OKC for NCAA 1st/2nd rounds

Do a trip report here....go to another city and want to relate it to what KC is doing right or could do better? Give us a summary in here.
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KCPowercat
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OKC for NCAA 1st/2nd rounds

Post by KCPowercat »

Alright so made the trip down to Oklahoma City for the NCAA 1st & 2nd rounds.  Being the first time I'd been in OKC for a basketball event, I was excited to see OKC in "action" in hosting a big event and see how that compares to what we do here in KC for Big 12 and our own NCAA tournament hosting.  I went in as unbiased as possible, so fair warning :)

Got in Friday night in front of the storm so rushed to the hotel, got ready, jumped in a cab to bricktown.  Quickly searching Opentable, found Nonna's in Bricktown was still serving food so made a reservation.  I'd always heard of Nonna's and it gets great reviews so was happy they were still open.  Got to Bricktown and was really shocked at the lack of "fanfare" on the streets (I'll explain "fanfare" later) but rushed into Nonna's and sat in the 2nd level bar which was cool (the 2 man band sucks but I hate all bands).  Martinis were made very well, appetizer, some Mango/Avacado/Crab thing was really nice and prepared well.  I had the "special" of red snapper...when asked how it was prepared it wasn't mentioned it was fried...well it was fried and pretty gross.  Whatever, the rest of the stuff was good so no harm no foul...it was late in dinner service, that happens.

So then we decide to go out in Bricktown...now I've tried this at least 5 times before and I CONSTANTLY strike out...so this time I did even more research and tried new places given the bricktown area is very spread out and not easy to just get there and wander.  So we ended up going to Tapwerks first due to some KSU thing....$5 cover for a dead bar...no thanks.  So walked over to Mantel Wine Bar.....let's just say I have new respect for how well JP runs a wine bar.  This place was ok but it had about 3 tables, nobody at the bar, and the staff was busy cleaning up the place in anticipation of closing.  Had a couple drinks and decided the staff would rather us just leave so they could close up so we walked over to Mickey Mantle's.  Last time we were in OKC, we really liked this place so we wanted to go back.  Get there like 11:15pm (????), sit at the bar, bartender informs us they already called last call...wuuuuutttt???  So ask the bartender where to hang...he says Tapwerks or a Piano bar called Makers.  So we head that way...along the way we pass Coyote Ugly which seemed to be doing alright, Rok bar which we couldn't see in but it's like Angel's here in KC I assumed and we weren't into that scene....and hooters, which was doing well.  Keep going to Makers and see the dueling piano bar which did look very fun with a pretty long line...so they were doing well.  We walk to Makers and it smells like a total Cigar Bar.....I'm not into hanging out in Cigar smoke so we bail on that.  At this point the weather is turning worse, so we decide to head back to where the cabs were but stop into the first full bar we could find.....so Hooters for a few drinks then home.

Saturday get up and down to Ford Center to pick up our will call tickets.  First impression was favorable, really liked the indoor ticket office given the weather.  My group went on to Bricktown to secure a seat somewhere so I decide to walk the Ford Center - Bricktown walk and I was quite shocked how far it was.....in my mind I had always thought they were really close to each other but it was a good 5 block walk to the first "bar" or "restaurant".  Whatever that's a fine distance for most but I was reminded how much a few A&M fans bagged on how far Sprint and Municipal were from each other....personally I'll take the KC setup of the "fun" being right outside the arena's door rather than satisfying 70 year old fans who get all excited the Men's and Women's arenas are across the street....seems Sprint and P&L integrate with each other so much better.

So get to Tapwerks for KSU stuff and proceed to have a good time...great bar with average food...they seemed to be shocked they would be busy?  This is about the time I start searching twitter, etc. for some sort of "fan fest" organized around the NCAA tournament.  A central fan area, be it a blocked off street, a tent for fans to gather in bricktown....something.  I came up empty.  Not a thing.  What I meant earlier by "fanfare" is that little stuff you see around a city for an event....street banners, fan fest type activities for families, things like the Marriott in KC displaying team/conference type graphics, volunteers in hotels handling tourist/fan questions.....none of this was in OKC.  I was shocked.  Usually the smaller the metro, the more likely they are to make a big deal of these events...when I went to Omaha 2 years ago is a great example.  They had fan stuff EVERYWHERE.  Now I will say the weather in OKC was horrible this weekend so maybe that cancelled these events but I don't think they were ever planned.  There wasn't a street blocked off, fan type information on their websites or anything.  I think this is exactly where KC excels in these tournaments and why they keep coming here.  We roll out the red carpet, have volunteers at big hotels as fan tour guides, etc.  If you stepped into bricktown this weekend, you wouldn't have any idea there was the NCAA tournament going on.  This is where KC needs to continue to excel....and now with the centralized "live" area, it gives a natural gathering place for fans who don't want to just sit in a bar all day which was really the only options for fans in OKC this weekend.

