Tulsa’s BOK Center moves up the charts
BY BRIAN BARBER - Tulsa World
Published: July 14, 2009
TULSA — Tulsa’s BOK Center is ranked No. 9 in the United States and No 23 in the world by Pollstar magazine for the number of tickets sold during the first half of 2009.
From January through June, the new venue hosted events with 188,688 tickets sold for events considered in the rankings, which do not include home athletic events.
BOK Center General Manager John Bolton said people would not expect Tulsa’s arena to be performing as well as it is because of the size of the population, saying the top 10 is dominated by major metropolitan areas.
"But one, this is a brand-new, state-of-the-art facility, and two, our economy is stronger than in many areas of the country,” he said. "Acts are also excited to tap into a new market that has responded extremely well.”
The ranking by Pollstar, which is the concert industry’s trade publication, bolsters the BOK Center’s reputation, Bolton said.
"It captures the attention of promoters, agents and act managers,” he said.
The American venues above the BOK Center on the Top 50 list are Philips Arena, Atlanta; Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Ill.; BankAtlantic Center, Sunrise, Fla.; Sprint Center, Kansas City, Mo.; St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Fla.; Madison Square Garden, New York; Toyota Center, Houston; and the Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Conn.
Oklahoma City’s Ford Center landed at 48th in the country and 93rd in the world. The venue closed at the end of April for renovations. It will reopen in October.
The BOK Center has hosted or is scheduled to host nine of the Top 10 tours this year: Britney Spears, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John and Billy Joel, the Eagles, Celine Dion, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Chesney, Dave Matthews Band and Dane Cook.
It would be cool, but I don't know. We're up against some real heavy hitters. Still, the fact that we're even being considered speaks volumes! 
