OU's SEC debut made an impact in local tourism

Our current issue, on newsstands now, features an excellent cover story by our web editor, Ben Luschen, about what NCAA conference realignment means for our state and one of its favorite pastimes: college football. Ben did an excellent job weaving together the various threads of what’s become a tangled web worthy of Shakespeare—or at least Star Wars.

But I saw it for myself last weekend. I wrote about this in the issue’s editor’s letter, but my parents have held season tickets at Owen Field since before I was born. I’ve grown up sitting in the same seats in section 9. These days, it’s mostly my husband and I who occupy them on Saturdays—my brother is on a youth sports field pretty much every weekend, and Mom usually would rather watch from the comfort of her own home these days (and her home is quite comfy, so it’s understandable).

Nathan and his mother Kathy took in all the sights and sounds of OU's big game against Tennessee last week.

But it seemed right Mom and I should go this weekend. Not only was Brian sick, it felt like something of a tradition: We’d gone to the first Big 12 game together in 1996—and the last one, in 2023—so somehow, that we would attend the first SEC home game together felt preordained. I put Mom through the paces of our usual game day routine: Lunch at Classic ’50s, parking in a neighborhood west of the stadium (NO I’M NOT TELLING YOU MY OU PARKING SECRETS), walking to campus, then Campus Corner, buying a beer or two, froyo at Pinkberry—it’s a whole routine. Call it a ritual if you like. A ritual of beer and froyo and walking and people-watching then more beer. God bless my Mom for letting me drag her through it all in that heat. She’s a total champ.

But here’s where things departed from the norm, where the routine was off:

I’ve been going to Norman for game day my entire life. And with the very possible exception of the Ohio State game in 2016, I've never seen that many away fans in Norman. I’ve attended Bedlam games in that stadium where there was less orange in the stands than there was on Saturday. In fact, there were entire sections of Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium that, had you not known where you were, you wouldn’t have been sure which team, red or orange, was the home team and which was the visitor.

Lots of Tennessee fans in Volunteer Orange claimed seats at Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium

Of course, all my Tourism neurons were firing: So much economic impact! So this week, I called Dan Schemm, president of Visit Norman and Norman Sports, who said that while they won’t know the full economic impact for awhile, average daily rates at Norman hotels were up more than 40 percent that weekend. And Schemm pointed out that while Norman has about 3,000 hotel rooms, Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium holds more than 80,000 fans, making the impact not just a positive for Norman but for the whole region.

“I was talking to businesses all over town, and they said Friday night was really good,” Schemm says.

He also mentioned that Norman has begun a new Friday-night tradition on home-game weekends: the Crimson Friday Concerts on Campus Corner at the corner of White Street and Asp.

And what did the Tennessee fans think? All you need to do to answer that question is to read this story by Joe Mussatto in The Oklahoman, in which nearly every single person comments on how nice, how welcoming, and how hospitable we were.

Though the game on the field was not the closest, fans were treated to a spectacular drone show overhead.

Of course, there was a kind of kinship for everyone as well for a very specific reason, and his name was Josh Heupel. The Tennessee head coach is famous in Norman as OU’s former offensive coordinator and, more importantly, the quarterback who led the team to its last national championship season in 2000.

I’ve never seen Norman quite like I did on Saturday. It’s always such a great experience to see something that’s a foundational part of your life through the eyes of someone who’s never seen it before. It’s one of the great rewards of what we do: Showing people their Oklahoma through a new lens every day.

I’m looking forward to welcoming South Carolina, Maine, and especially Alabama fans to Oklahoma for the first time as well. I just hope the Sooners can hold their own a little better on the field next time.

Written By

Nathan Gunter

A sixth-generation Oklahoman, Weatherford native, and Westmoore High School graduate, Nathan Gunter is the magazine's editor-in-chief. When he's not editor-in-chiefing, Nate enjoys live music, running, working out, gaming, cooking, and random road trips with no particular destination in mind. He holds degrees from Wake Forest University and the University of Oklahoma. He learned how to perform poetry from Maya Angelou; how to appreciate Italian art from Terisio Pignatti; comedy writing from Doug Marlette; how to make coconut cream pie from his great-grandma; and how not to approach farm dogs from trial and error. A seminary dropout, he lives just off Route 66 in Oklahoma City.