Oklahoma's attempts to lure an NHL franchise

[HisIceness]

https://oklahoman.com/article/29953...-expects-city-to-invite-penguins-to-visitspan

Came across this and thought it was interesting. I'm guessing the lack of an arena plan (at that time) was the reason the NHL passed over OKC in 1997, perhaps if the shovels had been in the ground earlier they get approval from the league?

I did not know however that the city was interested in luring the Penguins in 2007. This is interesting because the NBA would arrive a year later in the form of the relocation of the Seattle Sonics. If the NHL had gone to OKC, there's no way the NBA goes there. So you've got to assume the possibility of the Sonics staying in Seattle goes up. There's also the fact that the New Orleans Hornets played a season and a half in OKC after Katrina. Is it likely that a full-time NHL resident (had they been approved in 1997) and a temporary NBA resident share a small one-team market like OKC? Doesn't seem likely.

Having been there, I think OKC works better as an NBA town but it's still interesting to think about. The Seattle Sonics could still be in Seattle today had either the Penguins moved there or the league granted the city expansion. And instead of Crosby in a Penguins sweater, could we be saying "Sidney Crosby of the Oklahoma Blazers"?

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[Normand Lacombe]

Bob Funk, the prospective owner, stated that the only way OKC could have both the NBA and NHL was under one ownership group. Why would separate owners not work? I wonder if Funk also reached out to the Islanders, who were making noises about moving at the time.

Funk mentioned Tulsa as being a possibility towards the end of the article had OKC landed an NBA franchise, which they ultimately did with the Sonics. That was the first and only time I have heard of Tulsa being a potential landing spot for an NHL franchise. My guess is that the NHL Board of Governors wouldn’t be sold on Tulsa, be it 2007 or today.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Would their name have been the F5 Tornadoes? That would be amazing.

 

[DustyLids]

The attendance numbers for the Central Hockey League's Blazers are pretty amazing to look at; they led the league every season their entire existence, usually by thousands of seats per game

Oklahoma City Blazers [CHL, 1992-2009] yearly attendance at hockeydb.com

 

[tarheelhockey]

Oklahoma has an underrated hockey history. OKC and Tulsa have had pro hockey going back to the 30s and 20s, respectively.

 

[HisIceness]

Bob Funk, the prospective owner, stated that the only way OKC could have both the NBA and NHL was under one ownership group. Why would separate owners not work? I wonder if Funk also reached out to the Islanders, who were making noises about moving at the time.

Funk mentioned Tulsa as being a possibility towards the end of the article had OKC landed an NBA franchise, which they ultimately did with the Sonics. That was the first and only time I have heard of Tulsa being a potential landing spot for an NHL franchise. My guess is that the NHL Board of Governors wouldn’t be sold on Tulsa, be it 2007 or today.

Interestingly enough they do have the BOK Center which is large enough for an NBA/NHL team but yeah, Tulsa is probably not a city that the NHL gave any real thought to.

BOK Center - Wikipedia

 

[FissionFire]

Houston would have been a far stronger option than OKC. I don’t think OKC was ever a serious contender.

 

[Jets4Life]

I recall looking at the attendance for the OKC Blazers games, and being amaze that they routinely drew 9,000+ to their games. I think they often led all of minor pro hockey in attendance. Apparently, when Quebec City was being relocated by owner Marcel Aubut, he had talked about relocating the Nordiques in the city, but ultimately it was just a negotiating tactic, to obtain a better deal with the City of Denver.

 

[ArmadilloThumb]

I still think OKC should have a team, as should Houston (and I'm Canadian). Hockey resonates well in Oklahoma and Texas, it's almost trated like Football's cousin, and there is a natural gravitation to hockey for a lot of fans down there.

The OU - Texas rivalry is insane and an Oklahoma branded team in OKC would be an instant war for Dallas and Houston fans. Lots of oil $ in OK, I still think they should me in the mix for a team (and maybe Houston + either Austin or San Antonio... Texas is projected to have over 40 million people by 2040).

Oklahoma has deep hockey roots - Don Cherry played 18 games for the Tulsa Oilers in '65 - '66!

 

[ArmadilloThumb]

'66-'67 Oklahoma City Blazers roster included:


Terry Crisp
Wayne Cashman
Jean Pronovost
Glen Sather
Jean-Paul Parise
Dick Cherry
Ted Irvine
John Arbour
Ross Lomsberry
Dallas Smith
Gary Doak
Bill Goldsworthy

And the goaltending duties were split between:

Bernie Parent
Gerry Cheevers
Doug Favell

Some deep hockey roots doan on the Southern Plains!

 

[DannyGallivan]

I really like the whole "no more expansion" option.
Although Oklahoma is intriguing. The players need another team on their "do not trade me there" list.

 

[tony d]

That is interesting, never knew they were considered like that before, was that the only time I wonder when they were considered for expansion?

 

[Huck Cheever]

Send Arizona there?

