Here's who Oklahoma City is so far. The next Phoenix. And since we're name-dropping, toss in Los Angeles and Boston, too.
We're merely at the launch of what will be a long journey, this NBA adventure, in what not so long ago was a dusty prairie town.
But the early returns say OKC is going to be boom, not bust, in this major-league business. The events this week at the Ford Center show nothing else.
The Thunder opened shop for seat selection Monday, and fans are frenzied. Fired up about the seats they got. Fired up about the seats they didn't get.
And nary a word about ticket prices.
Thunder chairman Clay Bennett set his tickets steep. The cheap seats still are cheap. The pricey seats blow a hole through the O-zone: $325 per ticket per game for the fourth row, $500 a game for the third row, $650 a game for the second row, $1,500 a game for the first row.
And then we get to the Nicholson seats, which are $2,500 a pop if you could find them for sale. Which you can't, because corporations and sponsors have muscled their way to the table..
The only downer in this whole process is that not everyone who wants aboard will get a seat. The Thunder expects to begin, as early as today, a waiting list for season tickets.
"Demand will exceed supply,” Bennett said, almost with resignation. “I really struggle with this issue, because everyone has been supportive of this deal. To not be able to accommodate everyone is troubling.
“On the other hand, there are only so many seats, and we are pleased there's such a demand. We have a lot invested in this venture, and to finally begin to right the ship, that's a good thing.”
Let's be clear. That's a fantastic thing.
Here's how fantastic. According to NBA headquarters, three other franchises currently have waiting lists for season tickets: the Lakers, the Suns and the Celtics.
That's the company Oklahoma City keeps. Not the decade's other NBA newcomers, Memphis and New Orleans. Both are small markets, and both have struggled with attendance, and some wondered why the NBA would want to settle in another non-Gotham like OKC.
Of course, one big difference between Oklahoma City and those Mississippi River towns. OKC took to the NBA right off.
When the Hornets came here post-Katrina, they averaged 18,717 fans and had 19 sellouts in 36 games. Oklahoma City had the ninth-best average attendance in the league.
That kind of support did not occur in New Orleans or Memphis.
Memphis in its first season, 2001-02, averaged 14,415 fans and had six sellouts. On opening night at the Pyramid, the Grizzlies drew 19,405 for Detroit. Three nights later for Dallas, the Grizzlies drew 13,177.
New Orleans in its first season, 2002-03, averaged 15,651 and had 12 sellouts. The Hornets drew 17,688 on opening night for the Jazz; three nights later, New Orleans drew 15,419 for the Heat and the day after that just 13,630 for the Sonics.
Memphis remains an NBA black hole; the Grizzlies averaged 12,770 last season, 29th in the league. And New Orleans' long-term viability remains in question, despite Chris Paul's heroics. The Hornets averaged 14,181 last season in their full-time return to Louisiana, 26th-best in the 30-team league.
Oklahoma City has a waiting list, for a team that went 20-62 last season.
The Thunder could have sold 20,000 season tickets. The franchise will cap the number somewhere around 15,000. A season sellout is virtually assured, which will rank OKC somewhere around eighth or ninth in NBA attendance.
Such support is not guaranteed forever. Portland and Charlotte once had huge sellout streaks, but situations eventually alienated fans. The economy could go south. Heck, another major-league sport might some day come to town.
But for this season and perhaps for many to come, this is Boomtown.
Berry Tramel: Phone — (405) 760-8080; E-mail — btramel@oklahoman.com ; Radio — Monday through Friday, 4:40-5:20 p.m., Sports Animal network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1.
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New Orleans/ Oklahoma City Hornets season ticket holders get no preference in ticket lottery! What a mistake!
The first season the Hornets were in OKC my family bought season tickets for our immediate family (4). That season we also had two birthday parties with 20-30 people at Hornets games. Near the end of the season we bought “group tickets” to one game (30) and distributed them to extended family and friends, some of which bought season tickets in year two.
The second Hornets season in OKC we again bought four upper level season tickets for the kids (ages 17-25) and 2 club-level seats for my wife and myself, as well as 25 of the 12 or 15 (I don’t remember exactly what they were) game mini-plans and sold those tickets to extended family and friends so we could all attend games together. We also again bought two birthday party packages the second season.
When the Ford Center tax vote came around we were very vocal in our support for the tax. My entire family was very, very excited about the NBA coming permanently to OKC. But not anymore, we have been left out. Because our select-a-seat appointment is not until Monday September 15th it is obvious that we will not have any opportunity to buy even 1 season ticket. In my opinion, families like ours that packed the Ford Center every night for 2 years had as much to do with bringing the NBA here permanently as did Clay Bennett and PBC.
