The Finch Formerly Known As Gold

30 October 2005

They want a shoehorn (the kind with teeth)

A bit in the weekly Tulsa Beacon was picked up by guest writer TulTellitarian at Meeciteewurkor, and it seems troubling:

The arena [the BOK Center], with approximately 550,000 square feet, has a maximum seating capacity of 18,041. It will seat a maximum of 17,534 for basketball, 16,466 for hockey, 16,346 for arena football, 13,717 for "end stage" concerts and 6,988 for theater seating.

Which, for a nominal 18,000-seat facility, seems fairly normal. The ostensible 20,000-seat Ford Center in Oklahoma City, 586,000 square feet in size, seats 19,599 for basketball, 18,036 for hockey, 17,868 for arena football, 19,231 for "end stage" concerts, 19,711 for "center stage" concerts, and a mere 4,961 for theater seating.

There's just one problem from Tulsa's point of view:

I personally understood the goal was to provide 18,000 seats for basketball since the Mayor's "vision" seemed to center on NCAA Regional Basketball possibilities as a major component of future attractions. And, I recall the NCAA required places to seat 18,000 (for basketball) to be considered as a playoff site. Appears we may get left out anyway, by cludge design. No event could actually seat 18,000.

Let's see how many seats there will be for the 2006 version of March Madness:

  • Midwest at Metrodome, Minneapolis: c. 50,000
  • West at Oakland Arena, Oakland: 19,596
  • East at MCI Center, Washington: 18,756
  • South at Georgia Dome, Atlanta: c. 40,000

As a practical matter, they'd probably have fewer than 17,534 seats for a Regional, what with all the extra media presence and whatnot.

Is Tulsa's white-winged wonder destined to be an albatross?

Posted at 6:04 PM to Soonerland