Is it me or does the construction of all the hotels within the metro area, mixed with the completion of the Convention Center, Hotel, Boulevard, Scissor Tail Park in 2021 and hopefully the transformation of the Producers Co Op Oil Mill, put us in the perfect position to host the NBA All Star Game within the next 6 to 7 years?

Is it me or does the construction of all the hotels within the metro area, mixed with the completion of the Convention Center, Hotel, Boulevard, Scissor Tail Park in 2021 and hopefully the transformation of the Producers Co Op Oil Mill, put us in the perfect position to host the NBA All Star Game within the next 6 to 7 years?

I was under the impression we would have to have a lot more hotel space to even be considered. Not sure if the recent and current work is getting us closer to that number. I thought I remembered Pete commenting on that a while back.

The NBA requires the host city to have a minimum 5,500 hotel rooms; preferably 6,000 to host the game, and the league would like most of those to be within 1 to 1.25 miles of the host arena.

Oklahoma City will have close to 4,500+ hotel rooms come 2020:

2,770 current
__563 under construction
1,184 planned
4,517

Restaurants in the core near the arena will need to stay open until 10 p.m.--Bricktown & Midtown could accommodate that weekend.

The payoff for hosting an NBA All-Star Game is substantial. The game scores the host city about $60 million in visitor spending. The economic impact to the event generates about $100 million.


Los Angeles 2018
Charlotte 2019
Chicago 2020
Indianapolis 2021
TBD 2022, 2023, 2024

Only four current NBA franchises have never hosted an NBA All-Star Game: the Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers & Sacramento Kings.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/d9/11/db/d911db543c7b6a08fa3e0ae6754f3214.jpg
Memphis
https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/02/3a/3e/be/the-canal-walk.jpg
Oklahoma City
http://d1marr3m5x4iac.cloudfront.net/images/edpborder500/I0-001/004/400/325-9.jpeg_/arlene-schnitzer-concert-hall-25.jpeg
Portland
http://www.sacgrid.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/After-K-Street-2.jpg
Sacramento

OKC is probably in better shape toward meeting the minimum hotel rooms by 2024 than Sacramento & Memphis.

http://workerscompensationwatch.gelmanmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2016/10/denied-stamp.png


Sacramento: Kings open Golden 1 Center, eye potential All-Star bid in 2020: http://www.nba.com/article/2016/10/28/sacramento-kings-open-golden-1-center-hope-host-2020-all-star-game#/

Portland: Portland Trail Blazers All-Star Game bids denied by NBA: http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2017/09/portland_trail_blazers_all-star_game_bid_denied_by.html

Our best chance will be when we have a new state of the art arena....... over on the Cox Site. Which is many years away.

Goes without saying that the minimum number of hotel rooms is not static.

Is it me or does the construction of all the hotels within the metro area, mixed with the completion of the Convention Center, Hotel, Boulevard, Scissor Tail Park in 2021 and hopefully the transformation of the Producers Co Op Oil Mill, put us in the perfect position to host the NBA All Star Game within the next 6 to 7 years?

No, you must be joking! lol There is more to hosting that event than hotel rooms. What view of OKC are you seeing.? I see inadequate flights, no national cache, no venues for a African American dominated sport, OKC is light years away from hosting an event of that magnitude. Remember even DS told MC to seek the NHL, we were really lucky to even get a team due to circumstaces

No, you must be joking! lol There is more to hosting that event than hotel rooms. What view of OKC are you seeing.? I see inadequate flights, no national cache, no venues for a African American dominated sport, OKC is light years away from hosting an event of that magnitude. Remember even DS told MC to seek the NHL, we were really lucky to even get a team due to circumstaces

Build a couple nice casino/hotels and a few strip clubs on that Co-Op site and maybe just maybe

I’m always curious what these “African American” venues are that we need.

^^^^^

I hear Indianapolis' huge amount of African American venues is how they landed it in 2021.

Maybe we should have a push to get them part of the next MAPS?

I’m always curious what these “African American” venues are that we need.