OK so we head to the game, my impressions of Ford Center were pretty neutral.  I think it's a fine facilities that definitely needs the extra $100M that they are planning to put into it.  Concourses feel very tight (both width and height) which can't be changed but some upgrades in the right spots will really dress the place up.  The new scoreboard is very nice.  Sightlines were good (I sat in both the upper and suite levels), I didn't like the amount of exposed concrete between the 1st and 2nd levels and the suites seemed like what we had at Kemper, not the double stacked along the sidelines ones we now have at Sprint...they seemed very basic.  The arena was fine though.  Their security was much less strict than Sprint which means a very quick entry....no metal detectors.

So games end, KSU wins...awesome.  We start the trek back to Bricktown (it is a trek, not like walking across the street and instantly having bar and restaurant options).....so we want food...it's late.  First place we see, Hooters...I swear I'm not a hooters freak or something but in my previous trips we have had a horrible time finding places that serve food at that time of night so we just decide to get in there fast before the crowds and eat something.  It never did get busy.  We leave and walk to a couple other places....dead.  End up at Brix which was fun with KSu and UNI fans there...hardly a soul there though.  Again I think the weather killed the atmosphere but this is where I think the Bricktown design kills any chance of a fun bar district.  Everything is very separated and isolated.  No centralized area or even concentrated bars like say Westport has.  You have a bar here, a bar there type feel...almost more like City Market would feel like.  I think this kills any chance for an atmosphere happening.  Whatever bar you go into, it might as well be the only bar there, as you won't see activity of say people walking "between bars", etc.

So today hit up yelp looking for something good and we decide on Cafe Antigua which was a Guatemalan place...unfortunately closed on Sunday.  BBQ was mentioned by someone so we tried Earl's in Bricktown.  Fine place....very "safe" BBQ that reminded me of Famous Dave's.  I try not to be too hard on other city's bbq.

So overall we had a great time....OKC people are very nice and helpful....but to me, they missed the boat on impressing people hosting a big event....there was no "flair" or excitement for the event which I'm coming to expect at big time events.  The layout of the arena to Bricktown is fine....nothing bad, I just don't think it integrates particularly well.  The baseball stadium is far superior in integration.  Bricktown itself I just don't like the layout of the riverwalk turning it's back to Reno? street where most (all?) the activity is and even what is done around the area of Earls doesn't feel it all urban...it feels very suburban laid out, complete with multiple surface lots sprinkled throughout the walk and the buildings are setback too far from the water feature....now the stuff on Reno street isn't bad and I do like how they used the old building stock for these places...that's probably my favorite part of bricktown...but it feels so separated and really falls to create a buzz that I think a successful bar and/or entertainment district creates.  Like I said, I've been there probably 5 times now, I don't come to this conclusion based on this one event....given the weather I can see how there weren't people out and about in the streets....but even if it was 70 and sunny, I'm not sure where those people would have gathered, met, hung out together. 

Also for KC, we need to keep doing what we have been doing....I"m believing what the host committee chairs tell us....other cities come here to see how we do it....we put on one great face for events that I"ve frankly taken for granted in the past.
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Re: OKC for NCAA 1st/2nd rounds

Post by geeman68 »

I've been to Bricktown many times. I grew up in Oklahoma and have been there in its infancy to its more "filled" out state and I've never felt it to be a place to really "go".  I can totally agree with you on the feel of here and there where things like bars and restaurants to have a consistent feel of continuity.  I also have never seen the area come together to give any sort of festival atmosphere or fanfare plaza-like environment which is really a total loss for them.  Why wouldn't you try to create a big gathering place for crowd of like-minded people so they can all mingle and party and partake in the surrounding businesses?  Go figure.  I think Kansas City hosts some of the best basketball tourneys/events in the country as well as any other event/concert that comes to town.  Sure the distance between Sprint Center and Municipal might be a bit of a walk but its very doable with lots of stuff in between them.  It's an amazing atmosphere to sit in the P&L living room and watch the games and be cheering with hundreds of fellow fans and having a frosty beverage and I'll take that over Bricktown anyday.  Cheers!  :D
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Re: OKC for NCAA 1st/2nd rounds

