Oklahoma City is considering spending millions of dollars upgrading a public venue to bring in professional tennis tournaments.
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The city council got a report Tuesday from an architect who studied the idea of building a 3,000-seat stadium court at Will Rogers Tennis Center at a cost of $5.2 million.
City officials were careful to point out that the idea is in its early stages and the money has not been found for such a project.
City Manager Jim Couch said the report follows a $1.8 million renovation of the tennis center in 2006.
The 24-court tennis center already hosts numerous amateur and college tennis events each year, including the high school state tournaments for both girls and boys.
"The tennis facility we have is the biggest draw in the region, and what it lacks is a stadium,” Mayor Mick Cornett said. "We just want to see what it would cost if we had something like that.”
Cornett said the stadium could be included in a future ballot initiative like MAPS 3. It could also be paid for entirely through private fundraising.
Ward 6 Councilwoman Ann Simank said if the city chooses to go forward with the idea, the stadium court should include corporate boxes and other features that would put the center on par with the best in the country.
Cornett said such features could drive the cost up to as much as $10 million.
"I think if we are going to go for it, we should make it first class and really consider having those types of amenities,” Simank said.
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Baseball not tennis, baseball not basketball, baseball not arena football....baseball is what we need a professional baseball team. Did anyone happen to go see the Rangers and the White sox? The game was sold out it was so cool to see that stadium full I just wish more including myself could make it to more Redhawks games.
I think the most important question is whether this would allow us to compete for professional events that would bring people and attention to the city, and if so, what kind of tournaments could we expect to be competitive for? If it's just going to be used for high school and college events, we don't need corporate boxes or other features. Then we simply need adequate courts and seating for this type of event.
OKC is going to saturate the sports market before they know it and all sports from Little League to possibly the Sonics will suffer. Oklahomans are no different than any others and entertainment dollars are harder to find each year. I think OKC needs to focus on a couple of core things and do them well instead of trying to doing everything but with marginal results.
If we do this, I hope they go first class all the way. It would be great if they could find private donors for this but I would support it as a MAPS 3 project. It's only 10 million out of a budget that will likely top a half billion dollars.
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Leave a comment. Log in below or sign up (it's free).Editor's note: It is not our intent to offer comments on crime or fatality stories.