Home › Forums › Open Discussion › How can OK City afford an NBA team if Tulsa can’t afford Mass Transit?*?
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June 4, 2008 at 1:44 am #587111
Bikefor1Member*It says to be brief and descriptive in the title. One out of 2 ain’t bad.
So I was over on King5 reading about how gas prices has gotten people taking mass transit all over the country. It details city by city how they’re dealing with the surge in ridership.
I get to Tulsa and it says ‘demand is at record levels, but there is no money for more buses. “The city of Tulsa just has a lot of needs,” she said. “We compete with police and fire in the general fund.”‘(hope it was ok to copy and paste from the article, WSB)
And I thought, sheesh, if Tulsa can’t afford to expand Mass Transit, how can Oklahoma City afford to build the Sonics a new arena? Maybe OK City is richer?
I did a little research and found out that Tulsa is #1 richest city in Oklahoma and OK City is #2. (http://wealth.mongabay.com/cities/OKLAHOMA.html)
According to another table (http://dcjobsource.com/richest.html), Tulsa and OK City are 17th and 18th POOREST American cities. Of course, that doesn’t mean squat–many other cities on that Poorest list have NBA teams.
What’s more important: A professional home basketball team or mass transit?
June 4, 2008 at 1:51 am #626136
JenVMemberwe still have the Storm, so I guess our mass transit can still suck.
June 4, 2008 at 2:01 am #626137
AnonymousInactiveMaybe their thinking is, if they bring in an NBA team, it will generate more money for the city.
June 4, 2008 at 2:37 am #626138
JanSParticipantwell, the players on that team will come to realize soon enough what the city lacks…will be interesting to see how they embrace the city, lack of mass transit, , etc. Obviously there is money there somewhere…Clay Bennett had enough to put Mr. Stern in his pocket and buy the team…so maybe it’ll all be good…
June 4, 2008 at 4:30 am #626139
elgregoMemberAm I the only one happy to see the team leave? Bring on the Sounders!
June 4, 2008 at 5:55 am #626140
JanSParticipantelgrego…my thought was…don’t let the door hit you in the a$$ on your way out. They weren’t MY basketball team for many , many years…us regular people can’t afford to go, and they could give a damn about us. I’ve always thought that they were overpaid, spoiled, etc, etc…what you hear about a lot of NBA players. Give me the Huskies…give me the Storm – they’re definitely exciting to watch and get behind, they actually care about their fans. And, boy, when the Sounders get it going, that’ll be great fun…
June 5, 2008 at 12:31 am #626141
JanSParticipantand then we hear today of a Sonic…Chris Wilcox…stopped for a traffic infraction, and arrested for having a concealed weapon…where is their head? These guys have it made, make millions, yet do this sort of thing – do they feel that they’re above it all? that they can do what they want? yeah…it’s OK for them to leave..
June 5, 2008 at 2:13 am #626142
mhogfossMemberJan,
Couldn’t agree more. As someone new to the area I was looking forward to adopting a new “team” but there seems to be nothing but negativity surrounding this. I would much rather support a college team.
June 5, 2008 at 2:46 am #626143
alkivikingParticipantI agree. How tragic how overpriced all of this is. Isn’t it about the love of the game?
June 5, 2008 at 3:34 am #626144
mhogfossMemberNo kidding…
July 26, 2008 at 5:43 am #626145
mae64MemberWell, as an expat from OK I can tell you that there is NO city in Oklahoma that has any mass transit to speak of. There is no real substantial metropolitan area that is concentrated enough that people find it convenient to use mass trans. Everything is very spread out. (population of 747,000 Land area(in sqKm)835 Density(people per sqKm) 900 with incorporated cities like Edmonds, Moore etc. going for miles and miles) OKC is much more of a suburban city with people staying within their little strip mall enclave and much more car centric. Pretty much everyone drives and frankly when I left many people felt that only “really poor people” used the bus system, it was a stigma to use the bus system. The urban areas are much closer to rural areas than around here and people think nothing of a thirty mile jaunt up I-35 to go from Norman to N. OKC to go to the mall. It’s just different. When I first visited Seattle in 1989, one of the things that called to me was that downtown wasn’t empty at night after 5pm and that I could get anywhere via bus.
As for the Sonics, let me tell you that there is a thin layer of folks in OKC who come from oil money who are raised with the notion they can get anything they want…and it’s mostly true. They go to tony private schools and marry amongst themselves. Clay Bennett went to THE private school in OKC Cassidy, married a Gaylord – they own The Oklahoman, the newspaper in OKC…big money…they decided they wanted the Sonics and no wasn’t an answer they were going to take. They are enormous toothy fish in a very small pond. These are the same folks that are boosters for the Sooners (my alma mater) football team. They break the rules all the time and all they are worried about is winning. Keep in mind that these folks natural competition is Texas and OKC will never be content until they can be a “major league†city and that means professional sports. The sports culture in Oklahoma is very intense and with not enough population to support professional baseball or football the NBA is it. OKC hosted the New Orleans team after Katrina and sold out every game. They think they can support the team and they probably can financially as there are some really rich folks about. The problem, as I see it, is that I’m pretty sure that if they continue to lose they won’t draw an audience. There won’t be a lot of tolerance for prolonged losing. As an example please note that for many years that Kelvim Sampson was the basketball coach at OU and they won a lot. The Lloyd Noble Center was packed for every game. They lose now and though they had at least a decade to develop a base of fans to support them the Center is now empty.
I’m very sorry the Sonics are gone…very sad…but I’m not surprised.
July 26, 2008 at 6:27 am #626146
celeste17ParticipantI say good riddance to the Sonics. I haven’t been to a game for a long while as I refuse to sit in the nose bleed section and still have to pay an arm and a leg.
I am personally a big fan of the Seattle Thunderbird Hockey Team. They are building a new arena in Kent and never once did you hear them say “we demand Seattle build us a new Hockey Arena”. The first half of the season is going to be mostly on the road but come late December or Early January they will be at home in their new arena. And I will be there. No more road jams because there is a baseball or football game.
July 28, 2008 at 9:08 pm #626147
ZenguyParticipantAh, the Sonics are not gone. Just the guys who wore the jerseys, the name and the history stay with Seattle as it should be.
I am with elgrego, bring on the sport of the future…Sounders FC.
I too am surprised by sports stars that screw up a pretty good gig with things like carrying a concealed weapon or fighting dogs or driving drunk (I think they could afford a cab). Then they say “I did not ask to be a role model”, I am pretty sure it is part of the job description right after the million dollar salary.
Good riddance team formerly known as the Sonics.
July 29, 2008 at 4:48 am #626148
hammerheadParticipantI would like to know what they are going to do with the money. Hope it is spent on Hwy 99 to retro fit it, instead of tearing it down. I also know of a few animal shelter that could use some renovating. God knows we don’t need anymore condos or town houses.
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