OKC lands American Hockey League team

[Pete]

Great news!

NewsOK

[circuitboard]

This is great news. Here is some great press about it...

DALLAS, Texas -- Last July, after the Seattle Supersonics announced they were moving the team to Oklahoma, the NBA crowned Oklahoma City “The Next Big Thing.”


In a city with over 1,300,000 residents in the Oklahoma City metro area and a state of the art 20,000 seat arena, The Ford Center, built by the City of Oklahoma at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, you can understand why the city is marketing and recruiting to upgrade their tenants.


Having said that, here is why an AHL team will be in Oklahoma City next season, Economics. No, not just because of the current economy, but because it makes good, all around business sense to put an AHL team there.


Prohockeynews.com The Best Place for Minor Hockey News

[MGE1977]

To address the "name that team" contest as proposed by the posted article:

How about the "Failing Fire Apparatus" since that is from where the money used to court the franchise was stolen.

Yay, busch league hockey!

[betts]

Good news for the city and hockey fans.

[OKC@heart]

This will be yet another opportunity for Oklahoma City to gain positive exposure on the national stage. It was also interesting that in the reasons for selecting OKC, Will Rogers International Airport was cited. That is a good thing for other business interests to hear, who may be looking at more economical and centrally located places to relocate to. Yup, the welcome mat has been rolled out for the rest of the country, Oklahoma City is open for business and it is up and coming! Exciting times!

[MikeOKC]

That ProHockeyNews article is from December of 2008 because there was talk of an AHL team.

[OKCMallen]

The Oklahoma Ice Storm.

(Secretly, I always wanted unified mascots and colors: red, black and gold, like the Blazers. The Redhawks fit into that closely.)

[OKC@heart]

The Oklahoma Ice Storm.

(Secretly, I always wanted unified mascots and colors: red, black and gold, like the Blazers. The Redhawks fit into that closely.)

We could take out the Ice part and then it rolls off the tongue a little better! The Oklahoma City Storm!...and then add both the OKC NBA and the AHL together and you get the OKC Thunderstorm! I am just sayin'...Seems appropriate and immediately identifyable!

[Wambo36]

We could take out the Ice part and then it rolls off the tongue a little better! The Oklahoma City Storm!...and then add both the OKC NBA and the AHL together and you get the OKC Thunderstorm! I am just sayin'...Seems appropriate and immediately identifyable!

If they're not going to keep Blazers, this is the best alternative I've heard. Imaginative.

[mugofbeer]

Very good! One small step at a time!

[phinzup]

Yawn.....

[Mikemarsh51]

Blazers!

[smooth]

Blazers!

Yep. The ONLY choice!

[dmoor82]

I was just on Oilers.NHL.com and they have a nice article on OKC and a very good skyline pic of OKC too!

[Larry OKC]

Interesting development, but where does that leave the arena improvements?

Oklahoma City Council wants new hockey team (Journal Record 12/16/09)

The proposed agreement includes a five-year lease with three-year renewals, and commits the city to about $4.5 million in improvements to the Cox Convention Center. But city council’s approval requires that Prodigal confirm an NHL team no later than Dec. 31

This announcement comes some 40 days past that deadline. Seems to let the City off the hook for the cost??

[smooth]

Interesting development, but where does that leave the arena improvements?

Oklahoma City Council wants new hockey team (Journal Record 12/16/09)

This announcement comes some 40 days past that deadline. Seems to let the City off the hook for the cost??

Why would it? The lease agreement only set the deadline. It did not REQUIRE the announcement. It was only an escape clause. Both parties knew negotiations were not yet complete.

Either way,team or no team, the CITY agreed to pay for the improvements.

[rcjunkie]

To address the "name that team" contest as proposed by the posted article:

How about the "Failing Fire Apparatus" since that is from where the money used to court the franchise was stolen.

Yay, busch league hockey!

How sad !!!!!!

[sgt. pepper]

ok.... what does The Edmonton Roadrunners and the Springfield Falcons have anything to do with each other, and which team are we getting?

[betts]

We're getting the Roadrunners, a currently dormant team. They're both Edmonton Oilers franchises. Perhaps someone else knows a little more about this.

[OKCMallen]

Yawn.....

Thanks for adding to the discussion.

[jmlight]

We're getting the Roadrunners, a currently dormant team. They're both Edmonton Oilers franchises. Perhaps someone else knows a little more about this.

I believe, and I could be totally wrong, that Springfield just has an affiliation with Edmonton, which ends this season. Meaning Edmonton sends them players and calls players up from them. OKC is likely to have those players, even though Springfield may or may not maintain a team in the years to come. If they do they'll just have to get their players elsewhere or through another NHL affiliation.

I think OKC is getting the Road Runners franchise, which is, as you said, currently not operating.

[smooth]

I believe, and I could be totally wrong, that Springfield just has an affiliation with Edmonton, which ends this season. Meaning Edmonton sends them players and calls players up from them. OKC is likely to have those players, even though Springfield may or may not maintain a team in the years to come. If they do they'll just have to get their players elsewhere or through another NHL affiliation.

I think OKC is getting the Road Runners franchise, which is, as you said, currently not operating.

Springfield, at least at this time, is not folding. Edmondton is not renewing the affiliation agreement. So, if the players come from Springfield it is just luck. Some have contracts with Edmondton which will probably bring them here, but not all.

[jmlight]

Springfield, at least at this time, is not folding. Edmondton is not renewing the affiliation agreement. So, if the players come from Springfield it is just luck. Some have contracts with Edmondton which will probably bring them here, but not all.

Thanks. I meant to say that I believed not all of Springfield's players were under contract to Edmonton, but those who were would be sent to OKC next year.

I'm hoping for a nice mix of contracted players and free agents, but I don't know exactly how it all works. Just glad to have hockey back.

[BigD Misey]

There goes my COX intermodal/retail center idea! (snap!)

[BrettL]

Just bought my season tix. Can't wait till October.