BOK Center Finances Put To Reality Check

By Dan Bewley and Terry Hood, News On 6

TULSA, OK - It has been 69 days since the BOK Center hosted its first concert and so far it's exceeding expectations.

The arena's first financial statement was released on Thursday and showed it pulled in more than $200,000 than expected during its first month.

It's been six years since the concept of a new downtown arena was first imagined.

The BOK Center opened its doors September 6th to host The Eagles

"It's pretty awesome," said Dave Lee, Inola resident.

"I think it's great. I love it," said Roxanne Lee, Inola resident.

The company that manages the BOK Center released a financial statement detailing the numbers from the arena's first month in operation.

It shows 68,375 tickets were sold in September, that's 23,000 more than management expected.

Concert goers also bought $267,011 in food concessions alone, that's $58,911 more than what was budgeted.

As for T-shirts and other merchandise, visitors spent more than $71,000, nearly half of that at The Eagles concert.

The only glitch came with the utility bill.

The company that manages the BOK Center had budgeted for $95,000 in utilities, but the actual cost for September was $178,000. That's 82,000 more than planned.