This is a great piece from the KC Star. It paints OKC in a GREAT light.

Random prediction: The Big 12 Tournament will fall into a three-city rotation: KC-Dallas-OKC, and that'll be the rotation for years to come. We're at the big boys table now, kiddos.
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One and done? Not if OKC has its way
Centrally located Oklahoma City thinks the Big 12 basketball tourneys should be a local staple.
By BLAIR KERKHOFF
The Kansas City Star

OKLAHOMA CITY | Surely it was nothing more than a coincidence. The unveiling of a 20-foot-high street clock, just north of the Ford Center, served as Oklahoma City’s public welcoming of the Big 12 Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

As the balloons flew and the band struck up “Oklahoma!” you could see the gleam in Mayor’s Mick Cornett’s eyes.

Cue the symbolism. Oklahoma City’s time has come.

This week, Big 12 officials started the process of awarding future sites. Oklahoma City isn’t waiting for the final horn to sound on its first Big 12 hoop experience to ponder its options.

It wants in.

“For us to elbow our way in to get an event that’s been going to Kansas City and Dallas is significant,” Cornett said. “This has placed us on a new plateau, and we’d like to be part of the Big 12’s future.”

So does Kansas City, which plays host to the tournaments next year with the men playing at the Sprint Center and the women at Municipal Auditorium.

The event hasn’t been awarded beyond 2008.

For years, this state’s coaches — from former Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson to Sooners women’s coach Sherri Coale to former Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton — swore the championships would be a smash hit in Oklahoma. They pointed to the state’s passion for sports, especially college games.

NCAA tournaments played to full houses. The softball College World Series and Big 12 baseball tournaments are anchored in Oklahoma City.

But a weeklong basketball event in Oklahoma City wasn’t possible until 2002, when the Ford Center opened for business, giving the city buildings to host the men’s and women’s events. The Cox Convention Center, formerly the Myriad, sits across the street.

“The proximity of the venues make this a fan’s paradise,” Coale said.

Thursday, the men’s tournament caught something of a break when it came to making an early impression. The local teams would have preferred waiting a day to start, joining the top-seeded teams, but ninth-seeded Oklahoma opened the men’s tournament by defeating Iowa State. Seventh-seeded Oklahoma State beat Nebraska in the evening session.

It made for a better-than-usual opening day crowd, and Sooners guard David Godbold played the edge for all it was worth, imploring the partisan crowd to urge on the Sooners in the final moments of a close game.

Fans outside the Ford Center could watch the action on big-screen televisions and party on closed Reno Avenue, which borders Bricktown, the city’s entertainment district. The visitors liked the setup.

“I was pretty excited when I heard it was coming here,” said Tim Puvogel, a Kansas fan from Salina, Kan. “It’s a doable drive, and the city seems excited about it.”

That’s music to Cornett’s ears. He sees the tournaments not just as a weeklong boost to the local economy but as an opportunity to promote Oklahoma City as a sporting event destination.

“We had the Olympic Festival here in 1989, but I’d call this the biggest convention-like sports event in the city’s history, maybe the state’s history,” he said. “It validates our city’s renaissance.”

• • •

When it comes to geography, the Big 12 venue competition has always been tilted toward Kansas City.

For the marquee basketball tournaments and the football championship game, several Texas cities — Dallas, Houston and San Antonio — typically showed interest. Each has played host to a football game, and the title game returns to the Alamodome in December.

Dallas has been the only Texas site for hoops, but the others have wanted in as well.

Among northern locations for football and basketball, there’s been only Kansas City, at least after St. Louis stopped showing much interest.

One event for Dallas, one for Kansas City. One for Houston, one for Kansas City — and that’s how Kansas City wound up with more of the league’s crown jewel events, with seven of the first 10 basketball tournaments and four football games.

With its centralized location, Oklahoma City could change the dynamic. The average distance from Big 12 campuses to Oklahoma City is 55 miles closer than it is to Kansas City.

“You can get here in less than a day’s drive from anywhere in the Big 12,” Cornett said. “It’s the only place in the Big 12 where that’s possible.”

Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said he doesn’t sense the interest from schools to lock into permanent sites, such as Kansas City for basketball and Dallas for football.

