Tulsa Tourism Leaders Commit To Bring Events To The City After New Arena Approval In OKC

Tulsa tourism leaders say the city will always be aggressive when it comes to bringing major concerts and conventions to town. The commitment comes after Oklahoma City voters approved a $900 million state-of-the-art arena that is expected to open in 2029.

“We are very happy for our neighbors down the road, but I will say, what we have here is pretty special,” said Renee McKenney, president of Tulsa Regional Tourism.

McKenney says 2023 was a record year for people visiting Tulsa. She says a lot of that success is because of the events happening at the BOK Center, which included NCAA and Big 12 championship wrestling.

With all of the concerts and conventions tacked on, McKenney says there are no signs of slowing down.

“We are getting so well known in this space that people want to bring their horse shows here, they want to bring their conventions here, and they certainly want to bring their sporting events,” said McKenney.

While there is plenty of excitement over the new arena coming to Oklahoma City, the calendar in Tulsa remains busy.

“We are turning away business because we don’t have enough hotel rooms,” said McKenney. “We’re really in need of a convention center hotel, which will create so much vibrancy in the district.”

Paycom Center general manager Chris Semrau says the design of the current building has some deficiencies, which will be addressed in the new project. He is hopeful those changes will bring more events to OKC, but Semrau says there is plenty to go around for both cities.

“I think Oklahoma’s positioned very well, and we’re very fortunate to have great venues in each market that hopefully brings in the most events possible to the state,” said Semrau.

McKenney says the city will stay aggressive when it comes to getting marquee events to town. The proven success of Tulsa and the BOK Center will help make those pitches easier.

The Bassmaster Classic is one of the major events coming to Tulsa in 2024. More than 100,000 people are expected to visit the city when the event starts in March.