Danny Deck

I feel like there are some verifiable drawbacks to Tulsa that have to be conceded. 1. Flights were hard to come by and expensive. Tulsa has the fewest flights for any city that has hosted recently. Prices were also exacerbated by nationwide issues. 2. Hotel rooms were also hard to come by. The city itself has stated it needs another convention style hotel near the arena. I haven't seen an actual room count comparison between Tulsa and recent host cities, but I think it's reasonable to assume there are fewer. I think both of these things are improving, but they did make this event harder to get to. I'm hopeful Tulsa improves on both counts regardless of if it's a host city again or not. I really don't know about the issue with restaurants and bars. I feel like there are lots of both in downtown. I only ate down there between sessions on Saturday, but we walked a half mile, were seated immediately and the food and drinks all came out quickly. Then went to a brewery on our walk back toward the arena for the finals which wasn't that busy so we were served quickly there as well. I'm not exactly doubting anyone's experience, but I don't know that they're universal. And it's more fun to complain than to say "it was fine."

They bid on it. Bids will open up again soon. If you want something different, I suggest you email the sports commissions in the cities you think it should be in along with the coach and AD for the school that makes sense to host it there. Should be a relatively easy case to make to the sports commission as it's roughly a 20 million economic impact.

They're pretty good. I don't know if they still do, but Elote used to have luchador night. Just in case there isn't enough wrestling going on.

Here is a list of happy hour specials for the relevant days of the week. Obviously not everything is downtown, but most are going to be 15 minutes or less from the BOK.

Yokozuna is the only one downtown that I know of. It's a half mile from the BOK. It's solid, I think, but most of my sushi experiences have been in OK, so I'm not the authority. Regarding mexican food, literally next door to Yokozuna is La Tertulia. It is way up there on the best in town in my opinion. Definitely get the Quesadilla that's on the appetizer list. BBQ - Albert G's is downtown and I think it's pretty good. A new one just opened called Alley Cat. I haven't been yet, but the initial Reddit reviews have been positive. The guy who runs it was a pitmaster at one of the best places in town until it burned down.

It's 2 hour max on the street but then free after 5 and weekends. There are several lots and garages close to the BOK Center.

https://tulsaworld.com/sports/college/osu/bill-haisten-a-massive-event-ncaa-wrestling-in-downtown-tulsa/article_758fe932-b544-11ed-aa73-4b965655d6b3.html

Big 12 in 2021, 2022, 2023 - 45, 58, 64 MAC - 35, 22, 23 Wonder how much wrestling Mizzou during the season helped MAC and now Big 12 schools. Looks like even outside of that, the Big 12 is improving.

Man, I'm hoping Tulsa puts on a much better face than I see people expecting, but size is definitely an issue. By most measures, Little Ceasers Arena is bigger than the BOK, 19,515 compared to 17,096 for Hockey, 20,322 to 17,839 for Basketball. I'm not sure how wrestling capacity compares exactly to those, but I would expect a similar reduction. There flat out aren't enough hotels in downtown. The city even recognizes this, https://tulsaworld.com/business/local/how-many-hotel-rooms-in-downtown-tulsa-will-bring-in-bigger-events-2-200-isnt/article_eb21f8f8-eb31-11ec-9f82-3fb814b0e457.html I think some people's ideas about Tulsa are a little colored by Big 12s and things being closed on the weekend right next to the arena, especially on Sunday. That won't be as much of a problem for NCAAs since it takes place Th-Sat. OSU has announced they are going to have a Fan Fest with food trucks and cash bar in the convention center. I believe the city is separately going to have a separate fan fest with a similar setup in the convention center. The city is also going to meet with the downtown and hopefully surrounding restaurants/bars to hopefully get them fully prepared for the influx from a staffing perspective.

Here is a thread of recs that I mostly agree with. Several other good places to eat in town, but this is a good starter list.