Wow, this thread has been some greatness. lol
Just a few points...
1. Tulsa gets the chain restaurants before OKC because most chains are run by dudes in a board room that look ONLY at sheer density numbers. Tulsa is similar in population but less sprawled so it does tend to get chains before OKC will. Typically national chains and retailers that finally DO open in OKC are generally surprised at how OKC'ers will drive and spend money. Just as an example, Whole Foods realized pretty quickly that they built their OKC location too small... They built based on density numbers, but sales proved that OKCers will drive and that density numbers are skewed for OKC.
2. Comparing the Tulsa and OKC arenas is pretty stupid. They are both run by SMG and are in many respects handled as ONE arena. Because OKC has the Thunder, SMG will send many acts performing during the season to Tulsa by default. The best thing that happened for the Tulsa area was having the Peake closed for renovations... during that time SMG BY DEFAULT moved all touring acts to Tulsa. lol. So, just understand that in many cases these acts are performing in Oklahoma... and don't really care if it's in Tulsa or OKC.
3. To most people outside of Oklahoma, comparing OKC and Tulsa is like comparing apples to apples... to many people in the region comparing OKC and Tulsa is like splitting hairs... to most people that follow things regarding civic development, it's no comparison which city is developing and growing faster... OKC, without question. But, generally speaking, the rest of the country would look at this thread and compare it to two homeless dudes fighting.
4. Can't we all just get along? It's better for both cities and the state if they both continue to develop positively.