Ask Black People, or better yet drive through NE OKC and tell me if OKC has a vibrant Black community. That side of town just got a simple grocery store.

You are talking about our lack of black venues, so feel free to share what the actual black venues are that we are missing.

No point being cryptic about it, just say “we need more X and Y”.

Ask Black People, or better yet drive through NE OKC and tell me if OKC has a vibrant Black community. That side of town just got a simple grocery store.
Not one single, solitary NBA All-star would go there anyway. Not in a million years. They don't care about things like that when picking the all-star site.

I hear Indianapolis' huge amount of African American venues is how they landed it in 2021.

Maybe we should have a push to get them part of the next MAPS?

I used to live in Indianapolis, my brother still lives there. My wife. is from Indiana, Indianapolis is far ahead of OKC . Larger airport, black population. hotel count, convention center, convention center hotel, 1.000 rooms, restaurants. Indy was a boring place in 1989-1996 when I lived there, used to be called India no where and Naptown, but through great leadership at the Mayoral level revised its image. Mayors like Hudnut, established Unigov and sought to make Indy a sports mecca, which it has become and led to other growth. (see colts move, ncaa move, super bowl, indy 500, bricktown 500, now nba all star game. Oh and Indys black population is approaching 300K in the city, as many as the entire state of Oklahoma. Even with all that, Indy is not perceived as an NBA destination. see Paul George

I used to live in Indianapolis, my brother still lives there. My wife. is from Indiana, Indianapolis is far ahead of OKC . Larger airport, black population. hotel count, convention center, convention center hotel, 1.000 rooms, restaurants. Indy was a boring place in 1989-1996 when I lived there, used to be called India no where and Naptown, but through great leadership at the Mayoral level revised its image. Mayors like Hudnut, established Unigov and sought to make Indy a sports mecca, which it has become and led to other growth. (see colts move, ncaa move, super bowl, indy 500, bricktown 500, now nba all star game. Oh and Indys black population is approaching 300K in the city, as many as the entire state of Oklahoma. Even with all that, Indy is not perceived as an NBA destination. see Paul George

Can't tell if this is satire or the ramblings of a legitimately deranged, racist old man

All I'm really getting out of this is that apparently black people don't care about a damn thing in Oklahoma City, and that all the black athletes in the NBA will refuse to spend a single weekend in Oklahoma City because they can't go 3 days without hanging out in their "black venues", whatever that might mean.

I don't think anybody is inclined to think that Oklahoma City is some kind of black destination city, or a beacon for interracial harmony and tolerance that the rest of the country can aim to emulate. But I'm really just trying to figure out what these "black venues" are that I keep on hearing about, even though they don't actually get named.

Listen, the point is IMO, OKC has a very long way to go to host an NBA ALL STAR game for a plethora of reasons. If you would read my entire post many of those reasons were listed.

I’ve had a difficult time imagining ever agreeing with dcsooner on two things in the same thread, but here we are. He’s completely right about two things:


OKC is light years away from being able to host an NBA Allstar game, and
Indianapolis is considerably ahead of OKC as a city

Beyond that, his take is pretty much garbage. Particularly the ridiculous racial stuff. And that’s not at all to say that OKC doesn’t have plenty of work to do to bring back the NE side or to encourage diversity in entertainment and cultural options.

But the litmus test has nothing to do with AA-focused clubs or whatever else; it’s about hotel rooms, flights, and entertainment in general. The Allstar game is moving in the direction of residing only in the largest markets, 24/7 entertainment cities. And OKC would be completely overwhelmed. It’s nothing like even the NBA Finals. It is a giant circus, with tens of thousands in town who are here just to be AROUND the game and with no plans to even go.

I’m one of the biggest OKC homer boosters on this board, but honestly with this topic would stop even being brought up here. We have zero shot. None. Thankfully.

Listen, the point is IMO, OKC has a very long way to go to host an NBA ALL STAR game for a plethora of reasons. If you would read my entire post many of those reasons were listed.