“Many of those I talk to believe there is less value for a single site for a sport,” Weiberg said. “Moving it around, I think, is the way to go.”

Kansas City has always been in line, and thinks its position has never been stronger with the Sprint Center and the Power & Light District set to open later this year.

“In the past, we had to manufacture our amenities, set up tents or put the entertainment in Hale Arena,” said Kansas City Sports Commission Executive Director Kevin Gray. “We’re in a position to put our best foot forward.”

Dallas as a future basketball site is less certain. Dave Brown, general manager of the American Airlines Center, said he wanted to keep college balls bouncing in his building. He’s proposed playing both the women’s and men’s tournaments there, a prospect the league might consider given the uncertain future of Reunion Arena, site of the women’s tournament. Reunion is expected to be shut down by 2008.

“That’s a possibility,” Weiberg said. “We would lay out in our request for proposal the format and dates we anticipate using, but we don’t want to stifle the creativity of a city. We’ll listen to new ideas.”

• • •

A difference in this round of championship site proposals is more certainty in the venues.

Over the past few years, the Big 12 resisted awarding future sites beyond one year because it didn’t know how voters would react to proposals to the new basketball arena in Kansas City and football stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Now that the Sprint Center is nearly a reality and the new football stadium to be operated by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is to open in 2009, the Big 12 can move forward. Weiberg said it’s possible for championship sites to be awarded through 2013 with an announcement as early as the league’s annual May meetings.

Weiberg said he’s heard good things about Oklahoma City but the important feedback comes after the tournament from the schools. The league office wants to know about fan experiences. One concern about Oklahoma City was the number of quality hotel rooms in the downtown area.

“Some people think having to stay in Norman (20 miles away) is too far,” Weiberg said. “But we’ll know more about that in the next few weeks.”

The $89.1 million Ford Center doesn’t have the amenities of the $420 million American Airlines Center in Dallas or the $276 million Sprint Center. But the building, which has played host to the NBA Hornets during their New Orleans relocation for two seasons, doesn’t work against Oklahoma City, and the Myriad is an ideal size and setting for the women.

Cornett can recite a list of several more of his city’s advantages, and they’ll all go in Oklahoma City’s proposal for future tournaments. But the highest compliment was made three years ago when the Big 12 gave the nod for this year’s event.

“It sent a message that Oklahoma City could measure up,” Cornett said. “We know we can.”
Title towns

The Big 12 hopes to soon clear up future championship sites.

BASKETBALL

1997-2002: KC 2003-04: Dallas 2005: KC 2006: Dallas 2007: Okla. City 2008: KC

FOOTBALL

1996: St. Louis 1997: San Antonio 1998: St. Louis 1999: San Antonio 2000: KC 2001: Dallas 2002: Houston 2003-04: KC 2005: Houston 2006: KC 2007: San Antonio

Good post, you should put it in the Big 12 Out of Town media thread.

Weiberg said he’s heard good things about Oklahoma City but the important feedback comes after the tournament from the schools. The league office wants to know about fan experiences. One concern about Oklahoma City was the number of quality hotel rooms in the downtown area.

“Some people think having to stay in Norman (20 miles away) is too far,” Weiberg said. “But we’ll know more about that in the next few weeks.”



This doesn't make sense, the Skirvin have several rooms available all weekend, the Colcord told me that most of their rooms available throughout the tournament.

I heard this on TV.....I think they meant quality rooms at a reasonable cost. Skirvin & Colcord had rooms, but the outlying moderately priced hotels in the metro were packed. The distance between the moderately priced rooms and downtown was too great for some.

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Weiberg is a bit of a snake. Parsing his language, the hotel room issue could become the complaint du jour. Of course, we do have the Hampton opening between now and '09, so there will be even more moderately priced rooms available in the area.

Once the Hampton opens up, we'll be in better shape. We need more hotels like that downtown insead of just the boutique hotels. Folks dont all come into town wanting to spend $300 a night on a room. You get the average Joe fan, and they want that Holiday Inn price downtown. Personally, I don't see a problem with having all ranges covered downtown and can't believe that we haven't had more of them decide to build down there.

