Annie Clark was born in Tulsa, but St. Vincent was born in the studio. The last few years have witnessed the lithesome artist with an ethereal stage name make a strong impression in rock and alternative between her feathery vocals, wrenching lyrics, asymmetric rhythms and buzz-saw guitar, St. Vincent’s sound distends out of the familiar into pure fascination. With the release of her third album, Strange Mercy, St. Vincent has toured heavily across the country and world, catching notice for a ferocious, synth-heavy acuity for tune-smithing that has drawn parallels to Bjork. St. Vincent heads to her birthplace with a May 15 date at Cain’s Ballroom and a fan base eager to see Clark’s musical dexterity and fetching stage presence live along with a sound that has been called one of the most unique and forward-thinking albums to come along in a while. For tickets go to www.cainsballroom.com.
21st Annual Redbud Spectacular
How do you become the No. 1 event on the American Quarter Horse Association national circuit? It’s all in the numbers. Last year, the Redbud Spectacular counted more than 15,000 entrants to the many competitions congregated under the auspices of the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Association showcase. From heeling, jumping and working to the challenge of various riding styles to showing mares, geldings and stallions, the Redbud Spectacular is, indeed, a marvel of quarter horse excellence with a multitude of competitions open to many age groups. The 2012 circuit takes place around Oklahoma State Fair Park’s grounds May 31-June 10. Perhaps Redbud’s success doesn’t rely on numbers so much as its opportunity to steep your self in everything celebratory of the horse and rider connection. www.okqha.com
Narcopolis
Addiction to pharmaceuticals has become a nationwide epidemic, and nowhere has the human cost been higher than in Oklahoma.
The phrase “drug run” conjures a host of images: furtive exchanges in dark alleys, nervous negotiations in seedy apartments. But the most dangerous drugs in the state no longer require a trip to shady locations in a “bad” part of town. They now reside in your own medicine cabinet.
Household Names
According to a 2011 document from the White House, opioid overdoses – once almost exclusively the territory of drugs like heroin – are now most often caused by prescription medication abuse. In Oklahoma specifically, medications like hydrocodone and oxycodone have taken the title from old champions like methadone and methamphetamines as the leading causes of fatal overdoses. The state is now number one in the nation in prescription medication abuse, a dubious honor that continues to exact a chilling price from Oklahoma’s law enforcement agencies, medical professionals, social services and most of all, its citizens.
Mark Woodward, public information and education officer for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, says that during the past nine years, drug overdose deaths in Oklahoma have increased 108 percent. 2011 was a dark year, as the state reached an all-time record of 715 drug-related deaths. In 81 percent of those cases, pharmaceuticals – often a mix of them – were the culprits. Even more tragic, the majority of these deaths occurred in children under the age of 17.
“As you can see from the numbers, a tremendous number of people die from prescription medication abuse,” says Scott Schaeffer, managing director of the Oklahoma Poison Control Center in the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy. “In my opinion, these people had no intent to harm themselves; they simply made a mistake with drugs that are powerful and have many interactions that increase their toxicity. Examples of these interactions include alcohol and other drugs (prescription or illicit), which amplify the toxic effects.”
Turning To Crime
But as prescription abuse becomes more common in Oklahoma, it’s not just the body count that’s climbing. Pharmaceutical drug-related crime has exploded in the past several years, placing increasing strain on the state’s law enforcement agencies. Woodward says that while addicts can resort to anything from swiping meds out of a loved one’s bathroom to robbery of a pharmacy, one of the most common types of criminal offenses is prescription fraud, in which patients will invent medical conditions, steal prescription pads to forge scripts or alter the legitimate dosage they are given.
“Our case load over the past 10 years has continued to skyrocket regarding investigation of individuals committing prescription fraud,” Woodward says. “We have had to hire additional investigators and legal staff to handle the increase.”
A frequent brand of prescription fraud involves “doctor shopping,” in which pill addicts visit multiple doctors to obtain larger amounts of medications.
“Most are going to multiple doctors, medical clinics and hospital emergency rooms claiming to have severe pain,” Woodward says. “We have identified some scammers going to as many as 10 to 20 different doctors over a 30-day period to get prescriptions for pain medication.” He gives the example of an offender from McClain County who three years ago was arrested for visiting more than 195 doctors and 105 pharmacies over a nine-month period.
