A Big League City
9:59 p.m.
It’s official: the Ford Center will get its upgrade and the city’s all but assured of getting its first NBA team.
The mood here at the Big League City watch party was ecstatic in the hour following the announcement. One man jumped in the air mimicking a fadeaway jump shot when Mayor Mick Cornett announced that the sales tax would pass.
But now, things are winding down. Nonna’s owner Avis Scaramucci is enjoying a glass of red wine and a few dozen others are quietly conversing while the restaurant’s staff picks up from the watch party. The mood now is that of proud relief.
A few parting shots from the Big League City watch party here at Nonna’s in Bricktown:
-Mayor Mick Cornett’s 8-month-old granddaughter, Lily, has a Big League City bumper sticker stuck on the back of her shirt.
-There’s more talk at the bar about basketball than politics, even as presidential primary results scroll across the bottom of television screens.
-At the table where the evening’s food was served, the trays are mostly empty but the decorations remain. There’s a toy basketball hoop, Big League City buttons and a pennant that reads: “Slam Dunk.” I think that pennant sums up how most folks here felt about the night.
That’s it for me. I’m going to duck out so I’m not in the way of these television reporters’ live shots. Thanks for reading.
John Estus, staff writer
Results coming
7:25 p.m.
Chamber President Roy Williams and his staff are making calls to the county election board to get the first round of results. Williams just told the growing crowd he’ll break the news to them in about five minutes.
More city council members have showed up, and rumors of Mayor Mick’s arrival are floating around - but no sighting yet.
John Estus, staff writer
Familiar faces, fancy foods
7:07 p.m.
No sign of Mayor Mick Cornett yet, but a few familiar city government faces have shown up.
City Manager Jim Couch, Ward 1 Councilman Gary Marrs, some city planners and even former Oklahoma City Public Schools Superintendent John Q. Porter are milling about the Purple Bar here at Nonna’s.
The crowd – about three dozen right now – is sipping drinks and trying out the contemporary gourmet appetizers spread out across the bar.
There’s cheese trays, chicken wrapped in artichoke hearts with an orange marmalade, Nonna’s famous meatball, Mediterranean breads, sirloin strips, pineapple trees and all manner of colorful treats ready for tasting.
I had a Sonic shake on the way down here. Not hungry anymore.
OK. Off to mingle.
John Estus, staff writer
Signs, signs – everywhere, signs
6:52 p.m.
We’re in Bricktown now, and you can’t turn a corner down here without seeing a gaggle of Big League City campaign signs. No surprises there, considering the bundle of money the campaign has spent thus far. More than $100,000 was spent, mostly on advertising, in just the first few weeks of the campaign.
Yard signs, full page advertisements, television commercials, billboards — the campaign’s handlers have made it nearly impossible to escape Big League City. And that’s been their aim: To get to the big leagues.
There has been a tenacious group of citizens campaigning against the Big League City folks, but their “Vote No Sales Tax March 4″ signs are nowhere to be seen here in Bricktown. The opposition didn’t have the money for the big-budget ad campaign that the Big League City campaign did, but they did manage to get plenty of signs up across the city and wage a spirited Internet campaign.
In the next few hours, we’ll find out if it mattered.
John Estus, staff writer
Big league watch party
Hey, sports fans. We’ll be blogging from the Big League City watch party tonight in Bricktown. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Big League City is the campaign that supports the plan to spruce up the Ford Center to lure an NBA team here.
The shindig isn’t open to the public, but the campaign is letting us media types in for what they hope is a celebration of Oklahoma City’s biggest step yet toward landing a professional sports team.
That, of course, would be today’s vote on whether to extend a penny sales tax to pay for giving the Ford Center a nearly $100 million facelift and building an NBA practice facility. The stakes were set about six weeks ago, when Mayor Mick Cornett announced the vote with a blunt proclamation: “This is a choice. We can choose to be an NBA city, or we can choose not to be. We’re not going to get a franchise if we don’t pass it.” If the vote passes, all signs point to the Oklahoma-owned Seattle Supersonics moving into a state-of-the-art Ford Center someday soon.
The polls close at 7 p.m., and sports columnist Jenni Carlson and myself will set up in Bricktown shortly before that. There’s sure to be no shortage of colorful and notable personalities at the watch party. We’ll be in their ears all night as the returns come in and report what they’re thinking back to you.
No matter how you voted, you’ve got to admit this is a historic day for the city. Tonight should be fun.
John Estus, staff writer
