Thunder media market?

[dmoor82]

I was in Wichita,KS today and they had Thunder commercials on 2 different radio stations! One was a contest,in which the prize was 2 tickets to an OKC-PHX game and hotel/limo! I was wondering how far out OKC's media market extended? I would think WHC,KS is in our market,considering we are The closest! and if anyone knows how far out The games are broadcasted?

[HOT ROD]

I would think OKC's catchment area is quite large. I would think it could extend the entire state of Oklahoma (of course) then perhaps 100-200 miles in either direction from the state line, with the exception of some overlap in the South Oklahoma/Red River area with Dallas. If true, this catchment area could include cities such as Tulsa (of course), Wichita (also, of course), Amarillo, Lubbock (maybe), Ft Smith, Joplin.

The catchment might even extend further into Missouri and Arkansas, especially since the Thunder is good - you might have many 'bandwagon' fans now that might just turn into die hard Thunder fans in the future. So this might include Little Rock, Kansas City, all of Kansas, maybe even Omaha and Albuquerque.

But it is difficult to say that with certain, because it really depends upon where Bennett is marketing. Clearly, he is marketing within 100 miles of the state line (save DFW, perhaps); but I think the catchment could be further out into cities that are sympathetic/friends/traditional allies with OKC (like Lubbock and Amarillo, maybe Little Rock) but also to regional markets with no NBA team (such as KC, OMA, and perhaps STL) since the Thunder is doing good.

The key to defining the catchment is to look when the Thunder aren't a novelty anymore and/or aren't doing so good. Then, you would get a clear picture of where the fans are. .. I would still think the 100 miles from the OK border argument would stand and maybe further into W Texas due to OKC sympathy/allie. I honestly dont think Dallas has much catchment outside of DFW/N TX anymore, with OKC and Oklahoma/Kansas being gone now.

And Im almost certain, with rising stars the Thunder has - our catchment is a bit larger than the 100-200 miles away from the border it otherwise 'should' be.

What's interesting, is OKC's catchment could be significantly larger than the Sonic's. Seattle Sonics did not carry the whole state, as Portland catches all of SW Washington once you go South past Olympia. Portland also catches much of far S. Washington, especially when they are doing good.

So if you exclude the Vancouver powerhouse (which is debatable whether anybody up there would support the NBA Seattle Sonics with any real numbers), you'd only have perhaps Alaska, Montana, N. Idaho and the Northern 2/3 of Washington as Seattle Sonics catchment. I estimate the population of that region to be almost 5M people (WA=4.2M, N ID/MT = 400K, AK = 400K). Salt Lake would catch most of ID and even part of E. Oregon, and Wyoming.

If you look at OKC's 100-200 mile from border argument I propose, that is 3.65M in OK (assuming S. OK is really Thunder territory, which I think it probably is), S. KS (at least) 1M, W. AR/SW MO 1M, and W TX 500K; totalling at least 6.05M.

so, if you believe my estimates; OKC's catchment is at least 6M people whereas Seattle's catchment (minus Vancouver) was barely 5M. I really dont think you could include any if all of Vancouver in Seattle's catchment because there was NEVER any commercials or products or even promotions of Sonics in Vancouver, except when Vancouver had an NBA team - then they had "some" of their own promotion. I can say that Vancouver get's some of Seattle's tv stations on cable, so it was possible for some to watch when games were broadcast on local tv; but I'd hardly call that catchment particularly since it would be even harder to say with certainty that ANYBODY in vancouver watched.

so, given this - OKC is a larger catchment area than Seattle; who would have thunk. ..

I think what would have made Seattle's catchment larger is if 1) they shared games or pre-season with Vancouver 2) they had a canadian player on the team like Steve Nash who is from Vancouver btw 3) if they had a Chinese player (Yao Ming) or an Indian player on the team (as these are the largest populations in Vancouver). But nope to all of these.

Coincidentally, Portland had a pre-season game in Vancouver this year, and it was well attended. So now Portland's catchment area is quite large with almost all of OR, say 3M, all of WA 6.5M, Alaska 400K; 10M people. Add in Vancouver and you'd get over 14M.

Maybe this is what the NBA was also looking at. Portland could very well carry the Pac NW as Portland definitely has games broadcast in Seattle (on cable tv) and many who love the game are 'converting' over.

