Schedule packed with golf, baseball, Hornets and much more
Cindy Storck can hardly keep up with her schedule these days, now that she's retired.
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Storck, an Oklahoma City resident, is attending the Senior PGA Championship this weekend at Oak Tree Golf Club. She's also attending the Big 12 baseball tournament this weekend at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.
Add Hornets season tickets, Oklahoma State University football season tickets, the NCAA wrestling finals and an 18-game RedHawks ticket package, and Storck might be one of the busiest sports fans in the state.
"Anything that's in town, we try to get out to," said Storck, who migrated with her husband from Portland, Maine, two years ago, after their kids settled near Oklahoma City. "Both of us are retired, so we have a lot of flexibility.
"There are so many things going on here, but I don't think a lot of people really know what this city has to offer."
Well this year, they're certainly finding out.
Sports fans already show up in droves for University of Oklahoma and OSU athletics. The Senior PGA Championship has been two years in the planning. Blazers hockey and RedHawks baseball are staples of the winter and spring. Events such as NCAA wrestling, Big 12 baseball and the upcoming Women's College World Series garner significant support each year.
But when Hurricane Katrina and Mayor Mick Cornett brought the Hornets to Oklahoma's doorstep last fall, sports in Oklahoma City became an entirely different ball game.
And Oklahoma sports enthusiasts have spent the better part of the last nine months trying to keep up.
"It averages out to about one event per week," Storck said. "We're going from basketball games to football games to the theater. And we still often split things three ways with our kids because it requires such a commitment."
Another question is: How long can Oklahoma sports fans -- and their pocketbooks -- sustain the constant barrage of events?
Take, for example, the Storcks' 2005-06 sports schedule.
Hornets season tickets range from $370 for the upper end to $4,810 for the center sideline. Oklahoma State University football season tickets cost between $222 and $395. An 18-game RedHawks mini-ticket package runs $135 to $171.
One set of tickets for the week of events at the Senior PGA Championship: between $150 and $205, depending on when they were bought. One ticket to the OU-OSU tilt on Saturday night: $10 to $33.
And then there are concessions and parking to consider.
That amounts to an awful lot of Oklahoma sports spending.
"We've always been a little thrifty, so what we do is ballpark it," said Storck, who admits she would like to get OSU basketball season tickets but doesn't have the time or the money. "We try to figure out around how much it's going to cost and then decide what things we're going to do and when."
Storck's husband didn't make it out to Wednesday's practice round at Oak Tree. He was in downtown Oklahoma City attempting to secure tickets to Saturday night's OU-OSU baseball matchup at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.
Luckily for the Storcks, Saturday's Senior PGA action will be over with time to spare before the Bedlam clash at the Big 12 Tournament.
Big 12 assistant commissioner Bob Burda calls this year's circumstances a pleasant coincidence.
"Of course, golf has to be played in the daylight," he said. "But with us going to pool play this year, we were able to structure the (Big 12 Tournament) start times so that the local teams would be the featured games each day and would play in the evening. For those baseball fans who are also golf fans, it gives them an opportunity to do both on the same day."
It also gives the city an opportunity to fully support two storied events that will each bring millions to the Oklahoma City economy.
PGA of America estimates the economic impact of the Senior PGA Championship to be $40 million. According to Tim Brassfield of the Oklahoma City All-Sports Association, the Big 12 Tournament will bring anywhere between $6 million and $9 million to the city.
"Ticket sales are up, and this new pool play system is going to be great for our turnout," said Brassfield, who added that next week's Women's College World Series could bring $8 million to $10 million.
In addition to the Women's College World Series, either OU or OSU might end up hosting a NCAA baseball regional in the upcoming weeks, and Brassfield says the All-Sports Association is pushing to bring the NCAA basketball tournament back to Oklahoma City by 2009-10.
"Saturation, I suppose, is something we all have to look at," Brassfield said. "But we're an event-driven organization. Our events here are five days and gone, and as long as we keep cycling them in that way, we're going to continue to be successful."
Even Storck knows that while Oklahoma City might be a blossoming major league market, it's no St. Louis, Atlanta or Indianapolis. Not yet, anyway.
"Oklahoma City is a gem for events like this, but we feel that if we don't support these things, then they'll stop coming here in the future," she said.