Woodward emphasizes that while the types of crime associated with prescription drug abuse vary from case to case, so do the perpetrators. “The offenders range from teenagers simply looking to make some quick cash by stealing and selling prescription drugs, to athletes, housewives and corporate professionals who develop a prescription drug addiction following some type of medical surgery or injury,” he says. “Addicts come from all walks of life.”
A Real Pain
But while pharmaceutical addiction can strike anyone, there is a definite trend in the types of medications being abused. “By far, the most common prescription medications we see being abused are pain medications, specifically a class of drugs known as opioids,” Schaeffer says. “Some examples include oxycodone, hydrocodone and fentanyl.
“Our experience mirrors the rise seen on a national basis,” he adds, referencing the increase in prescription abuse cases handled by the Oklahoma Poison Control Center. And like Woodward, he believes one of the most common sources of these pills is the family medicine cabinet.
“From everything I’ve seen, the most common method of obtaining the drugs is from the medicine cabinet of a relative or friend,” he says. “People who are prescribed these powerful pain medications should be aware that they can provide a tempting target for friends or family members. Be aware of the number of tablets or capsules you have, and take steps to secure them.”
A Health Care Crisis
Law enforcement and poison control are not the only state agencies that have been affected by the recent swell in prescription drug abuse. Jeffery Dismukes, director of public information at the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, says his organization has seen a “steady increase over the past several years. In 2011, approximately 12 percent of the adults receiving services reported prescription drugs as a drug of choice, compared to five percent in 2006.”
Some of the people under the most pressure in the face of this epidemic are medical professionals, who must toe a line between providing genuinely needed medication and detecting a scam when they hear one. And making the right call when faced with a clever addict isn’t as simple as it might sound.
“Abusers often have complaints that are difficult or impossible to verify objectively or have a medical basis but are exaggerated,” says family physician Dr. Laurel Williston of Family Medical Care. “Like with other addictions, those who are addicted often find elaborate and multiple ways to get what they want … Since there is no tangible way to measure pain or anxiety, it is very difficult to discern who really needs medication and who doesn’t.”
While the difficulties facing medical professionals and law enforcement continue to increase, one crucial component in the equation commonly is forgotten: the addict. Pill abusers – many of whom sink into addiction after receiving a legitimate prescription for injury or illness – often suffer from myriad health and psychiatric problems.
“Substance abuse in general leads to a host of other health problems, including heart disease, pulmonary disease and diabetes,” says Dismukes. “It also is often associated with various mental health issues. However, beyond health issues, it is also associated with increases in crime and incarceration, child neglect and demands placed on human services, teen pregnancy, school dropout and other negative outcomes that impact our state now, and will impact us in the future.”
And as Oklahoma’s pill problem grows, so do the health side effects, leaving mental health providers, medical professionals and social services in Oklahoma desperately treading water to keep up with the demand.
“There is a growing need for more treatment options to be made available throughout the state,” Dismukes says. “The services that we currently offer are simply stretched beyond maximum capacity. There are hundreds of Oklahomans placed on a waiting list for services every day. These are people who have made the choice to seek help, but we don’t have the space within the system to provide them the services they need. This is a real tragedy, because many of these individuals simply become more ill as they wait, and ultimately grow increasingly at risk for negative results such as family fragmentation, involvement in the criminal justice system or death.”
Williston, too, has seen the powerful effects of pharmaceutical addiction on the health of Oklahomans. “Medication abuse has a very negative impact on the state’s citizens,” she says. “Some of the negative impact can be seen through loss of jobs leading to dependence on public assistance, inability to fulfill personal responsibilities, death and disability, the time and energy that is spent to prevent the abuse that is not available for other health priorities, overuse of emergency care to obtain the medications, breakdown of trust in physician-patient relationships, and many other direct and indirect effects.”
Ashley’s Story
“Ashley,” a former pill addict, knows firsthand the high personal cost of pharmaceutical abuse. Once a well-educated, happily married registered nurse, she suffered a neck injury in 2007 and was prescribed hydrocodone for her pain. It was then that her nightmare cycle of addiction began.