2024 is a long way away

No, you must be joking! lol There is more to hosting that event than hotel rooms. What view of OKC are you seeing.? I see inadequate flights, no national cache, no venues for a African American dominated sport, OKC is light years away from hosting an event of that magnitude. Remember even DS told MC to seek the NHL, we were really lucky to even get a team due to circumstaces

Our African American and all other races are welcome in all venues in OKC. There are no restrictions according to race, ethnicities or any religious indifferences.

I hear Indianapolis' huge amount of African American venues is how they landed it in 2021.

Maybe we should have a push to get them part of the next MAPS?

Hahaha. Love it.

As has been pointed, there's certainly a worthwhile discussion about whether OKC appeals to African-Americans and other groups in general (not that any group is a monolith). It's certainly important for cities to appeal to a variety of groups. For example, I am sure that Vietnamese-Americans appreciate that OKC has a thriving Asian district. There is no question that there are a lot of cities where many African Americans may feel more welcomed, honored, and represented than OKC. That's a worthwhile discussion.

Unfortunately, the ways dcsooner presented the argument pretty much guaranteed that it wouldn't be productive. For example, stating that OKC has "no venues" wasn't explained at all, but actually could have led to a good discussion with any explanation or examples.

Aside from hotels, there are a lot of events (e.g., comedy shows, concerts, parties) held around the All-Star game. OKC is moving in the right direction as it now has many more venues for such events (e.g., Jones Assembly, Tower Theater, Criterion, Brocktown Events Center). Could those venues meet help or is something else needed? That's a good discussion. The streetcar doesn't hurt either as it would connect people to more places easily. But, as others have said, I think the All-Star game city has to be appealing to people and OKC may struggle in that area despite some improvements in terms of culture, inclusiveness, highend hotel options, etc.

Any city that is awarded the NBA All Star Classic can adjust and add flights for the the event based on the the airport in that city. Will Rogers World Airport is capable of handling additional flights especially charters.

NBA All Stars; these millionaires are going to seek out the best venues in any host All Star City; they don't segregate themselves to black venues.

Agree with Gopokes88; 2024 is 6 years down the road; expect OKC to submit a bid around 2021 for the 2024 event--we'll have a completely different city with MAPS 3 projects completed.

Like a lot have said, OKC simply doesn't have the room capacity, airport capacity, entertainment venues, etc. to warrant an All-Star Game.

Maybe in 20ish years? But at that point, who knows what the league would look like anyway. And it's not like other host cities that would compete against OKC would stop growing in that same time span.

What we need is something that's completely feasible and would make OKC stand out from the pack.....we need to build that 217-foot Native American statue by the river!!!

Our best chance will be when we have a new state of the art arena....... over on the Cox Site. Which is many years away.

If you don't have the quality hotel rooms available (see Sacramento Golden 1 Arena) you won't get this event. Sactown has a million more in its metro than OKC. OKC has exceeded expectations.

Let's not forget that The Peake serves many events along with the anchor tenant Thunder. It will be the future interest of our city as to what becomes of the 4-blk Cox site once it comes up for development. The Producers COOP Mill is another parcel to watch.

Our best chance will be when we have a new state of the art arena....... over on the Cox Site. Which is many years away.

Something to consider, Bellaboo--wouldn't hold my breath.

As we look at the many new recent arenas built in the country like Detroit (Little Caesars), DC (Capital One), Memphis (FedEX), Vegas (T-mobile), Dallas (AAC) & Tulsa (BOK), we should have invested more money in the Peake. Our arena isn't state-of-the-art, it's basic, bland & adequate for now.

Something to consider, Bellaboo--wouldn't hold my breath.

As we look at the many new recent arenas built in the country like Detroit (Little Caesars), DC (Capital One), Memphis (FedEX), Vegas (T-mobile), Dallas (AAC) & Tulsa (BOK), we should have invested more money in the Peake. Our arena isn't state-of-the-art, it's basic, bland & adequate for now.

Dallas AAC Memphis FedEx and dc capital one are not close to new 01 04 and 97. Respectively

OKC is much nicer nba arena then bok in Tulsa

While DCSooner's tone and hyperbole may be frustrating to a lot of people, he is more or less right.

