I for one am very glad that Oklahoma City got a team. It’s exciting and will do great things for your city. You want to name the team “Oklahoma City”, fine, that is what is best for Oklahoma City. But to do that while acting like its “the state’s team” and then going and grabbing between $60 and $100 million in state tax dollars for the team while some very basic needs are unmet in Tulsa and that changes everything.

It’s not about the name, it’s about the money and disparity of state support.

Tulsa is the largest metro without non-toll interstate access (OKC has two)
Tulsa is the largest metro without a public four year college (OKC Metro has two)
Tulsa is the third largest without Amtrak access (OKC is about to add a second line)
Tulsa is the largest city without a public hospital, one has actually been offered to be donated but the deal can’t be completed because the state won’t provide any ongoing funding for operations (OKC has one of the largest in the nation)
Tulsa’s main interstate through the middle of the city is in middle of what was supposed a five year widening project that began in 1984, 24 years ago. There is currently no construction happening on the project and none scheduled so that funding could be moved to the Crosstown, despite the section that is still not done being called by ODOT “the most dangerous stretch of highway in the state”. The lowest rated major bridge in the state isn’t the Crosstown, it’s the I-244 bridge in downtown Tulsa over the Arkansas river and no one is even talking about replacing that.
Oklahoma City has the third highest percentage of government jobs of any metro in the nation, Tulsa is one of the lowest. Oklahoma City has more government jobs than the entire workforces of the capitals of Missouri and New Mexico and if you include indirect government employment you can also include Kansas in that list. That’s half the states surrounding Oklahoma.

I know some are going to claim that the state taxes going to the Sonics are new taxes, but that’s false. These taxes are generated from entertainment spending that would have been spent somewhere in the Oklahoma economy. If you don’t believe me, check out the Sonic’s own testimony about the impact of the team on the Seattle economy. That money was enough to bring Amtrak service to Tulsa, it was enough to fix the OSU Medical Center deal saving the OSU School of Medicine and ensuring that the state has enough rural doctors. It was almost enough money to complete funding for I-44 in Tulsa. But where did the money go? To pad the bottom line of the sport team owned by the son in law of the Gaylords. It’s not jealousy you are seeing, it’s anger over very real needs not being met while the NBA is funding for OKC.

I saw that Tulsa should be more humble and elect better representatives. That’s a great attitude. Oklahoma City reps fight Tulsa tooth and nail for everything and simply outnumber Tulsa reps. At some point it’s Oklahoma City that needs to wake up and see that supporting Tulsa is good for the state, because what’s really happening is that Oklahoma City is succeeding due in no small part by using the state as it’s personal piggy bank. Oklahoma City gets funding from the state for luxuries like NBA teams and heritage centers while Tulsa goes without basic levels of state support for education, roads, health care and transportation.