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Outside Trump's Tulsa Rally

My family would like to have gone to the rally, but it was too soon to want to be around 18,000 people, or to stand outside for hours in the hot sun without a good chance of getting in. Hearing about hundreds of thousands of ticket requests reinforced the...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 20, 2020 10:40 PM

Kathy Taylor and the BOK Center budget

Former Mayor Kathy Taylor should get a "pants on fire" rating for her campaign's ads claiming that she brought BOK Center in on time and within budget. During my conversation this morning with Pat Campbell on 1170 KFAQ, Pat asked me about Kathy Taylor's claims that, as mayor, she completed...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 13, 2013 12:12 PM

BOK Center street closures a pointless nuisance

This has been bugging me for a while; an item on tonight's council agenda brought it to mind again. It's bad enough that the construction of the BOK Center permanently blocked 2nd Street, once part of a through pair of one-way streets (with 1st Street) connecting to Inner Dispersal Loop...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 27, 2011 5:31 PM

NCAA tournament opening rounds: Worth the investment?

It was the biggest sporting event Tulsa's BOK Center is ever likely to host: Three sessions of two games each of the early rounds of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament, the Little Lead-In to the Regional Prologue to the Big Dance. With luck, Tulsa may get another such opportunity in...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 24, 2011 10:20 PM

Bring on the LFL!

Finally, a women's pro sports league a heterosexual male can get excited about: The 10-team league features seven-on-seven tackle football in which women are clad in helmets, shoulder pads, bras, panties and garters. But the mayors of Oklahoma's two largest cities aren't excited about the Lingerie Football League coming to...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 16, 2010 11:05 PM

College football realignment: Why not the English system?

Once upon a time, conferences were straightforward. You had a group of universities within a bus ride of one another, and they played each other in football, baseball, basketball, and other sports. At the major university level, you had a dozen or so conferences, each with no more than 10...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 13, 2010 5:49 PM

HS wrestling tourney loses money at Wichita arena

On my recent business trips to Wichita, I've been staying at a hotel that provides a free copy of the local paper (75 cent newsstand price), which I've been reading over breakfast each morning. It's fascinating to see the parallels and differences between Tulsa and Wichita. Over the next few...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 6, 2010 10:43 AM

<em>Urban Tulsa Weekly</em> last column

This week in Urban Tulsa Weekly, I've covered a variety of topics: First Presbyterian Church's exciting plans to replace a surface parking lot with a beautiful new addition to their downtown complex, whether the BOK Center should charge a per-ticket fee to cover Tulsa Police Department overtime relating to event...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 28, 2009 12:34 PM

Notebook: Final UTW Column

An edited version of this column was published in the May 28 - June 4, 2009, issue of Urban Tulsa Weekly. This was my final column for UTW, for reasons I explained in a blog entry at that time. The final paragraph was cut by the editor. The published version...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 27, 2009 7:57 PM

The luxury box bubble bursts

The Wall Street Journal reports that the economic downturn is hurting corporate sources of revenue for sports teams and venues, including luxury boxes, club seats, naming rights, and other forms of sponsorship: In a case of monumentally bad timing, this year three of the biggest names in pro sports --...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 6, 2009 11:13 PM

The fate of disposable public architecture

This is what Tulsa will do to City Hall in a year or two and in 20 years or so to the BOK Center and to the new downtown ballpark as well, assuming the current design concept is used: RCA Dome, 1984-2008, rest in pieces. Meanwhile, Wrigley Field, age 94,...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 22, 2008 12:04 PM

<em>Whirled</em> pumps up BOK Center impact

I happened to get a look at Sunday's Tulsa World, which I don't often do, and noticed the front page headline: "BOK Center pumps up tax revenue". The implication of the headline is that the opening of the BOK Center in September resulted in a dramatic increase in local sales...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 17, 2008 11:19 PM

Tulsa Housing Authority meeting report: "The sheer arrogance of these people is stunning."

Bill Kumpe was at the THA meeting today regarding the proposed facility at I-244 and Yale to replace the Downtown YMCA residence and has an eyewitness report. Here's an excerpt: The class distinction between the people supporting the project and the people was striking. Almost all of the people supporting...

Posted by Michael Bates on August 12, 2008 5:17 PM

Scary bypass

An edited version of this piece was published on April 26, 2006, in Urban Tulsa Weekly. The archived version is no longer online. Posted on the web on August 18, 2010. It appears that Tulsa's development lobby, discouraged by the results of the Tulsa City Council elections, has decided to...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 26, 2006 12:59 AM