OKC is lucky to have an NBA team and it likely would not have one had it not been for the unfortunate events in New Orleans back in 2005. It's the smallest NBA market. The only other similar-sized market to have one is Memphis and it has a much larger African-American population than OKC does (and Memphis hasn't had an All Star game either). Add to that the lack of flights, room capacity, and entertainment venues and combine that with OKC's still relatively poor national perception and it's easy to see that this city is still a long ways off from an NBA All Star game. With that said, it's definitely a goal to work towards because in 20 years it might be feasible. OKC didn't get from the United Airlines fiasco to becoming an NBA city overnight.

One more thing I want to add is despite what I've seen several posters on here post, there is nothing wrong with the Peake and I don't see why it would need to be replaced unless the NBA comes up with new requirements that it can't be retrofitted with.

^^^
First, OKC is the third smallest media market -- ahead of Memphis and New Orleans. It's also worth pointing out that there are cities that are less diverse than OKC like Salt Lake City and Portland that are not that far off in size. Just pointing out that OKC isn't the only city with some of these issues. Although, OKC may have lowest hotel stock in the core. I'm not sure.

Is OKC lucky to have a team? Sure, in some ways. But professional sports teams have missed out on million+ markets that can support teams to add teams in oversaturated sports cities for decades. According to almost all studies, any city with a million+ people can support a major professional franchise. By all metrics (attendance, revenue, TV), OKC has done well. Once a market proves itself as viable, does it really need to be considered lucky still?

There's not much disagreement in this thread that OKC is probably not ready to have a team and the NBA may not even be going to the smaller market cities as much anymore... we'll see. So, I don't see people in this thread as being right or wrong, but providing evidence and examples along and approaching discussions constructively make such a big difference in actually advancing a productive dialogue. Some posters take pride in doing that and others don't.

IF David Stern was still commish, I would say there would have been a better chance. Him and Clay Bennett we're best buds and probably would have worked something out. I don't think Adam Silver will ever host it here.

I do not think OKC could handle an all-star game as of now. But I also do not think the Peake is a bad arena. OKC has about 50 other projects it can spend $150+ million on before justifying a new arena. Like BChris02 said, the arena can be retrofitted for most upgrades needed. Until it can't, don't throw money at a problem that isn't there. As a market, OKC performs way above itself in revenue, attendance, and tv ratings. The NBA took a chance moving a team here, and it has made them a ton of money.

^^^
First, OKC is the third smallest media market -- ahead of Memphis and New Orleans. It's also worth pointing out that there are cities that are less diverse than OKC like Salt Lake City and Portland that are not that far off in size. Just pointing out that OKC isn't the only city with some of these issues. Although, OKC may have lowest hotel stock in the core. I'm not sure.

Is OKC lucky to have a team? Sure, in some ways. But professional sports teams have missed out on million+ markets that can support teams to add teams in oversaturated sports cities for decades. According to almost all studies, any city with a million+ people can a major professional franchise. By all metrics (attendance, revenue, TV), OKC has done well. Once a market proves itself as viable, does it really need to be considered lucky still?

I would say so, especially since there are only so many teams to go around and there are other cities that arguably should have been ahead of OKC in terms of getting a team. If it wasn't for this city's enthusiastic support of the Hornets during the seasons they were here after Katrina, it's unlikely OKC would have been on the NBA's radar. The NHL would have been much more likely.

In addition, Portland and Salt Lake City are both much larger than OKC. Portland has 2.3 million people in its metro and Salt Lake City has 2.4 million. Having lived in a metro area in that tier (Charlotte) before moving back to OKC I can attest that there is a HUGE difference between OKC's tier and that tier.



There's not much disagreement in this thread that OKC is probably not ready to have a team and the NBA may not even be going to the smaller market cities as much anymore... we'll see. So, I don't see people in this thread as being right or wrong, but providing evidence and examples along and approaching discussions constructively make such a big difference in actually advancing a productive dialogue. Some posters take pride in doing that and others don't.

