Lost Ogle and OKC Talk fallout from Cornett's anti-lingerie edict

The OKC Talk thread is basically up to 160 posts already.

The Tulsa Now thread also has several posts, but so far only 12--Tulsa Now is a lot less active though, and much more used to their mayor being a bigot.

The Lost Ogle has been ALL over this, as well. By far have they been the go-to source on the LFL debacle, not surprisingly. Their coverage:

Last year The Lost Ogle actually jokingly suggested an LFL arena as a MAPS IV project or something.

On 11/11 they announced the potential arrival of the LFL. Ironically they also suggested Mayor Mick might have made the pitch on a recent trip to LA.

Mayor Mick gave this statement: "Hey guys… I am not in favor of them coming for more reasons than I can mention. Some obvious, some not so obvious. Do not expect it to happen…"

I don't know what "Kiss the Baby" means either.

In a Q&A, Mortaza says some interesting things. Cites that he saw a poll where 70% of people in OKC supported the LFL and says that a local real estate developer would have been the franchise owner, and defended the league's balance sheets.

The Lost Ogle speculates who the real estate development/prospective franchise owner was going to be.
My guess is someone entirely different from anyone listed on here.

____________________

This will probably be the last mention I give the LFL debacle just for the sake of moving on. This is an urbanism blog, not a politics blog. I do have political feelings, and for the most part they're pretty darn moderate and middle-of-the-road these days. I don't wish to crusade against Mick Cornett for being a conservative but I'm definitely not going to support the kind of actions he's made so far this month. I just want to highlight the reactions and the potential for this to create really bad PR for Oklahoma City, as it already has done in my opinion.

This is just systemic, in my opinion, of a greater struggle to allow downtown to deviate from family-friendly. And it is very frustrating and exasperating, and probably the only reason I care passionately about letting the LFL play in the Cox Center or somewhere. Certainly the LAST thing we want downtown is more 20-somethings going to events and going to bars before or afterward to hang out with their buddies.

More glowing social (and traditional) media coverage

Here's a few selected outside news reporting pieces about Mayor Mick's family values crusade to not allow lingerie football in OKC.

"There's at least one sports league that likes Seattle better than Oklahoma City."
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"League chairman Mitchell Mortaza said Cornett is taking away the freedom of individuals to choose what sporting events to attend."
Huffington Post

"You can add Oklahoma City to the list of places I will never move to."
SportsNewser

"Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett has said no to the Lingerie Football League."
MSN FoxSports (AP)

"From what I've been told, Oklahomans love their football. But they can't stand hot women in sexy outfits. At least that's what I've been led to believe by Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, who has banned the Lingerie Football League from going anywhere near his city's Cox Center."
Holy Taco

"What guy can say no to a bunch of women playing football in lingerie in their city?"
NY Daily News

These are just a FEW of the negative articles and blog posts that have been getting OKC the wrong kind of attention over the most recent bad decision from city hall.

Mayor Mick's family values crusade

Aka the jumpstart of his campaign for statewide-office. The ever-opportunistic Mayor whom we love so much is apparently crusading for family values, since when? Since now. And thank goodness, so that guys all over Oklahoma will be spared the indignity of the lingerie football league, truly a "Big League City" amenity if there ever were one. Thank goodness we're keeping the big leagues at bay, with all of those moral and cultural vices that come along with being "Big League City."



The Lingerie Football League was intending to grant OKC an expansion team, one of only four franchises that would be awarded. The current cities with franchises are as follows:

Eastern Conference:
Tampa Breeze
Philadelphia Passion
Miami Caliente
Orlando Fantasy
Baltimore Charm

Western Conference:
Chicago Bliss
San Diego Seduction
Los Angeles Temptation
Dallas Desire
Seattle Mist

I don't see a weak link there. Also, the championship will be played out during the half-time of the Super Bowl, talk about publicity. It would have been a win-win. A chance for OKC to join a prestigious list of cities, a unique sports amenity that guys would dig, and an expanded tax base from having a very unique business locate in OKC. They weren't even asking for an incentive.

Instead of the great publicity we would have gotten for OKC as a cool and hip place, we get this: OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett told OKBlitz.com Thursday that he does not plan to allow a Lingerie Football League team to come to the city. And to quote the LFL CEO: "Oklahomans should be provided the opportunity to choose for themselves and not dictated to. I thought our plans were for expansion into Oklahoma City, not North Korea."

Buzzkill.

I agree with Mortazza, the LFL CEO, and not just on the point that an LFL franchise would be great for OKC. I agree on the simple principle that I don't like the idea of Mayor Mick casting the vote for what kind of entertainment OKC residents should be subjected to. I think they are capable of making that decision for themselves with their pocketbooks and their feet, although apparently Mayor Mick disagrees. Look, we've always known he's a pretty conservative guy, or at least very prone to pander to the "Christian Conservative" fringe. That's always been O.K. as long as he acted impartially as mayor, because our main issues are about growing our city and in particular our downtown, not divisive social issues and all that stuff. We don't talk about things like abortion and gay marriage on the horseshoe, or at least people not named Brian Walters don't, so there's never been a problem with elected Attila the Hun as mayor. Now apparently there is if Mayor Mick is going to overstep his boundaries and use his position and his influence in order to prevent the LFL from coming to OKC.

And here's the funny thing about family values: they only work against things people have a prejudice against. Nobody has a prejudice against gorgeous women in lingerie in a male-dominated city. Mayor Mick, in his efforts to increase his statewide appeal by pandering to the family values cartel, has come up with a scheme that is sure to backfire, and I plan to do my part to make sure it does. This is going to start becoming a rising issue, the disenchantment with Mayor Mick, if stuff like this keeps happening. THIS IS NOT NORTH KOREA. Mayor Mick, if you want to prevent semi-adult recreation from coming to OKC and putting OKC on the map as a hip and cool city, go be mayor in North Korea and get yourself a nice Kim Jong-Il haircut. It will suit you nicely in your burgeoning political aspirations.

I hope that the LFL will still be able to pull through. I hope that people other than myself will fight for the Lingerie Football League's rights to come to this city and that they won't be discouraged from even bothering with this Mayberry. I think the LFL could be a great marketing asset for us and it is obviously far more feasible than the OKC Grand Prix, which the City Council killed last month.

P.S. So far votes in favor of the LFL outnumber votes against 9-2-2.