“It took a very long time to heal, so they continued to prescribe hydrocodone for my pain,” she says. “So after about six months, it took more of the medication to help my pain than it did in the beginning. So after another month or so, I began to forge my own scripts to get my hydrocodone.”
As a nurse, Ashley had access to pre-signed prescription pads and doctors’ Drug Enforcement Agency numbers, but she did not stop there. She also was obtaining medicine from her own physician and began doctor shopping to obtain more and more prescriptions. In the spring of 2008, she was arrested for prescription fraud and began to attend outpatient therapy to get clean. Shortly thereafter, she had her first grand mal seizure.
“I broke my jaw and hit my head pretty hard,” she says. “This caused me to have pain medications again. And though I had been clean for two months, it started right back up. First they all were legal scripts; then my tolerance built up again.”
She struggled to maintain her addiction in secret, but eventually worked up to a 60-pill-per-day habit and began to pawn her family’s possessions to support her dependence. After another try in rehab, her marriage began to fall apart – and with it, her resolve to stay clean.
“So of course my reaction was to self-medicate,” she says. “Some use alcohol or methamphetamines or food. I chose hydrocodone for my emotional pain and emptiness … I could not even get through the holidays happily with my children without getting this fix. So two days after Christmas, I attempted to forge another prescription.”
er latest attempt at prescription fraud landed her in jail. After 43 days incarcerated, she says she was given another chance to reclaim her life. But more seizures and ensuing injuries – this time, a broken collarbone – kept sending her spiraling back into addiction. When charges were filed without her knowledge by the district attorney, the breaking point came: bounty hunters showed up on her doorstep and arrested her in front of her children.
“I was humiliated, scared and angry,” she says. But she also admits she was lucky (after several months in the county jail) to receive a seven-year suspended sentence. Now, while she has been clean and sober for 11 months and has managed to rebuild her marriage, her struggles are far from over.
“It is extremely hard to get a job because almost everyone does a background check now and they don’t even give people a chance to explain their faults,” she says. In addition, she must inform all medical professionals of her addiction and submit biweekly drug tests.
“The thing that has hurt me the most is the lying to everyone about my addiction,” she says. “Since I have lied so much, no one wants to trust me when I say I am clean and not taking any pills.”
When asked what non-addicts don’t know about the affliction, she says, “I want people that do not have addictions to understand that it is not just a mental addiction. I hated being told that it was easy to quit because it is all in your head. Well, it’s not just in your head. Your mental status can be a side effect of the addiction. To get sober, you need a lot of support from family, friends and counselors. It is a very painful ordeal. The withdrawals are serious and should not be overlooked.” For others struggling with pharmaceutical abuse, Ashley advises attending programs like Celebrate Recovery, which has helped her through her last 11 months of sobriety.
While looking forward to her future, she cannot forget her past. “Over the past four years, I have missed a tremendous amount of time with my children,” she says. “I have hurt them by putting my addiction first and everything else after. I now have my family back and running like it was prior to my addiction. I will always be an addict, but I am in remission right now.”
Take Notice
As Oklahoma addicts continue their own struggles, health care and law enforcement workers in the state have been waging an uphill battle against pharmaceutical abuse. Oklahoma was the first state to monitor prescription drugs electronically, and implemented its Prescription Monitoring Program in 1990. Each month, approximately 20,000 to 30,000 medical personnel use the database to ensure patients requesting pain medication don’t have a history of abuse.
“When a prescription controlled drug is filled at an Oklahoma pharmacy, the prescription is immediately put into the system in real time,” Woodward says. “This allows doctors and pharmacists to enter a patient’s name into the system to see if this person is going to multiple doctors or emergency rooms to get medication and failing to disclose that information to the doctor. It is a great intervention tool. Many doctors are able to identify someone attempting to fraudulently obtain prescription drugs. The doctors can call police, simply deny giving any medication or can visit with the patient about their addiction and offer them treatment resources.”
“Some doctors have told us ‘it has changed the way we practice medicine,’” he says.
But while Woodward says legislation has been proposed to require doctors to utilize the Prescription Monitoring Program, the service is not mandatory and doctors are under no obligation to use it.