Post by KCMax »

Great writeup. Hopefully that KSU win made up for all the disappointment in OKC!
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Re: OKC for NCAA 1st/2nd rounds

Post by KCPowercat »

I hate to sound so negative...okc was a fine city....but as I looked at it from a host city aspect, I realized how good we do it here. We had a great time.
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Re: OKC for NCAA 1st/2nd rounds

Post by Spartan65 »

I think you're right, and you didn't sound negative at all, Powercat. Some of you might be blown away by the fact that I've been accused by a lot of people in OKC for being too negative about some things in the works--and I feel like it's taken a lot of the focus away from something we used to be damn good at, rolling out the red carpet. More than anything, in order to compete for bigger and better conventions and tournaments, OKC needs more downtown hotel rooms. Currently 2 downtown hotel projects, which were formally shovel-ready and a 'Go' in spite of the lending market, are now in limbo waiting to see if the city will fuck up the planned convention center. Case in point of how these politics and pie in the sky plans have started to detract from what's at hand.

I think people stopped taking the NCAA tourney seriously, and it's a shame, but it's not hard to understand that OKC isn't really in jeopardy of losing the NCAA tourneys every other year when the competition consists of San Jose, Spokane, Providence, Omaha, Tulsa, and other cities we'd prefer to look down on (funny for OKC, huh?). The dagger however is that people will come away with a less-than-brilliant OKC experience (which they would get from a bigger, more important event), and while we probably won't lose NCAA tourneys, it just won't be anything that we can separately build into some bigger opportunities. In my opinion, as much of a longshot as Omaha is, it's perfectly ostensible for them to want to build a successful NCAA tourney round into a play for the Big XII bball tourney, or something bigger and non-baseball related.

As for OKC itself, the problem with Bricktown (and I am admitting it has serious problems) isn't so much it's being spread out, because it really is very compact when you know where everything is. The problem is the seasonality of Bricktown. OKC was ranked #4 by the Weather Channel for the worst winter, and that's just one season. The extreme seasons can make it very unpleasant to be here in the winter for a bball tourney, and then in the blistering summer heat/humidity for a business convention or something..and it poses special challenges to an outdoor urban environment, which hardly makes suburban development the better option, it just implies solutions that OKC has not been innovative enough to take advantage of.

I promise though, if someone were in Bricktown on a sultry summer evening when the wind isn't howling--you can really fall in love with the district, with the urban riverwalk, people picnicking on the grassy knoll along Mickey Mantle, crowds flowing out of the Bricktown Ballpark, live jazz music emanating from The Mantle or Bourbon Street Cafe, karaoke hackjobs sounding out from bars on the canal, and so on. The thing though, that I don't think tourists realize, is that Bricktown is sooo 2000. The "new" Bricktown is MidTown, which isn't as widespread or impressive, but it as well as NW 9th, Deep Deuce, and rekindled love affairs with older established urban destinations like Paseo, the Arts District, and Western Avenue have replaced Bricktown's local traffic. Locals rarely consider Bricktown anymore, and it's sad--because it keeps Bricktown from developing full-scale and realizing its potential. The solution to that however is simple..prioritize Bricktown housing, not just more bars. Rooftops being added to Bricktown will take out some of the seasonality as well as given Bricktown a local crowd of its own, something it lacks. It is worth noting however that it is INCREDIBLE that Bricktown has still managed to be very impressive most nights, relying on out-of-town crowds.
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Re: OKC for NCAA 1st/2nd rounds

Post by KCPowercat »

like I said, I love the reuse of buildings but the whole thing doesn't flow well for me or someone who isn't intimately familiar with the area...the main upper area along reno (?) seems like a completely different area from the canal area where hooters / makers is located (which seems very vacant between bars) and even then the last area where it seems the newer restaurants (earls, in the raw) were located.....they feel like 3 areas even though they are very close to each other.  It seems there is no central point of focus and I think that hurts in events like tournaments to give fans a central point to gather.....this could be fixed by temporary blocking off of a street to allow for gathering....thats what I felt this weekend was missing.    The empty storefronts are totally understandable in this economy....but I think the design breaks up the area too much........then you have ford which is walkable but still feels isolated in a way.

just my opinion from the few times I have been there....i still think bricktown is a great amenity for okc.....and bug your all sports commission to embrace the event more....
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