 

[JMCx4]

IMO, OKC would need extensive downtown infrastructure changes (e.g., traffic ingress/egress changes, expanded parking options, significant updates to the 17 year-old Chesapeake Energy Arena or an implosion & replacement of the Cox Convention Center across the street) for the NHL BOGs to give them even a sniff. Tulsa is in no better position to attract the League. They'd both require a very rich ownership group & a city government willing to pitch in. Those days are past.

 

[tarheelhockey]

'66-'67 Oklahoma City Blazers roster included:


Terry Crisp
Wayne Cashman
Jean Pronovost
Glen Sather
Jean-Paul Parise
Dick Cherry
Ted Irvine
John Arbour
Ross Lomsberry
Dallas Smith
Gary Doak
Bill Goldsworthy

And the goaltending duties were split between:

Bernie Parent
Gerry Cheevers
Doug Favell

Some deep hockey roots doan on the Southern Plains!

Man... that's something. Imagine being a local fan who got to know that team, and followed them over the next 20-30 years.

 

[HisIceness]

Interesting to learn about the history of the game in the Sooner State. Did not know about the Blazers having that kind of roster, or Don Cherry playing for the Tulsa Oilers. BTW, Oklahoma City Blazers is a great name.

That is interesting, never knew they were considered like that before, was that the only time I wonder when they were considered for expansion?

For NHL expansion I believe so. They may have been considered for relocation or expansion from the NBA or NFL before this (or perhaps even after before the Sonics and Hornets temporary stay) but to my knowledge the 1997 expansion was the states first attempt at getting their foot in the door for major league sports.

 

[Tarantula]

Man... that's something. Imagine being a local fan who got to know that team, and followed them over the next 20-30 years.

Mostly through the paper and boxscores? I wonder if they even covered the NHL much down there in those days or was it just focused on the local team? I ponder this as I remember going through the Eastern States and the was only scant coverage of the NHL for the most part from what I recall. It was during the season as well. Today of course it is different, I could watch any game a player I watched in JrA play in the NHL.

 

[HisIceness]

Mostly through the paper and boxscores? I wonder if they even covered the NHL much down there in those days or was it just focused on the local team? I ponder this as I remember going through the Eastern States and the was only scant coverage of the NHL for the most part from what I recall. It was during the season as well. Today of course it is different, I could watch any game a player I watched in JrA play in the NHL.

My guess would be the latter (local team). I know the newspapers in Charlotte and Raleigh only reported NHL scores on the papers scoreboard page and nothing else during the 90's when both cities had ECHL teams. Minor-league Hockey in the non-traditional towns that had teams back in those days were more of a big deal than some might think, and for most residents of those cities thats about the only Hockey coverage they cared about anyway.

 

[tarheelhockey]

My guess would be the latter (local team). I know the newspapers in Charlotte and Raleigh only reported NHL scores on the papers scoreboard page and nothing else during the 90's when both cities had ECHL teams. Minor-league Hockey in the non-traditional towns that had teams back in those days were more of a big deal than some might think, and for most residents of those cities thats about the only Hockey coverage they cared about anyway.

I definitely remember living in Charlotte, getting far better Charlotte Checkers coverage than NHL coverage from the local paper. The NHL coverage was a small box of one-paragraph game summaries buried on page 5 or so, and then you could check the box scores for more detail (most of the time, anyway... some days they'd be pinched for room and reduce the box scores to just final scores). The Checkers didn't have it much better, but at least you could count on full-scale game summaries and a couple of feature articles per week, plus the odd day when they got a picture on the front page. Plus notes from around the league, in a condensed format.

During that era, most of what I knew about the NHL was based on weekly TV broadcasts from ESPN and FOX. If it didn't happen in a big market or during the playoffs, it was all but nonexistent even for those of us who were actively looking for info.

 

[HisIceness]

Yeah, I didn't follow the NHL at all during the FOX days but the little I knew about the league came from those years since the local paper had nothing on it.

 

[Tarantula]

I remember running into some kid my age at the time who were following the Birmingham Bulls of the WHA, in Alabama. They loved the team and were always talking about the fights. Neither had heard of Bobby Orr or even knew of the NHL. Granted, the Bulls were new in town at the time and I think they basically took it as seriously as I did Roller Derby at that age.

 

[HisIceness]

I remember running into some kid my age at the time who were following the Birmingham Bulls of the WHA, in Alabama. They loved the team and were always talking about the fights. Neither had heard of Bobby Orr or even knew of the NHL. Granted, the Bulls were new in town at the time and I think they basically took it as seriously as I did Roller Derby at that age.

Oh yeah, the fights and the $1 beer nights were all part of the package that made minor-league Hockey in the South a lot of fun.

 

[Dotter]

Oklahoma should adopt Arizona's roster and name the team Oklahoma Roadrunners and make Coyotes their affiliate AHL team so we can still have Coyote and Roadrunner. Ba Dum Tss