“In my opinion, the Prescription Monitoring Program has great potential to combat the problem,” Schaeffer says. “The primary problem, as I see it, is having prescribers be vigilant in reviewing their patient’s history of obtaining prescription medication.”
Woodward says that beyond the PMP and initiatives like establishing public drop boxes in which people may dispose of unneeded medication, education and outreach are essential to stopping this epidemic in its tracks. “Education is a big key,” he says. “The OBNDDC is working to educate parents and teens on the dangers of prescription drugs, how to spot someone with an addiction and how to prevent prescription drug addiction.”
“Everyone involved in health care must work together to identify and treat this problem,” Williston says. “Public awareness is another important step. Friends and family often see things that physicians and other health care providers cannot and can help identify and confront those who may be addicted, and people need to know that addiction is a potential with certain prescription medications. We need to support such programs as Celebrate Recovery and Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous to help address the underlying issues that lead to the abuse and support patients in their efforts to overcome the addiction.”
The Milkman Cometh
Fiddler on the Roof is a story about tradition, and one of its main songs is titled “Tradition.” It’s not surprising that the musical has become a tradition itself in the repertoire of many-a theater company.
Every high school to university theater department and community theater group to Equity house has played to that precariously balanced fiddler leaping over rooftops.
Humble milkman Tevye lives in a small village called Anatevka in imperial Russia following the end of the 19th century. His labors are hard, as are those of his wife and eldest daughters. Daily he faces anti-Semitism, poverty and the demands of social and religious order. With so much to trouble our hero, his friends and family, you might expect Fiddler to make a forlorn tale leaving the viewer downcast upon exiting the theater. Not so.
Based on a book by Sholem Alichem, the musical was adapted and staged in 1964 by composer Jerry Bock, lyricist Sheldon Harnick and writer Joseph Stein. On Broadway, Fiddler was a hit noted for its thoughtful use of music and lyrics to highlight scenes of Jewish ritual and celebration.
Actor John Preece heads the cast. His Tevye leans on faith when his three bold daughters follow their hearts instead of tradition, challenging the status quo when they each fall for men outside the ideal match he and his wife had hoped for.
Will the future win over the past in the midst of upheaval and injustice? Can the fiddler survive in another land or time? Fiddler on the Roof plays at the Oklahoma City Civic Center Music Hall May 1-6 before moving to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center May 8-13. www.celebrityattractions.com
Historical Hunter
Lloyd Fadem bought his first piece of modern art in 1973. Before long, Fadem had expanded his search beyond artwork, beginning his lifelong obsession with collecting Mid-century Modern furniture, lighting and clocks by top designers of the era.
After three decades, Fadem had amassed an impressive array of classic mid-century pieces and was looking for just the right place to showcase his collection. So in 2006, when he discovered a mint-condition mid-century style home for sale in Tulsa, he “had to have it.”
“I was just the third owner, and the house was still in its original condition,” says Fadem. The residence, designed by Tulsa architect Doug Wixon in 1967, is more than 5,000 square feet, and includes five bedrooms, six baths and three spacious living areas created in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra, with large expanses of glass blending the exterior with the interior.
Initially, Fadem added a coat of paint, including splashes of bright orange, typical of the period, and installed maple wood floors throughout. But the architectural aficionado had a vision. So he purchased pallets of Tennessee Crab Orchard sandstone, famously used in numerous Wright projects, then spent three summers breaking the stone by hand to replace all the red brick originally used both on the exterior and the interior of the home.
The renovation continued with assistance from Fadem’s wife Margaret, founder of Margaret Ferrell Design. “She created a more sophisticated, modern look,” says Fadem. The brightly painted walls are gone, and now the focus is on the art and vintage furnishings.
“Margaret selected fabrics from residential lines such as Schumacher and S. Harris to replace some of the commercial materials typically used,” adds Fadem.
Ferrell redesigned the kitchen using Caesarstone countertops and glass tile running vertically up the wall. Fifty-year-old mint condition vintage shelving is from the Royal System by Cado, a Danish furniture company. The barstools are the 1950s classic Harry Bertoia design produced by Knoll.
