Stan Geiger

What About Those "Naming Rights?"

"Naming rights," which are all the rage these days, aggravate me. I mean it's not the Rose Bowl anymore, it's, like, the Twinkies/Tyson/Exxon Mobil Rose Bowl. Sheesh.

Citizens of Tulsa County coughed up nearly $200 million to build an arena. Then BoK handed over a few bucks and put its name on the building. Or did it just hang its name on the building and forget about the few bucks?

The Tulsa Beacon ran a story on a recent City Council meeting, in which announced mayoral candidate David O'Conner asked about that.

O’Conner asked if the Bank of Oklahoma had paid for the naming rights to the downtown arena and no councilor would answer him.

I'd say O'Conner put a simple, straightforward question. Why couldn't he get an answer? Could it be that no councilor is willing to publicly confirm that BoK has paid up because it hasn't?

BoK, as we all know, is George Kaiser---one of the richest men in the world.

Whether or not George has paid to hang his name on our arena is a question that needs to be answered. But, at the same time, it might be a moot issue. Even if he has paid, he really hasn't. That thanks to a recent action by Emperor, excuse me, Mayor Kat Taylor that handed Kaiser a $7.1 million gift from the public coffers.

It's a wonderful world---if you happen to be rich and powerful.

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