OKC was an untapped but potentially huge market. OKC wasn't really Mavericks fans, despite HUGE marketing in what was considered Dallas' largest catchment city. Dallas also couldn't really claim KS and the heartland either. But OKC can much easier, especially with a winning season.

Dallas still has a huge catchment, I'd say all of N Tx, up to 8M people. But with OKC, the NBA has most likely captured a 'dark hole' in the middle of the country - over time, this should improve the NBA's market share and as players get better so does the long term fanbase. Look no further than San Antonio, Phoenix, and Utah for examples.

[dmoor82]

Wow, HotRod great response! yeah it kinda shocked me to hear that commercial up there! btw, I think it would be very smart of The Thunder to play a pre-season game up in Wichita,they just opened up The new Intrust Bank arena!time to build our fanbase outward!!!

[Laramie]

The Thunder has already announced that they will play an exhibition game in Kansas City (Sprint Center).

As dmoor82 mentioned: Wichita's Intrust Arena would be a great place to market this team. I would also play games in St. Louis (Scottrade Center), Omaha (Quest Center), Des Moines (Wells Fargo Arena ) for preseason games.

We have the whole upper Midwest to market the Thunder.

[HOT ROD]

very good. looks like Clay has already considered my conclusions about OKC's tertiary yet valuably large catchment area. Look for him to try to get Omaha and maybe ABQ as well.

I think DSM and STL start to get into Chicago Bulls' (and dare I say Minnesota TWolves') territory. But yes, OKC should own OK, KS, MO, NE, W AR, W TX, and maybe most of NM. What a catchment. ...

[OKCisOK4me]

I talked to a girl I know who lives in Springfield, MO, and she says she hasn't heard one peep for a Thunder commercial on any radio station there. Then she put a sad face... You think they'd extend at least out to Joplin.

[bluedogok]

The local sports here in Austin usually have the Thunder score/highlights along with the Spurs and sometimes more coverage than the Spurs. The Durant factor is alive and well down here.

[HOT ROD]

hm, Im surprised he's not targeting at least SW Missouri but he is targeting Kansas City. Weird. Maybe the KC thing is more of an NBA thing? But could KC support NFL, MLB, 'and NBA'? Not to knock KC but I dont think so. I would imagine it would be a swap if the NBA were to come in.

Honestly, I think putting an NBA team in KC would be somewhat of a disaster for OKC Thunder, in that KC would claim all of Kansas (most likely) and NE and MO; leaving OKC to just OK, W AR and W TX. With this thought, I hope KC preseason games are seen as Thunder market expansion and mess of NBA 'relocation' speculation.

It will be nice to have a preseason game each year in Tulsa, and maybe a rotation between KC, Wichita, Omaha, Albuquerque, and Amarillo/Lubbock/Ft Smith/Fayettville. I think they'd only need to play one pre-season game actually in OKC, and maybe they should play that game in Norman or even Lawton - to spread/ensure the market.

[Soonerus]

If they keep winning the market may reach much wider areas...

[Grant]

I think we're forgetting that the Memphis Grizzlies are much closer to Little Rock than OKC is. Fort Smith isn't actually too far from there either when compared to its distance from the Thunder.

[HOT ROD]

I never said LIT was part of OKC's catchment, I've always said W. AR. and primarily I mean NW AR, which would be inclusive of Ft. Smith. This mainly because FT Smith does have suburbs in Oklahoma and to me - the city seems to have more in common with Oklahoma than it does Little Rock.

LR definitely seems like Memphis's b****, though. but I would say Memphis's market in AR might be smaller than OKC's, as New Orleans also comes into play for the S. Half of the state; mem could only claim LIT and the NE/E section of the state.

Again, it's all semantics but I do see FtSm as part of OKC.

[Kerry]

LOL - Memphis. They can't even claim to be the NBA team of choice in their own city, at least judging by attendance. They average just over 13,000 per game (28th out of 30).

[JH14]

I live in Fayetteville, AR and there is zero reach out here. The games aren't even on tv. I travel to Little Rock on occasion and haven't seen or heard anything there either. Considering NW Arkansas is only 3 1/2 hours away I would have expected atleast the games to be on tv or the radio. Oh well.. maybe someday.

[Richard at Remax]

i was in manhattan, kansas on jan 15-16 and watched two thunder games on fox sports kansas