I definitely think its a worthy goal to shoot for. Even if it never happens, striving for that goal will help make OKC a better city and a more desirable place to live and do business.

I have two questions:
1. What cities definitively "deserve" an NBA team over OKC? I don't think there are many cities that would clearly support a team better. Make sure to consider pro team (e.g., KC) or college market (e.g., Austin, Louisville) saturation.
2. Why do you think Salt Lake City is in a different tier to OKC? All things considered, I'd put OKC's urban offerings above SLC. Last time I went to a Jazz game, I couldn't find anything to do around the arena and the game was a third empty even though it was one of the bigger games of the season for the Jazz.

Trailblazers have been in the league 45 years without an all star game. What is the justification of that?

The Thunder have paid into the revenue sharing system the NBA has for 6 consecutive seasons while nearly half of the league's teams lost money. I think OKC deserves its team.

I have two questions:
1. What cities definitively "deserve" an NBA team over OKC? I don't think there are many cities that would clearly support a team better. Make sure to consider pro team (e.g., KC) or college market (e.g., Austin, Louisville) saturation.
2. Why do you think Salt Lake City is in a different tier to OKC? All things considered, I'd put OKC's urban offerings above SLC. Last time I went to a Jazz game, I couldn't find anything to do around the arena and the game was a third empty even though it was one of the bigger games of the season for the Jazz.

1) I agree with you that OKC was the best choice. It's just I doubt most would have seen it that way back in 2008 if it wasn't for the right circumstances making it possible i.e. Katrina as well as the Sonics debacle in Seattle. Everything worked out in OKC's favor.

2) I disagree. Salt Lake City's urban core is a good deal ahead of OKC, offering more of everything from entertainment to public transit to retail. SLC's market size is double the size of OKC so that is to be expected.

I do not think OKC could handle an all-star game as of now. But I also do not think the Peake is a bad arena. OKC has about 50 other projects it can spend $150+ million on before justifying a new arena. Like BChris02 said, the arena can be retrofitted for most upgrades needed. Until it can't, don't throw money at a problem that isn't there. As a market, OKC performs way above itself in revenue, attendance, and tv ratings. The NBA took a chance moving a team here, and it has made them a ton of money.
$150 million? Lol. We have more than that in Chesapeake. A new arena for OKC will need to be in the $400 million range.

Count me as someone that wants no part of an NBA all-star game in OKC. Hotel rooms? We don't have NEARLY enough strip clubs to even begin this conversation.

I have two questions:
1. What cities definitively "deserve" an NBA team over OKC? I don't think there are many cities that would clearly support a team better. Make sure to consider pro team (e.g., KC) or college market (e.g., Austin, Louisville) saturation.
2. Why do you think Salt Lake City is in a different tier to OKC? All things considered, I'd put OKC's urban offerings above SLC. Last time I went to a Jazz game, I couldn't find anything to do around the arena and the game was a third empty even though it was one of the bigger games of the season for the Jazz.

Excellent points!


Trailblazers have been in the league 45 years without an all star game. What is the justification of that?

Quality downtown hotel rooms (5,500 minimum needed for this event); our MAPS 3 convention center & projects will help address that issue come 2020.

Pete has tracked our hotel growth of late: http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=34292&p=659682#post659682

We've had a spike in downtown quality hotel room growth, we should be ready to bid in 2021 for the 2024 NBA All Star Classic, a $100 million boost to our local economy.

Pretty sure OKC metro is larger than SLC metro. Now the SLC tv market is larger because they cover about the whole state while OKC does not include Tulsa and Lawton and many other areas.

^^^
First, OKC is the third smallest media market -- ahead of Memphis and New Orleans. It's also worth pointing out that there are cities that are less diverse than OKC like Salt Lake City and Portland that are not that far off in size. Just pointing out that OKC isn't the only city with some of these issues. Although, OKC may have lowest hotel stock in the core. I'm not sure.

Is OKC lucky to have a team? Sure, in some ways. But professional sports teams have missed out on million+ markets that can support teams to add teams in oversaturated sports cities for decades. According to almost all studies, any city with a million+ people can support a major professional franchise. By all metrics (attendance, revenue, TV), OKC has done well. Once a market proves itself as viable, does it really need to be considered lucky still?

