Tulsa Billionaire Becomes Thunder co-owner

[bocabull]

To remotely think OKC is in the same stratosphere with Houston is even more laughable. Twice as many people attend the Houston rodeo as live in the entire OKC metro are including Norman.

Same goes for Dallas. Denver is not close to the same league as Houston or Dallas but it's even double OKC.

Tulsa & OKC are comparable. OKC has more population while Tulsa is more affluent and has a higher per capita income.

 

[DenverSooner]

Uhh.....Houston's downtown is garbage.

I'll give you Austin and SA. Sorry, but I won't give you OKC. I firmly believe Tulsa has caught up with them, or any difference is negligible. And I can say that, b/c I spent three days in downtown OKC this past week, on two different occasions. It's nice. But it doesn't offer anything that Tulsa now doesn't offer.

The thunder is one thing. A few million square feet of development is another.

 

[DenverSooner]

To remotely think OKC is in the same stratosphere with Houston is even more laughable. Twice as many people attend the Houston rodeo as live in the entire OKC metro are including Norman.

Same goes for Dallas. Denver is not close to the same league as Houston or Dallas but it's even double OKC.

Tulsa & OKC are comparable. OKC has more population while Tulsa is more affluent and has a higher per capita income.

I never said OKC compares to Houston or Dallas. I am well aware of the size of cities. Tulsa is the smallest by several hundred thousand people.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

That's funny, I never heard of the "rivalry" till I came to Norman for school from Tulsa. I heard so much unwarranted trash talking against tulsa I was amazed! It's especially evident in the high school football discussion. So much anger towards Jenks, Union, and BA to a lesser extent.



Each city has its strengths, we're too small a state to have such a rivalry get in the way. Nice try with the "little brother" comment though. Doubt you've even been Tulsa bruh.

Lol bruh?

I like Tulsa. I like okc. But there is not doubt that Tulsa has little dick syndrome.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Vinny78]

Yep. Outside of having the Thunder, I've never really understood the draw of Bricktown. A lot of bars and restaurants? What city doesn't have something like that at some location?

Tulsa gets the better music acts, has the best music facility (HISTORIC Cain's Ballroom), and plenty of other stuff. Especially in the realm of the arts. Vinny mentioned people holding work meetings downtown in OKC. Plenty of folks will hold similar meeting or conferences at River Wind once it's renovated. Tulsa's downtown has done a lot of catching up to OKC in recent years. Or really, the last 18 months or so. I'd say the gap at this point is pretty slim, actually. We have new living downtown. Tons of good non-chain restaurants. Grocery shopping. Entertainment. Unique bars and stuff.

3-5 years ago, I understood the bashing of Tulsa's downtown area. Now? It's either uneducated bashing or simple foolishness. Outside of the Thunder and paddle boats or whatever that is that OKC has on the water, there isn't anything you can do in downtown OKC that you can't do in downtown Tulsa. And no, Bass Pro doesn't count. lol

HAHAHA, you and Boca have the LITTLE BROTHER syndrome big time, lol. Downtown Tulsa rolls up at 5:00 pm and OKC is Rocking most weed nights. Have YOU been to OKC lately, I doubt it. By the way, Tulsa's ballbark doesn't hold a candle to the Bricktown ballpark - it is small and itty bitty concourses and almost all bench seats - BAD. And I guess if you are 50 you have no clue about anything, LOL. I say if you are under 30 you are still pooping your pants and have no experience in life and HAVE NO CLUE.