The home is a virtual museum of classic Mid-century Modern furniture. One of Fadem’s prized finds is a Tugendhat chair designed in 1930 by Mies van der Rohe for the Fritz and Grete Tugendhat Villa in Brno, Czechoslovakia. The Marshmallow sofa designed in 1954 by Irving Harper and manufactured by Herman Miller is perhaps the most iconic of the modern furniture styles.
Fadem searches for items worldwide and has made several finds on eBay. But he’s also been lucky closer to home. He purchased his burl wood and stainless executive desk manufactured by The Pace Collection from the estate of Tulsa oilman Doyle Cotton. And for $750, he rescued an original Harvey Probber sofa from a local recreational center. Restored, the sofa could fetch several thousand dollars. And he found an original Robert Sonneman lamp and a George Nelson bubble lamp stored at a friend’s business since 1969.
Fadem’s home office also includes a chair that ultimately spurred Fadem to open his own upholstery business. “I wanted to reupholster a vintage Eames bucket chair,” explains Fadem. But he couldn’t find anyone who could do the heating, stretching and molding that the chair required. So he and a partner set up Retro Redo, and Fadem was the first customer. “Now we get Mid-century Modern furniture from all over the world sent to Tulsa,” he adds.
So is Fadem’s collection complete? “Absolutely not,” he laughs. “I love the hunt too much to stop.” And he’s convinced the next mid-century gem is out there waiting to be found.
Follow Your Appetite
Let your stomach be your guide to festivals with very select tastes. A short drive from Oklahoma City will find you in Tuttle at Braum’s bakery and processing plant. On May 19, join the parade to the Ice Cream Festival with festivities and heaps of Braum’s specialty. Edmond’s Hafer Park serves up great music with a side of championship-ready barbecue on May 25-26 for Rhythm Qs & Blue. East of Edmond, Arcadia’s Crestview Farms host Herb Fest, May 20. A further push will find you at Prague Kolache Festival, May 5, to get a mouthful of yummy pastries; and in Bristow for Tabouleh Fest, May 12. You can’t go wrong with the Bixby BBQ ‘n’ Blues Festival, May 4-5; Claremore’s Boots & BBQ Festival, May 19; and the famous Stilwell Strawberry Festival, May 12, in Adair County. If you want to eat your way across state lines, try the International Greek Food Festival in Little Rock, Ark., May 18-20. For information, look at entries in the calendar.
Diavolo Dance Theater
Dancers train for years to achieve the strength, balance and presence they need to perform for artistic directors, ballet masters, choreographers and audiences. To join the Diavolo Dance Theater, it may help to add in theater, gymnastics or a study in physics. True to its artistic statement, Diavolo is redefining dance each time it launches a dancer through the air across large-scale, architecturally surreal apparatuses. Founded by Artistic Director Jacques Heim in 1992, Diavolo ends its 2011-12 North American tour May 19 at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center’s Chapman Music Hall. Choregus Productions welcomes the troupe in a trio of pieces joining the enigmatic nature of humanity in a technologically-enhanced world with a playful quality and curiosity that makes Diavolo a stand-out ensemble the world over. www.choregus.org
Taste Of Tradition
From state flag to state tree, Oklahoma has an official something for everything, even a meal. Oklahoma’s Official State Meal includes a variety of foods that just about every Oklahoman would recognize and most likely love. The meal is meant to be reflective of the cultural backgrounds and the state’s historical and contemporary agriculture, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Oklahoma’s Official State Meal became one of the State Emblems by virtue of House Concurrent Resolution 1083, approved in 1988 by the Forty-first Legislature.
The types, variety and sheer quantity of foods in the state meal, which can be divided into breakfast, lunch and dinner, generally typify traditional Southern foodways. Meats include barbecued pork, chicken-fried steak and sausage with biscuits and gravy. Vegetables include fried okra and squash, grits, corn and black-eyed peas. Breads include cornbread and biscuits. Dessert consists of either strawberries or pecan pie.
“I think it’s representative of Oklahoma, but more of the past than today,” says Michael Dean, Oklahoma Historical Society public relations director.
Dave Cathey, food editor of the Oklahoman and writer of the column “Food Dude,” agrees that the state meal is definitely representative of Oklahoma and its people, but it could use some modifications.
