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Talk About Tulsa => Other Tulsa Discussion => Topic started by: pfox on April 14, 2008, 04:34:15 PM

Title: FWIW: Tulsa plays role in OKC landing the Sonics
Post by: pfox on April 14, 2008, 04:34:15 PM
Per the Daily Oklahoman:

http://newsok.com/article/3228955/1208012076

quote:


Including Tulsa in market key to selling NBA on city franchise

By Steve Lackmeyer
Business Writer

WHEN IT CAME TIME to sell the NBA on the idea that Oklahoma City is a major league city, SuperSonics owner Clay Bennett readily admits inclusion of Tulsa as part of the market was key to his pitch to the league's relocation committee.

It was no coincidence that the presentation participants — an exclusive invitation gathering of the state's most powerful and prominent leaders — included Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor. And Bennett admits it didn't hurt that the shot at landing an NBA team at Oklahoma City's Ford Center was also endorsed by the Tulsa World on the same day as the relocation committee's recent visit.

"Let me say this about small markets," responded Lewis Katz, owner of the New Jersey Nets and one of seven members of the relocation committee. "Everybody keeps telling me you're a small market. There's an hour and a half between Tulsa and Oklahoma City. That hour and half has 2½ million people or 70 percent of your state. Brooklyn, the largest borough in America, has 2½ million people."

Sale made.


Now leaders in both cities say it's not the start, or the end, of selling others on the idea that the Tulsa and Oklahoma City metros — much like Dallas/Fort Worth or Minneapolis/St. Paul — are close enough that they also can be considered one major market when competing in the national economy.

"The world is getting smaller, people are more mobile, and the definition of 'close by' is expanding," Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said. "The concept that people will travel 90 minutes for an NBA game is very realistic, and very familiar to other NBA owners. More specifically, the idea of a combined Oklahoma City-Tulsa market is ever-evolving, and there are many shades of grey, depending on what business you're talking about."

Cornett also notes that Stillwater, which made news as the state's fastest growing city, is part of the equation.

"It'll be interesting to know if the growth in Stillwater is at least partially a result of its proximity to both cities," Cornett said. "If that's the case, that's significant evidence of the merits of this combined market approach."

Taylor believes that traditional rivalries between the two cities are outweighed by the complementary nature of their similar economies.

"We both have aerospace industry — Oklahoma City's is more military, our's is more commercial," Taylor said. "We both have oil and gas."

Tourist trade also travels both ways along the Turner Turnpike. Major Tulsa metro area attractions — the Philbrook Museum, the Oklahoma Aquarium, Cain's Ballroom, the Cherokee Casino — are popular draws for Oklahoma City residents. And Tulsans are among those visiting the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Bricktown.

The two cities also find themselves as frequent allies when it comes to economic development and legislation, said Roy Williams, president of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber.

"We're both involved in the Governor's Economic Development Team, the Governor's International Team, as well as partnerships with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, the Oklahoma Business Roundtable, and the Oklahoma Bioscience Association," Williams said.


The next step?
But could the partnership between the two cities be enhanced even more? That's the question being asked by Paul Cornell as he leads a new Downtown Tulsa Rotary committee tasked with enhancing ties between Oklahoma City and Tulsa.
As deputy chief executive of Tulsa-based Spirit Bank, Cornell has to spend ample time in both cities — the bank also has branches in Stillwater. He said his company has formed an aerospace research center to look at aviation opportunities on both ends of the turnpike.

"Oklahoma is a community of one, versus being two separate cities," Cornell said. "Look at Dallas and Fort Worth — like there, we have two economies that are more interdependent than we give credit."

During his visit to Oklahoma City, Katz predicted an Oklahoma City NBA team will draw up to 20 percent of its attendance from Tulsa. Cornell agrees, and sees that linkage as an opportunity to bolster arguments for a light rail connection between the two cities.

Cornell, who travels weekly between the two cities, said he often sees the same faces at travel stops along the turnpike.

Another project being pursued by his committee is the potential of a conference center in Stroud — midway between Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

"That would make it easier for the cities to collaborate," Cornell said.


What about visibility?
Will the major league tag go beyond Oklahoma City and Tulsa? Commerce Department Secretary Natalie Shirley is eager to see all of Oklahoma presented as a "major league state."
"NBA teams play almost nine months out of the year," Shirley said. "That means that Oklahoma's name will be broadcast in major media outlets in a positive way hundreds and hundreds of times during the season. The media value of that is priceless."

That coverage also may go against out-dated perceptions, Shirley said.

"Having the Sonics or any major league sports team in Oklahoma helps to further the perception that Oklahoma has all of the elements and amenities of life you'd expect a thriving area to have."

Neither Shirley nor Cornell deny that a rivalry continues between Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Cornell said residents in his hometown look at Oklahoma City and admire progress made in downtown, especially Bricktown, and are frequent visitors.