There's not much disagreement in this thread that OKC is probably not ready to have a team and the NBA may not even be going to the smaller market cities as much anymore... we'll see. So, I don't see people in this thread as being right or wrong, but providing evidence and examples along and approaching discussions constructively make such a big difference in actually advancing a productive dialogue. Some posters take pride in doing that and others don't.
Great post, Dan.

Salt Lake City making a bid for the all star game: https://www.ksl.com/?sid=46250399&nid=294

If SLC can host the game then OKC could eventually too. But this did stand out as an area OKC is a ways behind:

“The downtown Salt Lake City district will have the number of hotel rooms necessary (about 6,000 four- or five-star rooms) to host the event, according to the Jazz.”

Something to watch.

^^^^^^^
Worth watching because when SLC is almost certainly denied it will hopefully help temper the hopes of people who keep talking about this for OKC. Just a reminder: OKC has fewer than 3K downtown hotel rooms right now, and if everything planned is built will still be well below that number, AND - even as nice as all of our properties are - probably less than half of those rooms qualify as four star and up (which usually denotes full service).

Folks, we’re simply not in the ballpark. We barely have the rooms to accommodate a Finals. It is a mad scramble just to make the NBA people happy when we make a deep playoff run, both in number and quality of rooms. And playoffs room requirements are a fraction of All-Star Game requirements. During the playoffs, though there is a much larger contingent of media, NBA personnel and more traveling fans, most attending the game are still local-ish. During All-Star weekend they’re almost all NOT locals, and there are many, many events beyond the game itself, to which even MORE people travel. We cannot accommodate them.

This is one area where I have significant insight, as in I’m close to people who have to make the playoffs room scramble on behalf of the City each year, and who work directly with the NBA’s New York office to coordinate, and we’ve discussed this very topic, more than once.

It’s not happening.

If OKC is currently not ready to host an all-star game it does not mean that it can't get ready. Many, if not most people in 2005 believed that OKC could not support a NBA team or that OKC was at least twenty years away from being able to possibly being able to. Most people in Seattle thought that they could not lose their team to lowly OKC but they did. I am not saying that it will happen. I am saying that we should not underestimate the ability of this city to make it happen if it chooses to try.
2022-2024 could be the "sweet spot" for OKC to host the game. Two convention centers and two arenas across the street from each other, a new park, a streetcar,and a new Native American museum are just a few of the things that could add to the attractiveness of OKC. The casinos in the area should also be a plus as both attractions and venues that can host activities. There could possibly be a new arena at the fairgrounds too. These are just a few of the things that could be assets. OKC has always been somewhat of an outlier. I won't count it out.

For the record I was routinely telling people as far back as 1999 that I believed OKC could support an NBA or an NHL team, in part because of the “only game in town” status a team would enjoy and in part because I knew we were about to have a paid-for NBA/NHL-capable arena (cannot be understated).

This is not a “believe in OKC” or “don’t believe in OKC” issue. I also believe that a large percentage of other NBA markets would have a difficult if not impossible time getting the All-Star Game. The point is that the business model and footprint of the All-Star Game has changed dramatically since many cities last hosted it. I won’t be surprised if very soon it requires an enclosed football stadium for the game itself, which they have already experimented with.

The game has moved away from an event which can be rotated around all of the cities in the league. It simply has. And again, I don’t think advocates are fully aware of the activity level that weekend brings to a city. Places like NYC, LA, Vegas, Dallas, even New Orleans and San Antonio are equipped for it. Most other places would feel like they had a tiger by the tail. It’s...a lot.

For the record I was routinely telling people as far back as 1999 that I believed OKC could support an NBA or an NHL team, in part because of the “only game in town” status a team would enjoy and in part because I knew we were about to have a paid-for NBA/NHL-capable arena (cannot be understated).

...The point is that the business model and footprint of the All-Star Game has changed dramatically since many cities last hosted it. I won’t be surprised if very soon it requires an enclosed football stadium for the game itself, which they have already experimented with.

