Tulsa, Oklahoma.

[Devil Dawg]

Originally Posted by mradone

1. The OKC Arena was expensive to rent out for games (12-16K I think??)

Is that per game? That is way more than the average from what I have seen.

[mradone]

Yes DD, that is 12-16K per game in fact if my memory serves me, I think the ownership group told me it is more like 14-16K per game and yes that is extremely high. It's even higher when you're not selling many seats in such a large arena. I know someone who approached a convention center about possibly fielding a team there and they had not previously had indoor football there. They were very excited and they quoted them a price of about $900/ game!! The arena floor could seat about 3500..Not bad.

[Darth Vader]

When the BOk Center opened I thought it was great for the city of Tulsa and it still is. However, when it was announced the Talons would play there I didn't exactly jump for joy. I loved it when they played across the street at the Convention Center. Sure, it was outdated, but it seated 7100, had a low ceiling, and with the place only half full we got very loud. Factor that in with excellent players and coaches and you have a successful franchise. They played there for 10 years and averaged 13 wins per season. In years 11 and 12 they won a total of 18 games and missed the playoffs for the first time. Of course, it didn't help when 2011 was an entirely new team. I'll never understand that. The bottom line is--bigger isn't necessarily better. I understand wanting to play with the 'big boys' and all of that, but it did not work in the end. If the IFL comes to town, I'm on board...just don't play at the BOk Center.

[Bouncer_Texxx]

Anyone have anything resembling semi-accurate attendance numbers from the 2011 arena season for Tulsa? Take that number and automatically subtract 15-25% (The "ankle biter" crowd) and you've got yourself a baseline fan base.

New Tulsa ownership would have to be local, and have to understand the nuances of not only the indoor game, but how to market and sell a product to Tulsans. (?) Use the Nebraska Danger as a start-up template (you couldn't swing a dead cat west of Lincoln this spring and not see something in that horrific neon green)

But, the IFL would also be wise.. (very wise) to stick to their self imposed deadlines this season, take the field at a minus 3 (or 4) teams net (Bricktown, Arizona, Wenatchee, La Crosse, and Richmond are gone (I am not ruling out the demise of Fairbanks either), add Cedar Rapids and Binghampton) and get their first stable season in the books before trying to revive previously used markets...

[Trish_lvs_Baltimore]

Originally Posted by mradone

I definitely think the IFL would be interested in coming to Tulsa in the future and hopefully near future. I understand what happened this past season in OKC, but I think this is an entirely different situation.

1. The OKC Arena was expensive to rent out for games (12-16K I think??)
2. There wasn't enough emphasis placed on marketing in OKC, some people didn't even know about the team.
3. There was way too much competition for sponsors/ fan base due to OKC now being an NBA market.
4. Poor play on the field.

Now conversely, Tulsa, could do well in the Tulsa, OK or surrounding areas market.

1. The beautiful, yet expensive BOK Center is NOT the only arena option in town. A team could easily be placed in the Spirit Bank Arena or the midtown Quiktrip Event Center, or even a team could be placed in the Muskogee, OK Civic Center or the Claremore, OK Arena., the two latter arenas are less than 1 hour away from Tulsa, and CAN accomodate indoor football. Bottom line if the right ownership group comes and effectively markets the team and doesn't get sucked into trying to play in the BOK Center, it could work.

I agree with ALL of this, especially the part about their poor play. The Brawlers were in, perhaps, THE toughest division in the IFL (Which included the JUGGERNAUT Sioux Falls Storm. Because the Thunder are really the only "big dawgs" in town, I think there's probably room for another franchise to survive in the state of Oklahoma. I guess time will tell, though...

[BananaCat]

Originally Posted by Trish_lvs_Baltimore

I agree with ALL of this, especially the part about their poor play. The Brawlers were in, perhaps, THE toughest division in the IFL (Which included the JUGGERNAUT Sioux Falls Storm. Because the Thunder are really the only "big dawgs" in town, I think there's probably room for another franchise to survive in the state of Oklahoma. I guess time will tell, though...

The Brawlers weren't in the toughest division nor in the same division as Sioux Falls. They weren't even in the same conference. The Nebraska Danger were in the same division as Sioux Falls though. I think you're mixing up your teams.

[cRUSHer]

hey, isn't Tulsa, the place where the new & unproved afl, is headquartered ?
makes it even better.
File under Defunct deuche teams of the all new afl.
Subsection "what ever happend to"

RIP Tulsa Talons.
It was a darn good run
sorry dudes, (if there's a ) next time, go ifl.

[NatePreds05]

Originally Posted by cRUSHer

hey, isn't Tulsa, the place where the new & unproved afl, is headquartered ?
makes it even better.
File under Defunct deuche teams of the all new afl.
Subsection "what ever happend to"

RIP Tulsa Talons.
It was a darn good run
sorry dudes, (if there's a ) next time, go ifl.

Technically the Talons aren't defunct. The San Antonio Talons retain all records and history Tulsa. Just like when Cleveland moved to Baltimore.

And the league office decided to move to Chicago.

[BananaCat]

Originally Posted by NatePreds05

Technically the Talons aren't defunct. The San Antonio Talons retain all records and history Tulsa. Just like when Cleveland moved to Baltimore.

The analogy you make with Cleveland/Baltimore to the Talons is not correct. The Tulsa Talons may not be defunct, but they have moved to San Antonio with the Talons nickname and all their records. When the Cleveland Browns team moved to Baltimore to become the Ravens, that was essentially the start of a new expansion team. The Cleveland Browns records and history all stayed in Cleveland and were added to the new Cleveland Browns franchise that started a few years later.

[exit322]

BC's right - the Ravens were effectively an expansion team that conducted an expansion draft, up to 80 players, but the Browns were the only team exposing players to said draft.

That's why, despite the rather poor decade-plus of NFL football, we still gots 8 championships.