WT, Riverwind is 5 miles south of downtown, LOL. The whole point of having everything in one spot is to be able to walk to everything. DOWNTOWN Tulsa has an arena and then about a mile east a couple of bars by Cains, LOL. I have to laugh at Chanel 6 everytime there is something "happening" down there they show the live shot and there is like 50 people there. Yeah, that is "busy" haha. Sooooo funny, and this is coming from someone who has lived here for 25+ years. You said you were in OKC last week for 3 days TWICE, bad math. Well, I am in OKC every week and you have no clue.
Does Tulsa have and Major league team?? NO they have a women's team who draws about 300 butts in seats while OKC is going to the NBA finals and selling out every game at 18,300 butts in seats, hmmmmmm. Guess there is SOME money in OKC - maybe 5 or 6 Billionaires who brought the team there and now a Tulsa billionare decided he wanted to get in on the OKC action. And why should the Thunder ever change their name as it was OKC who put all the money into the Arena and the people with money, etc. That team is all OKC's and NOT Tulsa's although about 1,000 Tulsans spend their entertainment money in OKC, lol.
Boca, LOL, so 1.3 million people go to the Houston Rodeo? WOW that is some kind of rodeo .
WT, BassPro is just ONE thing that you can WALK to in downtown OKC - have you seen the 18 screen Theatre? And yes, it is Awesome to have 40 to 50 neat Restaurants and Bars all right there and tons of shops.
Don't forget that OKC has built a dozen plus HOTELS right there, Tulsa has like 4 in all of downtown.
Boca, Tulsa has alot of regular Oklahomans, BUT a ton of "move in's" that bring a not so good element to it. You too are probably to young to understand this, lol. I Live in Tulsa and really like it but am smart enough to understand when it doesn't stack up to other cities, even OKC.

"3-5 years ago, I understood the bashing of Tulsa's downtown area. Now? It's either uneducated bashing or simple foolishness. Outside of the Thunder and paddle boats or whatever that is that OKC has on the water, there isn't anything you can do in downtown OKC that you can't do in downtown Tulsa. And no, Bass Pro doesn't count. lol " HAHA, you have cover's on your eyes, Tulsa is Empty at night and has very little to do compared Little Brother.

Mackie:
"I disagree with the majority of your post and think the nonsense about Tulsa having nothing downtown is disingenuous. Have you been downtown in the last two years? At least three new museums, the Guthrie Green, The Brady District? There are tons of people out there every night and the BOK center brings in great acts, not to mention the New Drillers Ballpark.

Yes, OKC has the Thunder, better corporate citizens and ten times better leadership than Tulsa, but to act like Tulsa is just wasting away is total BS. Downtown Tulsa is a vibrant place and it's only getting better. And why don't we let the Gathering Place get built before we pass judgement?

Also agree that that Tulsa is more a regional city with the proximity to Fayetteville and Lawrence. Too many damn Beakers, that's for sure. "
Mackie, Mackie,Mackie LOL. Yes, I live in Tulsa and Yes I have been many times to downtown, the only True museums Tulsa has are Miles from downtown (and yes they are good) Guthrie Green NO ONE is ever there, The Brady district is about 4 or 5 restaurants - I've been by there 5 times last month. BOK, just like the OKC arena did, is bringing in good stuff but nothing more than OKC did the first couple years and still does, and like I said earlier in this long post - the Driller Ballpark is a little brother park to OKC's Bricktown park NO COMPARRISON!!! Been to both and Love OKC's as it is more like a major league type park - yes Drillers has a better view of downtown but that is the Only thing that is better.

Again, I LIVE IN TULSA and love it BUT I have a pair enough to admit when we have been OWNED by OKC. The two of you who keep trying to defend Tulsa are just exactly what the others know "Little Brothers syndrome" - so take off your shaded glasses and realize the truth or keep posting stupid stuff that we all know isn't true.

 

[WTSooner]

Virtually no one outside of Tulsa will agree with you. To remotely think Tulsa is comparable to Houston is laughable. More people live in Houston than the Staye of Oklahoma. Houston has five star restaurants not just the chains. Houston is an international city. Houston has three major league sports. Houston gets all of the top tours. Your comment is truly ignorant.

Now you could say Houston's traffic sucks or plenty of other things but it's downtown compared to Tulsa is simply not a competition. It is a Juco playing OU and Tulsa is the Juco.

How many people outside of Tulsa have visited Tulsa's downtown in the last 12 months? Probably not many, but the ones that have would certainly see that Tulsa has closed the gap. Have YOU spent time in downtown Tulsa, at night, in the last 6-12 months?

I didn't compare Tulsa to Houston. You did. And KC. And Denver. And Austin. You always do that. Take a discussion, and distort it. Tulsa's downtown shouldn't look anything like those other cities. We are much smaller. That is why I was comparing us to OKC. A more comparable city, no? My point about Houston is that for the size city it is, I've never cared for their downtown area. Seemed dirty to me. To spread out. Old in some places. I can't say this with 100% certainty, but outside of the pro sports team, I doubt that is even their major entertainment area.