Hopefully whatever Brewer has planned at Oklahoma & the canal will be up by 2009.

Unfortunately, you can't have it both ways.

Downtown accomodations are always going to be more expensive than those in more remote areas.

And I would bet that the average cost for downtown OKC hotel rooms -- including the Colcord & Skirvin -- is still well below that of KC and certainly Dallas.


A more positive way to look at this is that there were plenty of nice rooms within walking distance available to anyone that didn't mind paying for that luxury, and at the same time there were plenty of inexpensive rooms within a 15- to 20-minute drive.


As an example, when I looked into going to this last Fiesta Bowl, there was literally nothing within two miles of that stadium AND there was a $20 parking charge, even though the venue was in the middle of nowhere.

Even the budget hotels that were about 10 miles away were all more than $100 per night, and most were quite a bit more.



It's just like the parking issue... Isolated complaints/concerns mean nothing without some sort of direct comparison and perspective.

I really don't know why someone would have to stay all the way in Norman. I KNOW there's cheap stuff between here and there all over the place. Seems more likely that whoever said that was looking for the more medium level and must have waited til the last minute and everthing downtown and on Meridian was booked. Even that sounds a little far fetched. I really don't understand why anyone would have to stay all the way down in Norman.

I wonder how the OKC Convention & Tourism department communicated with the various schools and their fan bases?

Because you are right jbrown... It's very hard to believe that anyone would have to stay that far away, even though in the bigger picture it's still not that long of a drive.

Again, comparing to Dallas, you either stay downtown or have a ways to travel before you can find reasonable accomodations.

Yep. Just about every complaint I've heard loses all merit when compared to any other markets in the region.

Could there be more affordable rooms downtown? Sure. But show me a market where that isn't true. Also, what is considered "affordable" in the OKC market would be down right cheap in most markets.

I would agree that we could use more rooms at any price downtown. What seems to have happened is that we keep getting these rinky dink hotels that, due to scarcity, end up charging prices that are 2-3 times more expensive than similar hotels with almost exactly the same services in other areas of the city. I would also expect downtown accomodations to cost some multiple of exurban budget hotels, but you would also expect a significant increase in service and luxury. Outside of the Skirvin and the Colcord, I'm not sure there's much noticable difference between the hotels downtown and, say, Meridian Ave or the Expressway.

But, at the end of the day, if you compare any of our downtown hotels to any hotels of similar class and service in any other city during an event weekend, I think you're going to see OKC is cheaper 9 times out of 10.

All very good points. I wonder how the hotels on Memorial Rd. did? I am guessing they were sold out. Less expensive - but you had to drive quite a distance. I think the trade-off is fair - and expected - in most larger cities.

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The Courtyard downtown is far nicer than typical ones.

Once the Hampton Inn is completed it will offer "cheaper" rates like the Residence Inn and Courtyard.

I'm hoping the hotels will remain upscale and higher priced. It keeps the property values higher and people who spend more money expect premium service. OKC is covered with Average Joe motels and hotels. We need 4 and 5 star hotels with 4 and 5 star restaurants.

Prunepicker

^ I agree, but it's good to have some cheaper options downtown as well. I want OKC's next major downtown hotel to be a highrise Grand Hyatt, Omni, or (this is a stretch) a W. A modern Hyatt or Omni rising 30 stories next to the Ford Center overlooking the Myriad Gardens and skyline would be awesome. It would be even better if it were part of a larger development along the new blvd. that included lots of shops and a department store.

You just have to know a big convention hotel is coming.

And I'm sure they'll continue to be a series of smaller, less-expensive projects as well. That's one of the benefits of still having lots of un- and under-developed properties in and around downtown.

Especially after this last weekend. Just another step up the ladder.

I know, I dont understand this argument either. OKC has over 13,000 (probably close to 14K now) hotel rooms - yet the person had/wants to drive to "Norman" for a hotel room.

Norman probably ONLY has 1,500 hotel rooms at best.

But I do think downtown needs more hotels. I remember laughing when the city officials were "elated" over having 1500 hotel rooms downtown - and all at premium rates.

