River Spirit Casino In Tulsa To Host 2021 Miss USA, Miss Teen USA

The River Spirit Casino in Tulsa announced that they will host the 2021 Miss USA and Miss Teen USA events this fall.

The pageants will be hosted November 26-29 for a week of events, which includes live TV specials that will be watched around the world.

For Muscogee (Creek) Nation and City of Tulsa leaders, the Miss USA pageant means putting Tulsa on a national stage. Principal Chief David Hill said the casino was built to attract high-profile events like this.

"Great day for Muscogee (Creek) Nation, great day for Tulsa, and the state of Oklahoma," Hill said.

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said this is some of the best news he's heard all year.

"The Muscogee (Creek) Nation, I've said it before, and I'll never get tired of saying it, is such a tremendous economic driver for our community," said Mayor Bynum.

Miss USA organizers said Tulsa beat big competitors to host the event. Miss USA Organization President Crystle Stewart admits Tulsa didn't sound appealing at first.

"We were going to go to Vegas, I mean honest, but I'm telling you we came here and I said, you know what, this is the place, this is the place to have the next Miss USA Pageant," said Stewart.

Stewart said when she came to Tulsa for the first time she was impressed by Tulsa International Airport, the kind people, and River Spirit's state-of-the-art facilities like The Cove which will host the biggest parts of the pageant.

"Choosing the location, the venue, the whole city was very important, because everyone's looking, and I feel I really made the right decision for my team as well," said Stewart.

Miss USA Organizers hope as far as COVID-19 goes, that things are back to normal come November. If not, they say they are confident in the casino to make sure everyone at the event is safe.