And b/c you brought up chain restaurants again, I can think of one, maybe two chain sit down restaurants (ie, not fast food) in downtown Tulsa. And that is Spaghetti Warehouse. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but most of what is downtown is unique, b/c most of it is designed/owned by one local Tulsan, Blake Ewing. That dude owns a TON of stuff downtown, and it's all unique. Like I said, I'm probably forgetting a place, maybe two, but nearly all restaurants downtown are of the non-chain variety.

 

[WTSooner]

HAHAHA, you and Boca have the LITTLE BROTHER syndrome big time, lol. Downtown Tulsa rolls up at 5:00 pm and OKC is Rocking most weed nights. Have YOU been to OKC lately, I doubt it. By the way, Tulsa's ballbark doesn't hold a candle to the Bricktown ballpark - it is small and itty bitty concourses and almost all bench seats - BAD. And I guess if you are 50 you have no clue about anything, LOL. I say if you are under 30 you are still pooping your pants and have no experience in life and HAVE NO CLUE.

Stop rolling with the stereotypes and old stories. DT Tulsa "rolls up" at 5pm? Again, 2-3 years ago you'd have been right. Now, you are just ignorant. I know that given your age you probably don't have much reason to go downtown at night, especially on the weekends. I get that. But rather than just hang on to some "old truths", if you are going to spout them all over the internet, you better make sure you know the CURRENT SITUATION. DT Tulsa stays plenty busy well into the night. Tons of restaurants stay busy. Tons of bars stay packed. And so on, and so forth. I've been down there. I've seen it with my own eyes. To suggest DT Tulsa hasn't made changes, and increased their traffic in the evenings is just silly. They have, and they are only continuing to grow.

You ask if I've been to OKC lately. If you could read, you'd see above where I told you that I was in OKC on two separate occasions just this past week. Spent three days in the DT OKC area.

A couple of other points. I'm not under 30. And STOP LYING about OneOK Field. First, you don't even know it's name, yet you live in Tulsa? lol. Second, you say it has almost all bench seating. Have you ever been to that ballpark? There is almost NO bench seating. The only benches are in the OF picnic area. Everything else is chair back seating. So.....something like 90% of their actual seats are NOT benches. Stop trolling.

WT, Riverwind is 5 miles south of downtown, LOL. The whole point of having everything in one spot is to be able to walk to everything. DOWNTOWN Tulsa has an arena and then about a mile east a couple of bars by Cains, LOL. I have to laugh at Chanel 6 everytime there is something "happening" down there they show the live shot and there is like 50 people there. Yeah, that is "busy" haha. Sooooo funny, and this is coming from someone who has lived here for 25+ years. You said you were in OKC last week for 3 days TWICE, bad math. Well, I am in OKC every week and you have no clue.
Does Tulsa have and Major league team?? NO they have a women's team who draws about 300 butts in seats while OKC is going to the NBA finals and selling out every game at 18,300 butts in seats, hmmmmmm. Guess there is SOME money in OKC - maybe 5 or 6 Billionaires who brought the team there and now a Tulsa billionare decided he wanted to get in on the OKC action. And why should the Thunder ever change their name as it was OKC who put all the money into the Arena and the people with money, etc. That team is all OKC's and NOT Tulsa's although about 1,000 Tulsans spend their entertainment money in OKC, lol.

I've never understood the walking argument. People can't walk, or DON'T walk, everywhere in DT OKC. Like I said, I was there last week, on two separate occasions, and saw people taking cabs, shuttles, and cars from their hotels to other DT OKC locations. Most people aren't going to walk from the Colcord or the Skirvin to Toby Keith's. Most people aren't going to walk from the Cox Center to Mantles after a game for a steak. Yes, there are certainly places you can go and enjoy one activity, and reasonably walk to another (restaurant to bar, or Thunder game to a bar), but there are also a lot of times you'd have to drive, or would choose to drive or get driven. So saying that DT Tulsa is a little spread out isn't a negative to me. I would actually argue that outside of the BOK Center, and a handful of other places, DT Tulsa is actually more "compact" than DT OKC. Not sure what street that is, but the street with the Max and all of Ewings' stuff, most of that is within 3-5 blocks of most of the restaurant/bar stuff, and OneOK Field.

