BOK Center Nominated For Award

By Richard Clark and Scott Thompson, News On 6

TULSA, OK -- The BOK Center has been attracting big-name acts and big-time crowds and now it's getting high praise from the entertainment industry.

It has only been open for a few months, but now it's in the running for a prestigious national award.

The BOK Center started drawing crowds before it was open, before construction was even finished.

And now the people inside the entertainment world are taking notice, too.

"In the arena business, this is really the largest award that a facility like ours can receive," said BOK Center General Manager John Bolton.

The BOK Center has been nominated for Pollstar's "Best New Major Concert Venue" award.

Pollstar is the top trade publication for the concert business.  Its committee of 200 industry insiders nominated just four venues for the award.

The general manager says the committee picked the BOK Center for two reasons.

"The facility itself, how beautiful it is, how amazing it is.  And then I think it's also the line-up that we've had since our grand opening, the different events that we've had.  The pre-grand opening events that we had.  We had about 13 pre-opening events," said Bolton.

The GM says the nomination proves the arena makes it possible for Tulsa to compete against much larger cities in landing the biggest acts.

"We're really shooting for the A tours.  So the A tours play A markets.  And, you know, Tulsa is not quite, you know, a Houston or a Dallas as it relates to population base.  So we're competing on that level," said Bolton.

Whether it's hosting minor-league hockey, college basketball or a world-famous music act, Bolton says winning the award would help the BOK Center continue its early string of success.

"It's something that, you know, we've had in our plans to achieve.  And, you know, hopefully that goal will become reality in January," said Bolton.

The BOK Center is competing against Club Nokia in Los Angeles, the House of Blues in Houston and the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Alpharetta, Georgia.