“I think it’s true to Oklahoma, but at the same time it doesn’t have a great representation of American Indian culture,” he says. “There’s nothing on there that is really pre-statehood. I think it would be cool to add items to represent the foundation of the land.”
While corn and squash were originally American Indian dietary staples that were later breaded with corn meal and fried in pork grease, Cathey still thinks there could be a better representation of the culture.
With America’s growing waistlines and more than one-third of U.S. adults being obese, Cathey also mentions the need for healthier options within the state meal.
“The meal is very accurate,” he states. “These are the kinds of foods that are most popular and a source of pride in Oklahoma, but it is not very health-friendly. With the stigma our state has of being one of the heavier states, I think a few modifications could be done.”
He continues, “I would hate to lose the tradition of the meal, but to modify it with healthier options would be nice.”
Dean agrees.
“It might not be the healthiest. If I were to make changes to the meal it would to add fresh, Oklahoma-grown fruits and vegetables,” he says.
Most of the items found listed as part of the state meal can be found in small restaurants and cafes throughout the state. Cathey says Cattlemen’s Steakhouse in Oklahoma City’s historic Stockyard City is a great place to sample the state meal. Also, the Rock Café off of Route 66 in Stroud, Okla. “Really just about anywhere in Oklahoma has the food choices,” Cathey says.
For fresh produce, such as okra, corn or squash, Cathey mentions Peach Crest Farms in Stratford, Okla. “They have some of the best options and they’re even starting to sell items in local stores,” he adds.
No matter where you go to find the official state meal, it continues to reflect the cultural orientation of many Oklahomans – with one exception: Cathey jokingly says that a side of ranch dressing should also be included.
Naturally Raw
In the music world, there are a couple of different kinds of “edge” out there. Most often, the edge is obvious – in your face and cutting – but sometimes you get lucky and stumble across a different, very special kind of edge, the kind of edge that creeps up unexpectedly and resonates in your ears, packing a surprising punch that takes you back a few steps because you didn’t see it coming. This is where Tulsa singer/songwriter John Moreland fits in.
Whether it’s driving rock and roll songs like, “Low,” or solemn acoustic folk in, “God’s Medicine,” he’s naturally raw and unpretentious, with subtly abrasive vocals and gripping, rough, under-the-radar lyrics.
“I don’t write with any kind of agenda. I don’t have a ‘thing’ that I’m trying to say or get people to agree with. I’m not trying to send out a message or anything like that. I just take a loose subject and start writing,” Moreland says.
“If my background has influenced me at all, I guess it would be that maybe I have a lot of middle class guilt, like growing up with a somewhat privileged lifestyle and feeling guilty about it because my grandparents were poor. I haven’t had to struggle much, but I grew up going to their house and got to see both sides of the coin. I think I’m always trying to make sense of that.”
Reflective of an extensive, ongoing artillery of songs, Moreland has released multiple EPs and LPs throughout the past year, including his most recent LP, Everything The Hard Way.
“Every once in a while I get in a mood where I’m just frustrated and angry, and that always makes me want to write loud songs. Over the years, I’d wound up with a bunch of those kinds of songs laying around unused, and they wound up fitting well together on Everything The Hard Way,” he explains.
Having already switched gears, Moreland is headed in a new direction, working on his next record, which he says is set to tap more into the likes of Van Morrison and The Band, where country and R&B meet in the middle.
“I really love that kind of music and I think the next record hopefully will do a better job of representing a broader spectrum of what I’m into, with some loud rock, some solo folk, some country; it’ll be all over the place.”
Touchdown, Oklahoma!
Anyone who has viewed the glitz and glamour of televised sports, with everything from celebrity theme songs to bean-dip-sponsored turf, can tell you that athletics clearly is a big business.
According to the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, nearly 17,000 Oklahomans work in a sports-related industry, and the state is expecting that number to grow some 17 percent by 2020 – while the nation is expected to grow by just 13.5 percent. Sales revenues for sports-related activities generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the state, and for every dollar of sales in Oklahoma sports, another $1.83 is earned by businesses that support the industry.