And I've never heard one Tulsan that wants the Thunder to change their name to Oklahoma. That is Oklahoma City's thing. And they can have it.

Oh, one more point about walking, and River Wind Casino. Why would anybody need to walk from River Wind to some other place? It's already pretty nice, but when it's completed it will have hotel rooms, meeting areas, and entertainment stage/area, multiple restaurants, ample parking, casino gaming, and a host of other stuff, including a ferry/riverboat/peddle boat area on the river. That will take a little longer since they will have to do some river work to make it happen, but I've seen the Creek's master plans, and it is certainly going to happen. Talk about everything in ONE location.

WT, BassPro is just ONE thing that you can WALK to in downtown OKC - have you seen the 18 screen Theatre? And yes, it is Awesome to have 40 to 50 neat Restaurants and Bars all right there and tons of shops.
Don't forget that OKC has built a dozen plus HOTELS right there, Tulsa has like 4 in all of downtown.
Boca, Tulsa has alot of regular Oklahomans, BUT a ton of "move in's" that bring a not so good element to it. You too are probably to young to understand this, lol. I Live in Tulsa and really like it but am smart enough to understand when it doesn't stack up to other cities, even OKC.

Ugh. Please stop with your terrible guestimating on numbers. First of all, I wouldn't call many of the restaurants/bars in OKC neat. To me, they are bland. Nice? Sure. Cool? Perhaps. But their is nothing unique about them. Tulsa blows them out of the water in regards to uniqueness. And did you really just say Tulsa only has 4 hotels in DT? Seriously? You are trolling again. You say you live in Tulsa and love it, but I have lived in Tulsa longer than you have. And you clearly don't get out much, b/c a lot of what you are saying simply isn't true. It's not that you have formed an opinion that is wrong, but you are simply missing on things that are FACTUALLY untrue. The seating at OneOK Field. How busy DT stays at night. The distances one must walk to enjoy DT. The number of hotels/restaurants/bars Tulsa has DT. There are right and wrong answers to all of that stuff, and you're thoughts appear to be on the wrong side.

BOK, just like the OKC arena did, is bringing in good stuff but nothing more than OKC did the first couple years and still does, and like I said earlier in this long post - the Driller Ballpark is a little brother park to OKC's Bricktown park NO COMPARRISON!!! Been to both and Love OKC's as it is more like a major league type park - yes Drillers has a better view of downtown but that is the Only thing that is better.

Wrong. Tulsa gets WAY better music acts than OKC currently. And having the BOK Center, this long after it opened, isn't the only reason.

And I already showed how dead wrong you were about OneOK Field. You've been there, but you don't know that it's entirely chair back seating? How can that be? Maybe you are like nikebasketball, and just making up everything you spout on this board?

 

[WTSooner]

A link that shows ALL of the chair back seating. lol

http://newspin360.com/tour/ok/tulsa/oneokfield/

Actually, the more I look at that, I'm going to call you a liar. Nobody that has been to that ball park could make the claim you just made about bench seating. Why? There really isn't a single bench in that place, that is why. Stop lying, or trolling, or whatever it is you are trying to do.

 

[WTSooner]

One last point, then I need to go eat some breakfast.

I'm not sure how this discussion turned to only focusing on DT. I admit, a lot of what makes Tulsa great isn't found DT. I personally think Tulsa has closed the DT gap with OKC, but even if you think OKC still holds a decent advantage, Tulsa blows OKC away on all non-DT related things. The rest of Tulsa is SO MUCH better/nicer than the rest of OKC. And that is what this discussion started out as, a comparison of the two cities. Not the two DT's.

I also disagree a bit about the people that make up both cities. OKC seems to be the landing spot (or it's burbs) for a lot of folks that moved to Oklahoma to attend either OU or OSU. So I bet the numbers balance out in terms of out of state move-ins for the two cities.