The game has moved away from an event which can be rotated around all of the cities in the league. It simply has. And again, I don’t think advocates are fully aware of the activity level that weekend brings to a city. Places like NYC, LA, Vegas, Dallas, even New Orleans and San Antonio are equipped for it. Most other places would feel like they had a tiger by the tail. It’s...a lot.

Concede: Urbanized, your future trend projection of the NBA All Star Classic will come true.

Why: The college final four has moved in that direction with success, the NBA will follow. There will be a bid process only among football domed-stadium cities, NBA cities with domed stadium & Las Vegas will be given preference:


http://a2.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2016%2F0721%2Fr105906_1296x729_16 %2D9.jpg&w=570
U. S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis will host the 2018 Superbowl.


Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles-Inglewood, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Phoenix, Seattle, St. Louis & San Antonio.

The above cities all have the hotel accommodations as well as the facilities. It's all about the almighty dollar.

Here are a few things I’ve learned since I lasted posted on this topic:


The All-Star game requires about 7200 FULL-SERVICE hotel rooms JUST FOR THE NBA. This would probably include league personnel, players, coaches, media, sponsors, partners, etc. Not sure if it includes rooms for players' families and traveling parties.


Oklahoma City currently has around 1,000 rooms downtown that fit this description, though some would probably not be 100% up to NBA standards. More are of course on the way, which will get us up to around 2K (of 7K+ required)


Most of even our BRAND NEW, very nice rooms are nevertheless limited service and would not meet the minimum criteria.


None of this considers the fact that of around 20K attendees (arena capacity would have to be temporarily expanded) only about 2K to 2500 would be made available to the Thunder to sell or otherwise distribute. Probably 12K-14K of the people at a Finals (as opposed to All-Star Game) game were still locals who eventually went to their own homes after the game. In the case of the All-Star, all but those 2K would be out of town visitors. Where would THEY be staying, exactly?


In addition to the arena, an All-Star Game weekend requires AT LEAST a half million million square feet of convention/exhibition space and generally takes up more. A million would be preferred.


Currently OKC is about to break ground on a convention center with about 200,000 square feet of exhibit hall space with attached meeting/ballroom space of another 75K.


Just by itself Nike usually has a booth of over 50,000 square feet and more. Though that might be the largest (not sure) dozens of other vendors and partners also have similar booth space, as the All-Star Game also serves as a huge trade show/customer experience


There are of course additional games such as the celebrity game, the Rising Stars Challenge, skills challenges, slam dunk challenge, G League game, concerts, etc. A number of these require additional venues other than the main arena, configurable as arena type space. Which means said space can't be tied up as booth space.


Most vendors and private promoters also book entire clubs and other venues for large parties each night. Few adequate venues currently exist in OKC.


Without question the game model seems to be moving toward an indoor stadium requirement rather than arena environment, and would almost certainly be at that point before OKC had adequate rooms and convention space to address the other stuff I mentioned.

I think people probably are assuming that it might be similar in scale to the Finals, which of course OKC has already successfully hosted. I say successfully, but for the record the NBA forgave a lot of their usual expectations regarding rooms, hospitality, ground transportation, etc. because, well, they had to. It was still incredibly difficult to handle even the more forgiving requirements.

Fortunately we’ve come a long way since 2012. A Finals would be considerably easier at this point. But an All-Star game is NOTHING like a Finals, other than they are both basketball games. One of the people I talked to about this - who been to All Star Games in other cities - said “anyone who thinks we should have one here should first attend one in another city and THEN decide if OKC could/should host one.”

Sorry to be such a wet blanket on this, but it ain’t happening.

Trailblazers have been in the league 45 years without an all star game. What is the justification of that?

All cities in the league should be able to hold the game, however with TV influence, its more about the party than the game. In order to handle all the celebrity parties, you have to have the clubs and the hotel rooms.

Hard to believe for some people, but Indy is built for events like this. I always thought it was weird too, until I was there, stayed downtown, and conveniently got lost in their cavernous convention center.