The Thunder are blaming the Hornets for not sharing their ticket information, however I called my Hornets ticket rep. in New Orleans and he claims he is receiving 20-30 calls a day from his OKC customers wanting to know why the Hornets would do this to the fans that supported them so faithfully for 2 years. He says that the Thunders claims are completely untrue, that the Hornets offered the information to the Thunder and that the Thunder “never even got back to us”.
Needless to say we are heartbroken. I am a life-long resident of Oklahoma City and I would never wish anything bad on the Thunder for that reason, but they have lost what would have been a very loyal family of fans. I will not root against them, but also will not root for them. As far as I’m concerned they don’t exist. How could this lottery have been fair when already, days before our select-a-seat appointment the “ticket brokers” (crooks) are advertising hundreds of tickets at 3-5 times the face value.
Thanks a lot Thunder, so nice of you to take care of the fans that got you here in the first place. I have already made preliminary arrangements for our family to travel to Dallas to see our HORNETS.
Well...steve okc, I thought about it and could not pass it up. They are not doing to bad for a "dinky city", having the NBA and the NFL. I prefer the NFL myself.
steve okc, I would say to your statement of "maybe they have so much to do there they won't miss them" that would probably be very accurate. On any given night there is something that would be just as entertaining as a NBA game going on in that city, with out doubt more interesting. Like I said, put something worth the money on the court and in any city people will show up.
steve okc, your wrong. I have a home in New Orleans, that's different than "being from New Orleans", I am born and raised in oklahoma and live here most of the year. Instead of bad mouthing and talking down, gain some respect for yourself, learn that people do have varying opinions. After all it really isn't all about you and what you think... now is it.
Steve..I see reading comprehension is not one of your strong characteristics. I did not complain about the ticket prices. I took a comment from Tramel.."And nary a word about ticket prices"..and compared that to a statement made by a colleague of his at this paper, stating that people were indeed complaining about ticket prices. I really fail to see how my original post could be misunderstood, but then again I wasn't educated in this state......
Paul, Cant get the video to play but it seems to be irrelevant if they are complaining about ticket prices or not, as even the "expensive" seats have been nearly all snatched up. The last article I read said only about 1,000 of the "cheap" (think only $10 ones) were left, and those may all be gone too by now.
But wasn't it you, pauly who said we weren't ever getting a team? You're 0 for about 10 in your dire predictions. Now all you've got to complain about it ticket prices. There are plenty of buffoons, and several of them are posting here. Albert, you've said you're from New Orleans before, and yeah, they finally started buying a few tickets there when the team made a decent run in the playoffs. Before that, they were in the league basement for attendance almost from the minute they got the franchise. A dinky city like New Orleans, with the lowest per capita income of any NBA city needs to go to bad games and good if they want to keep their team. Maybe they've got so much to do there that they won't miss them.
Tramel is an idiot. Nobody is complaining about ticket prices? Apparently he ought to see what his other colleagues are writing in this rag, because Rohde just did an article and video, and one of the first things he mentioned was complaints about the high ticket prices....what a buffoon.....
edcrunk okc, actually Baltimore/Wash.DC would be 4th largest in metro population since you say DFW area. Then it would be something like Philadelphia at 5th, San Francisco at 6th with DFW 7th. But that is one source and not really my point. My point in this post to you is, a city or metro population is not what dictates its offerings.
edcrunk okc, DFW is the 9th largest mass of people in the U.S., Houston is the 4th. Leading me to believe that you are also confused about Okc's abundant offerings. Now to be fair, it depends on what you consider "things to do" and their quality. But I am very confident that I know many cities that offer more to do than Okc. That's from experience.
tu, Seattle is the meth capitol of the PNW. Try looking around the UW campus. You might want to attend Hempfest next year to establish some pot connections.
albert... there is a TON of stuff to do in OKC. i lived for 6 years in the 4th largest mass of people in the US (dfw) and have just as high of quality of life as i did down there. i also was SHINY TOY GUNS tour manager and am a well known dj that plays out of state regularly... and i can tell you that there are few cities that offer more things to do than here.
and anyone who gets on here regularly knows larry is just annoying.