 

[thebigabd]

Denver > Tulsa/OKC/Dallas/Houston/Austin/KC

 

[Mr.B!!!]

I grew up in Tulsa (visit family quite often) and now live in Oklahoma City. People from Tulsa used to look down on OKC and some probably still do. On many levels I could have seen that and would have agreed, but post-bombing the way OKC has come together is just special. I really like it here, lots of civic pride.

 

[bocabull]

HAHAHA, you and Boca have the LITTLE BROTHER syndrome big time, lol.

Boca, LOL, so 1.3 million people go to the Houston Rodeo? WOW that is some kind of rodeo .
WT, BassPro is just ONE thing that you can WALK to in downtown OKC - have you seen the 18 screen Theatre?

Vinny, I live in the Los Angeles area.

2.5 million people attended the Houston rodeo each of the last 2 years.

Base Pro & a cinema complex are not helping your argument.

 

[DenverSooner]

How many people outside of Tulsa have visited Tulsa's downtown in the last 12 months? Probably not many, but the ones that have would certainly see that Tulsa has closed the gap. Have YOU spent time in downtown Tulsa, at night, in the last 6-12 months?

I didn't compare Tulsa to Houston. You did. And KC. And Denver. And Austin. You always do that. Take a discussion, and distort it. Tulsa's downtown shouldn't look anything like those other cities. We are much smaller. That is why I was comparing us to OKC. A more comparable city, no? My point about Houston is that for the size city it is, I've never cared for their downtown area. Seemed dirty to me. To spread out. Old in some places. I can't say this with 100% certainty, but outside of the pro sports team, I doubt that is even their major entertainment area.

And b/c you brought up chain restaurants again, I can think of one, maybe two chain sit down restaurants (ie, not fast food) in downtown Tulsa. And that is Spaghetti Warehouse. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but most of what is downtown is unique, b/c most of it is designed/owned by one local Tulsan, Blake Ewing. That dude owns a TON of stuff downtown, and it's all unique. Like I said, I'm probably forgetting a place, maybe two, but nearly all restaurants downtown are of the non-chain variety.

I have twice

 

[DenverSooner]

Vinny, I live in the Los Angeles area.

2.5 million people attended the Houston rodeo each of the last 2 years.

Base Pro & a cinema complex are not helping your argument.

Have you been to Tulsa lately. Virtually nothing has changed since the 80s.

 

[WTSooner]

Have you been to Tulsa lately. Virtually nothing has changed since the 80s.

That is just not true.

 

[DenverSooner]

That is just not true.

Compared to the other cities it is true. OKC isn't much better but it is better. In 30 years Tulsa built an arena and a baseball stadium. Denver, for example built a football stadium, an arena for basketball, a baseball stadium, rebuilt the convention center, added maybe 20 mid rise or high rise buildings, built the Pavillions on17th street, added a light rail system, redeveloped Lodo, etc.

Tulsa has added the casinos but they surround Tulsa.

 

[NickZepp]

Bricktown 20 years ago

vs today

 

[okccpa]

I can't believe this argument is still going on. It's like people trying to convince someone they should drink Coke instead of Pepsi. Maybe everyone should go back and forth on that as well because neither have to do with OU basketball.

I've lived in both places and they are both a great place to raise a family. I prefer OKC but that is just me. I don't work for either chamber of commerce and am not the mayor of either city so I won't try to raise one up or put another one down.

 

[bocabull]

Everybody knows Pepsi tastes better than coke.

 

[WTSooner]

Compared to the other cities it is true. OKC isn't much better but it is better. In 30 years Tulsa built an arena and a baseball stadium. Denver, for example built a football stadium, an arena for basketball, a baseball stadium, rebuilt the convention center, added maybe 20 mid rise or high rise buildings, built the Pavillions on17th street, added a light rail system, redeveloped Lodo, etc.

Tulsa has added the casinos but they surround Tulsa.

Again with the Tulsa vs Denver comparison. Tulsa isn't Denver. It's not Houston. It's not SA. It's Tulsa. At least compare it to similar cities. And if you did that, I think Tulsa would stack up fairly well.

Two of the casinos are in Tulsa. One is in Catoosa.