OKC Group Plans To Invite Penguins

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ An Oklahoma City business group says they're interested in landing a National Hockey League franchise and expect a formal invitation to be extended next week for the Pittsburgh

Saturday, January 6th 2007, 2:01 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ An Oklahoma City business group says they're interested in landing a National Hockey League franchise and expect a formal invitation to be extended next week for the Pittsburgh Penguins to visit the city's Ford Center arena.

The Penguins and owner Mario Lemieux have been seeking a new arena in Pittsburgh and already have an offer to move to Kansas City.

``We've always had an interest in the NHL or anything that contributes to Oklahoma City or the Oklahoma environment,'' Bob Funk, the founder and CEO of Express Services Inc. and the owner of the Oklahoma City Blazers hockey team, told The Oklahoman. ``I think the NHL has a good future.''

Funk and Brad Lund, CEO of Funk's Express Sports, met with Oklahoma City leaders Thursday and tabled for the weekend a decision to invite the Penguins, the newspaper reported.

``It's Pittsburgh's team to lose, and Kansas City is well ahead of us,'' Lund acknowledged.

Funk said he would not go forward without consultation from Oklahoma City leaders, who have sought to bring a permanent NBA franchise to town. Oklahoma City currently hosts the NBA's Hornets, who are scheduled to return to New Orleans after this season.

``Like we've talked about before, the first team in certainly would have the advantage,'' Funk said. ``That ended up being the NBA. If the NBA is not going to be here, then I would think there would be corporate support for hockey.''

Funk also speculated that an NHL team could land in Tulsa, if an NBA team is in Oklahoma City. Tulsa is building a new downtown arena scheduled to open in 2008.

``I'll talk to Tulsa,'' Funk said. ``That's always a possibility, too. We have very successful (Central Hockey League) operations in Tulsa. Our operations over there are doing very well and they have been for a long time.''