Does Tulsa have any decent ice skating rinks?
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Originally posted by TulsaFan-inTexas
Does Tulsa have any decent ice skating rinks?
There is only 1 public ice rink listed in my Dec. 2006 AT&T phone book: Oilers Ice Center at 6413 S. Mingo. I don't know anything about it. The others that used to be here, the fairgrounds rink and Williams Center Forum rink, are long gone history.
Bowling alleys are going the same way in Tulsa. Where Tulsa used to have at least a dozen great bowling centers, only 2-3 are left within the City. Sheridan Lanes and Riverlanes.
There is the closed "Tulsa Ice Arena" on 71st which I heard is now owned by Asbury to be used for non-frozen purposes.
Mickey's Bowling Center in Eastland Mall is the third bowling center in Tulsa.
Just phoned Asbury to see if that building could be rented for an event. Was informed it will be remodled into a youth center, no ice and no bleachers. All that will be destroyed.
Tulsa has very few facilities other than the overpriced ones at Expo Square and Downtown for holding mid-size public events.
Anyone know of a building in Tulsa that has elevated bleachers, a high ceiling, additional indoor floor space other than the arena floor, and is separated from the bleachers by a wall or panals?
I typically pay $500 to $800 per night for rental on buildings outside of Tulsa.
The UMAC does. No idea how much it costs.
The Oilers Ice Center is a decent facility, and as far as I know, the only public-use ice skating rink in Tulsa. It is often used by area youth hockey leagues as well as high school club hockey games.
Where is the UMAC?
I found it I believe. Is it the School Assembly hall?
I am looking for a building that either has a dirt floor or will allow dirt to be brought in. Or has Ice such as a Hocky Rink. I will contact the Ice place. We typically need a floor space of 300' x 250' if possible but can work with as small as 200' x 110'
We have approached schools regarding motorsports events and they have all denied our requests. Something about competing with their athletic department ticketed events. Never understood why the public schools in Oklahoma do not offer Motorsports as a Sport and classroom studies regarding Powersports and mechanics. Seems those classes have evaporated out of the High Schools. Guess they are all in the County Vo-Tech today. Where is the stadium and racetracks for the Vo-Tech students. Is everyone living in Oklahoma required to enjoy football?
One good thing about Indiana home of the Indy 500, is they have tax breaks, scholarship funds and offer motorsports management and other subjects in their High Schools and Universities.
And their Governor rides a Harley
As with so many buildings and facilities in Tulsa the Ice Rink is very small. It is 180' x 80' Not regulation size.
This is a common problem with producing events in Oklahoma. Either the doors are too small to accomodate Monster Trucks or the floor space is not a standard length and width for the production crew to work with.
Goes back to basics. Building material comes in standard Mill sizes such as a 10' piece of Sheetrock.
Gearing for race vehicles is the same. There are standards. Gearing is typically made for 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile and Mile length oval tracks. Any difference in the length causes major problems with participants who are then subject to purchasing additional gearing to accomodate some odd ball size track. Tulsa Speedway suffered from that problem as it was a 3/8 mile dimension, and not any of the standard sizes that 90& of all other tracks in the US are.
quote:
Originally posted by AMP
As with so many buildings and facilities in Tulsa the Ice Rink is very small. It is 180' x 80' Not regulation size.
This is a common problem with producing events in Oklahoma. Either the doors are too small to accomodate Monster Trucks or the floor space is not a standard length and width for the production crew to work with.
Goes back to basics. Building material comes in standard Mill sizes such as a 10' piece of Sheetrock.
Gearing for race vehicles is the same. There are standards. Gearing is typically made for 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile and Mile length oval tracks. Any difference in the length causes major problems with participants who are then subject to purchasing additional gearing to accomodate some odd ball size track. Tulsa Speedway suffered from that problem as it was a 3/8 mile dimension, and not any of the standard sizes that 90& of all other tracks in the US are.
