Tulsa Chamber: OKPOP Museum Could Give Extra Boost To Tourism Dollars

The Brady Arts District could get more artsy, with a $25 million music museum.

OKPOP has finally been approved by both the Senate and House, and now heads to the governor's office.

What's now a parking lot at 1st and Cincinnati could one day be a 75,000-square foot museum. It'd feature some of Oklahoma's brightest stars, and we're told many of them are already on board.

They're some of the biggest names anywhere - Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Carrie Underwood - and they're all Oklahomans.

They could soon be featured back home in a $25 million OKPOP Museum, right here in Tulsa, according to Tulsa Regional Chamber CEO, Mike Neal.

"We are absolutely jubilant and could not be more excited. Great day for the state of Oklahoma, great day for Tulsa," he said.

The day after the house failed to pass the bond proposal for the museum, it reconsidered, and approved the measure 51 to 40.

The museum would be operated by the Oklahoma Historical Society.

Learn More About The OKPOP Museum

Donors have already pledged $15 million; OKPOP would then be paid for by bonds and profits.

"The business plan really calls for this to be self-sustaining, and the business plan really calls for it to need no ongoing state assistance," Neal said.

Now, the proposal needs Governor Mary Fallin's signature.

Neal said the museum, in the heart of the Brady Arts District, would give our homegrown celebs a place for their possessions.

"We have so many talented artists, the likes of Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, Kristin Chenoweth, Toby Keith, so many other people who are known not just across this country, but are known across the globe," he said.

Opponents of the monument to music said the state shouldn't be in the business of running museums.

Neal said the state makes $1.4 billion in tourism and this would give that a boost.

"The economic impact that this project will have will certainly catapult that to an ever higher level," he said.

Some of the donors include the George Kaiser Family Foundation and Bank of Oklahoma, who donated the property.

There's no timetable yet of when it could be built.