"While Oklahoma City and Tulsa may engage in friendly competition from time to time, when the occasion arises, such as the Sonics opportunity, these two cities will unite and support the team," Shirley said. "I believe Mr. Katz' comments demonstrate that Oklahoma has not just one but two major league cities that are more than capable of drawing a loyal, enthusiastic fan base that will serve the Sonics well for decades to come."





Per ESPN:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3346600

quote:
Stern: Bennett made 'good faith' effort to keep Sonics in Seattle

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Despite the release of e-mails that SuperSonics owner Clay Bennett exchanged last year with partners about moving the team to Oklahoma City, NBA commissioner David Stern says he is convinced Bennett made a good-faith effort to keep the team in Seattle.


Bennett and ownership partners Aubrey McClendon and Tom Ward exchanged e-mails in April 2007 in which they discussed whether there was any way to avoid further "lame duck" seasons in Seattle before the team could be relocated.

Bennett, who had promised to negotiate with Seattle for a full year before deciding whether to move the Sonics, responded: "I am a man possessed! Will do everything we can. Thanks for hanging with me boys."

"I haven't studied them but my sense of it was that Clay, as the managing partner and the driving force of the group, was operating in good faith under the agreement that had been made with [previous owner] Howard Schultz," Stern said on a conference call Monday. "His straight and narrow path may not have been shared by all of his partners in their views, but Clay was the one that was making policy for the partnership."

Stern fined McClendon $250,000 last August after he told an Oklahoma City newspaper that "we didn't buy the team to keep it in Seattle; we hoped to come here." The e-mails released last week as part of the city of Seattle's efforts to enforce the SuperSonics' lease at KeyArena shed further light on the ownership group's thought process prior to Bennett's self-enforced Oct. 31 deadline to determine the team's eventual home.

After purchasing the team from Schultz in July 2006, Bennett promised to spend one full year after the purchase was approved to seek a viable home for the Sonics in Seattle. The NBA approved the sale of the Sonics in October 2006.

Stern repeatedly has said that Seattle's KeyArena is not a suitable home for the Sonics, and rejected a recent attempt led by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to renovate the arena to keep the team in Seattle. That effort subsequently fell apart when it wasn't backed by the city or the state legislature.

Stern said it's too late at this point to seek other owners who would keep the Sonics in the city where they've played the past 41 years.

"I think it's fair to say that extraordinary efforts were made to seek ownership interests when Howard sold the team, including from people who became involved in the effort -- the recently unsuccessful effort -- to get the state to extend the sales tax for the purposes of retiring the arena debt," Stern said.

"It happened already. There was no one who was interested in buying the team, including the very people who stepped forward at the last minute."

NBA owners will vote Friday on Bennett's proposed relocation to Oklahoma City. A subcommittee of three owners visited Oklahoma City last month and recommended league approval.

During that visit, Stern suggested that Oklahoma City -- when combined with the presence of Tulsa less than 100 miles away -- could be a viable market even though Seattle has a higher population and television audience. On Monday, he downplayed Seattle's role as an entry into Asia.

"I would say that we don't ever like to leave a city," Stern said. "We don't like to leave a city as robust as Seattle, but the Asian cities that we're tending to focus more on have names like Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

"It's disheartening simply to leave the city, as it would be to leave any city."

A June trial is scheduled concerning the city of Seattle's lawsuit to enforce the lease and keep the team at KeyArena through 2010.






Title: FWIW: Tulsa plays role in OKC landing the Sonics
Post by: cannon_fodder on April 15, 2008, 08:15:42 AM
I agree they needed us to sell OKC as a 'viable' market.  Only New Orleans is smaller and that is a unique tourist laden market for a pro-team(s).  Tulsa was needed to justify the move, in spite of past performance (past performance is no guarantee of future success).

However, if you recall, there was no interest, intent, or desire to draw Tulsa into the mix with the OKC Sonics.  I imagine there will be little push unless the actual sales numbers (season tickets, corporate, etc) start looking lack luster.  But so long as they don't get a dime of my tax money, it's OK with me.

- On the same token, the Hornets are getting $4,000,000+ in State tax money for the "quality jobs" program.
Title: FWIW: Tulsa plays role in OKC landing the Sonics
Post by: TulsaSooner on April 15, 2008, 08:56:04 AM
It costs Tulsa in other ways too, although it may not be huge dollars.  The tickets to the Hornets games were exempted from sales tax, I guess as an incentive to draw them here after Katrina.  As part of that exemption, sales tax on tickets to all "professional" sporting events were also exempted including:  Talons, Oilers, Drillers (whether downtown or when the fairgrounds is annexed by Tulsa) and whatever else may come our way, such as the NBA pre-season game this year.

Again, probably not huge dollas, but they are dollars.