Actually, I think sheetrock standard is 4x8ft. Anyway, why don't you consider leasing the plant that we offered to Boeing? Put in movable bleachers and start marketing it. Maybe you could get an enticement from the city?[8D]
AMP, to answer some of your questions:
The UMAC is located at about 68th and Mingo Rd. on the Union High School campus. It seats about 4,000 for basketball games and was the site of the Mid-Continent Confrence men's basketball tournament in 2006 (ORU's conference). No, dirt would not be allowed in the UMAC, and the facility is not suited for dirt-floor events. Your best bet for dirt-floor events is the fairgrounds. As far as hockey is concerned, you might try the Convention Center during the Oilers off-season. That would likely be pricey and heavily restricted, though. I know the Pavilion in Expo Square has hosted ice events, also.
Regarding motorsports in local high schools, they are probably not offered due to Title IX, which is the same reason boys volleyball, hockey, and lacrosse will never be school-sponsored sports. The mechanics classes you are looking for are offered through the Tulsa Technology Center, and can be taken con-currently by high school students as part of their school schedules. I know Tulsa, Jenks, and Union districts have some students that do participate in Tulsa Tech programs.
I have a booth this weekend at the UMAC.
A bunch of radio stations are putting on the "Green Country Home and Garden Show".
Our environmental group will be there passing out propaganda including nice 2007 calendars.
The Boeing Plant, is that at the Airport?
We tried working with them when a man named Kitchens was there few years back. He was very difficult to deal with, and stated he was only interested in allowing businesses that were Aviation oriented to do be on the grounds. Have not been back since that phone call. But I will contact someone out there first thing tomorrow. Sounds like a really great facility and location for our type of events. Thanks for the idea.
We also approached the Tulsa Parks department regarding a Rodeo Arena located on the NE side of Mohawk Park that had never been rented. They ruled us out because we may make too much noise and scare off animals in the Oxley Nature Center. Interesting when we were meeting at the facility, jet airplanes were flying overhead and we were forced to stop talking as no one could hear the other. Noise...LOL
Sand Springs Park department would only approve a Bicycle MX track, nothing with an engine.
The Tulsa Parks does have a Motorsport Racetrack on I believe is Park Property up on North Yale. It is the Tulsa Quarter Midget Association track. I could be wrong about that one.
Title IX, does that cover contact sports such as Football as well? LOL
In most other states and cities, the City County owns the land where the racetracks are located and they make a percentage of the profits off the operations. Similar to the Public Park Baseball Diamonds and Soccer Fields here. Netty Field on North Yale is owned, managed, cared for and maintained by the City, County Parks and recreation department. Guess it is okay to use tax dollars for one form of sports/entertainment but not for others????
Tulsa has one of the best facilities at Expo Square, with the exception they filled in the infield with asphalt and removed the clay from the surface and replaced it with the enemy of motorsports SAND!
That facility drew over 13,000 ticket buyers each and every Saturday night for many years. Another Tulsa tragedy was the decision to evict the motorsports industry from the Expo. They did make a concession by allowing the races to be held Indoors with the doors shut during the Winter Months. I have produced a dozen events the Expo over the past years.
Buck Myers owns a building on Mingo that was a Paint Ball facility for a few years. It was empty last time I drove by there. Don't think it was large enough for what I have in mind. I need around 40 foot ceiling heigth minimum.
I will look up the Boeing Plant online and try to see if they list the dimensions.
There are some super nice sets of Musco Lights, on 100+ foot poles with underground power at a few Parks in Tulsa. These lights are no longer uese as the City/County removed the Baseball Fields years ago, but left the lights.
http://www.musco.com/
Seems like a loss the use of equipment to let them just sit there going to waste, when there are other forms of recreation and competitive sports that could be taking advantage of this euipment that obviously has been long forgotten.
quote:
Originally posted by AMP
Title IX, does that cover contact sports such as Football as well? LOL
I know you're joking here, but yes it does. I don't know the full details of the law, but I know it requires public schools to have an equal amount of boys and girls sports. The equalizers are girls-only volleyball and boys-only football for most schools.
And I agree with you, it's ridiculous for Expo Square to not allow motorsports. Is that really any more intrusive to nearby residents than the fair in full swing? Or the smell of show animals?