“It’s important for sports to be in our communities,” says Ray Hoyt, senior vice president at Visit Tulsa/Tulsa Sports Commission. “It’s important for the quality of life.”
To witness the economic influence of athletics on Oklahoma’s communities, one need look no further than Norman – a microcosm for the state’s success in the sports industry. Home to the University of Oklahoma athletics powerhouse, the Sooners, Norman sees millions of dollars in revenue every year from college football alone, in addition to other popular sporting events.
“Sooner Athletics and the support of our fans have always had a huge economic impact on Norman,” says Joe Castiglione, director of OU Athletics. “Six or seven times each fall, the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium becomes the sixth-largest city in the state of Oklahoma.”
According to Castiglione, the 2010-2011 season generated more than $44 million in on-campus athletics ticket sales. And with an estimated $330 million in planned construction for athletics facilities, the financial effects of OU sports on Norman and its businesses have no end in sight.
While in the past, Oklahoma’s sports reputation was earned almost exclusively by its college teams, the state rapidly is earning a reputation as a fierce competitor in professional sports as well – a reputation with far-reaching economic implications for the state. With the arrival of such professional teams as the Oklahoma City Thunder and Tulsa Shock, national awareness of Oklahoma’s sports industry is changing, luring visitors not only to stadiums, courts and other venues, but to local businesses and attractions as well.
As Sue Hollenbeck, assistant director of Sports Business Development at the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau explains, the impact of the Thunder on Oklahoma City’s economic development goes far beyond simple ticket sales.
“A positive impact is also resulted in any nationally televised game,” she says. “Not only do they bring in production crews, but once those crews are in town, they start shooting all around the area, so that impacts what people from around the country see and how they perceive Oklahoma City. There are more bars, more restaurants – usually locally owned – that are now springing up all around the downtown area… One good reason is because there is more business on game nights.
“The Thunder has definitely changed the area, economically speaking, with the influx of monies being spent directly because of a game in town,” Hollenbeck continues, “but also, the Thunder has changed the way the rest of the country perceives Oklahoma City.”
Although basketball is on its way to prominence in the state, and football has always been king, Oklahoma also is becoming a byword for diversity in sports, hosting everything from world-class fishing competitions to Olympic dreams.
In Oklahoma City, what once was blight on the landscape has become a beacon for Olympic athletes, regatta enthusiasts, rowing teams and more. Recent development along a seven-mile stretch of the North Canadian River – now called the Oklahoma River in Oklahoma City – has the urban waterway attracting aquatic athletes and competitions from across the nation. And with plans for a new waterfront park, funded by the MAPS 3 initiative, the area’s enrichment is far from over.
“The planned White Water center and the improvements to the river will make for more events and continue the quality of the events,” Hollenbeck says. “Once the White Water center is open, there will be many opportunities for tournaments for white-water kayaking, training sessions for Olympic hopefuls and youth events. As for the additional improvements on the river, they continue to put Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma River on the forefront for national and international rowing and flatwater canoe/kayaking.”
Tulsa is seeing its own sports renaissance as well. Hoyt says the Tulsa Sports Commission, which has had a $300 million impact on the area since its inception in 1993, has big plans for the city. One of the most highly anticipated events is the arrival of the Bassmaster Classic in 2013. According to Hoyt, the ESPN-backed championship in professional bass fishing will bring more than $26 million to Tulsa businesses.
In addition, the commission is partnering with what Hoyt calls “one of the oldest, most original soccer brands in the world” to create the AC Milan Heartland Cup, an annual soccer tournament debuting this June that will bring teams from around the globe to compete against regional teams in Tulsa each year.
“It’s a big deal,” Hoyt says. “It’s an elite tournament…our aim is to make this a premier youth soccer event.
“I think our goal is to rebrand Tulsa as a sports region,” Hoyt continues, “and we want to be recognized as a great sports brand not just in the region, but nationally. We want to look at our assets in the community, like Expo Square, the BOK Center and the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks and partner with them to bring events in or create events to brand Tulsa as a regional sports destination.”
From enduring athletics traditions to lucrative new initiatives, the sports industry in Oklahoma is filling the seats of its venues across the state. And for Oklahoma’s citizens and businesses alike, the future seems as bright as any Friday-night lights.