An finally, if you read the actual article you will understand that what I first stated about this article, is fact. Right there in front of your eyes to read for your self.
stephen yukon, ? = what, the venom statement applies to you! Think you need to go over to Funk's farm and pet the Clydesdales. Bethany is across lake overholser from Yukon stupid!...hello anything up there in that thing you call a head????
No steve okc, that city started buying tickets when Shinn/Hornets put a better product on the court. Simple as that! Give it time an maybe you will understand it, steve okc.
bob in signal hill, I don't hate okc or oklahoma and as far as the statement of "never going to be support" that was never said by me. I say that this whole thing is hilarious and entertaining from the way the team was obtained to the "big league city" campaign propaganda to the city and state tax money spent to "get them here" all for what? To give em more of your money. That's what I've said.
Geese, who said anything about a specific city, I live here in the metro off council rd. across from Woodlawn in Brownsville Sub. You guys talking smack about other cities and saying I am from them proves exactly what I am saying. The venom you guys spew through those remarks just reeks the insecurity of this place and demanding respect that runs rampant in this city no matter the price it takes to try to attain it. It was the city representatives that started the "big league city" campaign to get a pro team here. They are the ones that said it will put this city out there through national t.v. and name recognition through the NBA making the negative stereotype that the world has about us here improve and bring more business and tourism to the state. I live here, I know that people are buying the tickets for the reason I stated. I am all for entertainment coming here, but I am not buying tickets because the product they will put out is not worth the price of the ticket. It's just a game and people making money off of it...you guys are the ones that make it a personal thing to prove something to your insecurities no matter the cost. Give em your money, its not going to make this city a big league city. Tell me this, is Green Bay a "big league" city because they have the NFL? It is a city you guys would talk smack about as a city goes, but they have a "pro sport"!
Clint, I am not behind. Let me ask you, if he or anyone else were to call you a liar, would you just ignore it? I challenge ANYONE here (Raydel included) to actually produce ANY quote from me where I supposedly lied. Other than the one weak attempt Raydel keeps using (that he pulled from another post and is taking out of context...made it fairly clear that it is my opinion based on the facts...things that have happened so far...which I have showed repeatedly is not a lie at all), he hasn't come up with a single one. Yet I have come up with a few examples of his own in another thread.
OKC Thunder: Season tickets are going, going..... 09/10/2008 Everyone with a select-a-seat appointment today is expected to have an opportunity to purchase Thunder season tickets. If your appointment time is this...
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New Orleans/ Oklahoma City Hornets season ticket holders get no preference in ticket lottery! What a mistake!
The first season the Hornets were in OKC my family bought season tickets for our immediate family (4). That season we also had two birthday parties with 20-30 people at Hornets games. Near the end of the season we bought “group tickets” to one game (30) and distributed them to extended family and friends, some of which bought season tickets in year two.
The second Hornets season in OKC we again bought four upper level season tickets for the kids (ages 17-25) and 2 club-level seats for my wife and myself, as well as 25 of the 12 or 15 (I don’t remember exactly what they were) game mini-plans and sold those tickets to extended family and friends so we could all attend games together. We also again bought two birthday party packages the second season.
When the Ford Center tax vote came around we were very vocal in our support for the tax. My entire family was very, very excited about the NBA coming permanently to OKC. But not anymore, we have been left out. Because our select-a-seat appointment is not until Monday September 15th it is obvious that we will not have any opportunity to buy even 1 season ticket. In my opinion, families like ours that packed the Ford Center every night for 2 years had as much to do with bringing the NBA here permanently as did Clay Bennett and PBC.
The Thunder are blaming the Hornets for not sharing their ticket information, however I called my Hornets ticket rep. in New Orleans and he claims he is receiving 20-30 calls a day from his OKC customers wanting to know why the Hornets would do this to the fans that supported them so faithfully for 2 years. He says that the Thunders claims are completely untrue, that the Hornets offered the information to the Thunder and that the Thunder “never even got back to us”.
Needless to say we are heartbroken. I am a life-long resident of Oklahoma City and I would never wish anything bad on the Thunder for that reason, but they have lost what would have been a very loyal family of fans. I will not root against them, but also will not root for them. As far as I’m concerned they don’t exist. How could this lottery have been fair when already, days before our select-a-seat appointment the “ticket brokers” (crooks) are advertising hundreds of tickets at 3-5 times the face value.
Thanks a lot Thunder, so nice of you to take care of the fans that got you here in the first place. I have already made preliminary arrangements for our family to travel to Dallas to see our HORNETS.
and anyone who gets on here regularly knows larry is just annoying.