in the day in regards to hockey in non-traditional markets.....the need to make sure the fan knew we were dealing with ICE HOCKEY.

Tulsa Ice Oilers
Austin Ice Bats
Lake Charles Ice Pirates
Corpus Christi Ice Rays
Nashville Ice Flyers
Evansville Ice Men
Rockford Ice Hogs
Dayton Ice Bandits

Are you noticing a theme?

Have you ever heard of the Calgary Ice Flames or the Winnipeg Ice Jets or the Medicine Hat Ice Tigers? Of course not......they're Canadian....they sleep on ice so it's a given.

Cripes.....a few years ago...there was a team simply called the Indianapolis Ice. That's like the Philadelphia Field or the Tempe Turf. Laziest name ever.

[Bill Robertson]

About Tulsa and Witchita. Remember, AHL teams are a part of their parent team. They can't just create AHL new teams. To get teams there they would have to move from somewhere else.

[SoonerDave]

The Blazers consistently gave out free tickets. Thousands of them per game. Hence the 9-10k numbers. Many teams around the AHL still do this as well. Lake Erie and Hershey give away hundreds if not thousands of tickets for free each game. The Barons have made a habit of trying to not repeat the mistakes of the Blazers and to have numbers that truly reflect the Hockey Market in OKC.

so yes. the Blazers paid for those tickets... and the end result was that they were not able to stay financially solvent playing in the Peake (Formerly the Ford Center).

It has been Prodigals statement that they are much closer to the league average when it comes to tickets sold and used, than the teams at the top of the attendance list would like you to believe.

Go purchase the AHLLive feed for a hershey game on a tuesday... they will announce that attendance was close to 9,000 because of tickets sold, but you will see that the real attendance is much closer to about 3,500-4k for those games

IT's kinda like the "consecutive sellout" streak for OU home games...yeah, they've "sold out" many games in a row under Stoops, but even this season I can tell ya there were some fans dressed up like empty bleachers, particularly in the south endzone. Point being that those tickets are either given away, or someone like a sponsor comes along and buys them up for promotional goodies or goodwill or whatever to keep the "sellout" streak going.

Gotta be something similar at play here. I, personally, have just never gotten hockey, but realize plenty of people enjoy it. Think there was something "hometownish" about the Blazers that made them so popular, and I think that's an intangible missing from the Barons - one you can't manufacture with free tickets or whatever. I think its nice to have another pro/semipro type franchise around, but I just have a hard time seeing it ever getting back to the kind of support level the Blazers had....that name had/has a looooong OKC history.

[Just the facts]

Is it just me or are the Baron ticket prices kind of high? Maybe they should do $25 general admission and sit anywhere you want. For $35 you can enter the arena 5 minutes earlier to stake your seat claim.

OKC Barons | The Official Site of The Oklahoma City Barons

GOLD $38 BLUE $28 COPPER $25 ORANGE $23 RED $16