El Paso looks to Oklahoma City as economic model

Miner fans at the Sun Bowl couldn’t wait to send the Sooners home on Saturday.

“Win or lose, U-TEP all the way!” said one fan.

The Miners kept it close for three quarters before Oklahoma pulled away.

The big game may be over but there is still a lot to be talked about regarding the similarities between one city in Oklahoma and El Paso.

Oklahoma City and El Paso have a lot of similarities and city leaders say replicating a series of projects that Oklahoma has used to revitalize its downtown, could be applied here.

OKC natives say their city’s road to success first began by building a Tripla-A baseball stadium.

“I went to work in Oklahoma for a month and I fell in love,” said El Paso resident David Nieto.

Since 1993, Oklahoma city has turned its town of about 600,000 people into a thriving mecca other cities are trying to model. El Paso leaders are looking to Oklahoma City’s downtown revitalization projects, hoping to reap the same successes.

“Sports has a lot to do with it,” Oklahoma native Paul Thomas said.

In 2003, OKC opened a Triple-A baseball stadium in a rundown part of town, now known as Bricktown. El Paso native David Nieto lived in OKC for a short time and said OKC’s downtown is booming, a quality he attributes to having a baseball stadium.

“Bricktown is in the middle downtown near the river walk. That whole baseball field brings it up to life,” Nieto said.

Building a $57 million baseball stadium was one part of a three-part revitalization plan. Construction for the stadium needed voter approved and was paid for by a one-cent increase in the OKC’s sales tax. Some El Pasoan’s are still skeptical bringing Triple A baseball to the city will jump start downtown…

“I’m satisfied with the Diablos,” said native El Pasoan Ricky Nieto.

Sooners at the Sun Bowl said the sooner El Paso can bring sports to the city, the better.

“Sports has a lot to do with it,” Thomas said. “If you have minor league teams here or any professional teams here, its going to bring a lot of people who aren’t from El Paso to El Paso.”

Some people said Oklahoma City demographics are different. They have more high-income households that can consistently pay for baseball tickets, and the fancy restaurants, stores and entertainment venues downtown.

Oklahoma’s growth can also be pinned on the fact that they have a professional basketball team and college sports. Building a stadium in El Paso could very well bring less lucrative results.