I stated in previous forums - that you need to have a range of rates in a downtown. Sure the market itself will dictate what the price points and market positioning will be - but you need ROOMS.

I think OKC's downtown hotels are way too small and should be double the size in order for OKC to be truly competitive. 311 rooms for a "convention hotel" is Tier IV thinking. Tier III would be 600 rooms. Tier II, 900. Tier I, over 1000 of course.

See, this has been my BIGGEST complaint about OKC. While I agree and am impressed with what has been done - nobody there wants to think BIG TIME.

Hopefully, this is changing - with the NBA coming to town in some form, as well as the NOW assurance that OKC will be hosting large scale sporting events annually. With all of that downtown, as well as conventions and regular downtown business - I think OKC should shoot for no less than 3,000 hotel rooms downtown.

That should have been the goal from the beginning! And we'd be a lot closer if the Renaissance Convention hotel was 600 rooms instead of 311 or the Courtyard hotel were 500 instead of 250. Hopefully the Hampton Inn and Suites is the last of the small scale hotels - we need to build Oklahoma's largest hotel and second largest hotel, 700 and 650 rooms respectfully. Along with several budget hotels - that would put the city over 3,000 rooms.

At that level, the city would TRULY be at Tier II and could compete with the so-called big boys because it would be ONE OF THEM!!!

I think we should shoot for nothing less - OKC may very well be a Tier II city now, but the competition is near.

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Oklahoma City, RENAISSANCE CITY!

Ft. Lauderdale used to have tons of less expensive hotels. College kids would swarm during spring break and spend as much as 100 million dollars. The city was a wasteland for a month. Traffic was backed up, there were drunks, public indecency etc... but they spent $100 million. FL city council were worried about discouraging the kids from coming. Then somebody did the math. They found that going cheap wasn't worth it. Now they've gone to VERY expensive hotels, some are $600/night, and the $$$ are rolling in over and above what the 'spring break' mentally was bringing. The income from tourism is over $1 Billion. The less-expensive room seekers don't like it but Ft. Lauderdale likes it.

The fact is people who travel on a low cost budget don't spend money. OKC needs to attract people that shell out the dough.

Prunepicker

OKC and Fort Lauderdale are polar opposites...Beaches and dry flat land don't attract the same clientele....OKC is still only able to attract the occasional weekend getaway driver, conventioner or business tripper...Imagine there are very few who fly in just for a true vacation here

OKC will need a lot more than a few dozen restaurants and clubs lining a riverwalk to be able to charge $200 and $300 a night across the board...Why it's important to have some Hampton's and Residence Inn's available

Getting better, but long ways off from tourists clamoring to vaca in good old Oklahoma

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Dr. Spaceman: Now Jenna, medically speaking for your height your weight puts you what we call the "disgusting" range. Fortunately there are solutions. For example, crystal meth has been shown to be very effective. How important is tooth retention to you?

I was thinking about this issue yesterday. Wouldn't the downtown Sheridan and maybe even the renaissance be structurally stable enough to add floors to it as was originally planned with the Skirvin, etc. I think doubling the size of the Sheridan would be awesome. Maybe with an email campaign and the city's help this could easily be achieved.

As far as the Sheraton expanding, it seems they could easily lay waste to the chronically empty Century Center and build a new tower there.


And regarding thinking bigger, it's a simple matter of someone with the resources to make a big commitment. Most of the hotel development has come from smaller, local developers with the exception of Hammonds... And a huge convention hotel doesn't seem to be up his street.

A big chain or regional developer will soon realize all the groundwork has been laid and that the time for a big conention hotel has come. And I bet it will be built by an entity not yet represented in the marketplace.

I'd take that bet.

I disagree. Strongly. Many people travel on a budget (cheap air, hotel) precisely because they want to spend money at their destination (restaurants, retail, etc.) and not blow it all on a place to lay their heads for a few hours a day. To say we only want people coming to our city who want to spend big bucks at expensive hotels is elitist to the extreme. We would say goodbye to a lot of visitors to our city if we didn't want those travelers on a budget. Comparing Ft. Lauderdale and their Spring Break experience to Oklahoma City is apples and oranges - no valid comparison whatsoever.

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