Oklahoma City preparing for softball championships, elite rowing events

Oklahoma City’s growing reputation as being a championship sports destination continues to grow with the International Canoe Federation’s recent announcement that the 2022 Canoe Sprint Super Cup is moving to the Oklahoma River in August. The ICF made the move in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Another event originally planned for Moscow, the 2022 ICF Stand Up Paddling World Cup, is also moving to Oklahoma City.

These moves certainly validate what Oklahoma City has been trying to do for years, and that is promote the city as a venue for elite sports competition and championships. And city leaders expect to draw even more elite-type events in the not-too-distant future.

Related: OKC named host to up to seven events leading to Olympic Games in LA

One sporting event that year after year puts Oklahoma City in the limelight nationally is the NCAA Division I Women’s College World Series, set for June 2-10 at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium. Oklahoma City has been the home for the Women’s College World Series for many years, and will continue to be at least through 2035, the end of the current contract with the NCAA.

“In terms of our place in the national sports landscape, hosting the NCAA Women’s College World Series really gives us a landmark, flagpole event and reputation for being able to produce championship events. The World Series sells out immediately and attracts people from all over the country before they even know what teams are playing,” said Adam Wisniewski, vice president of sports business with the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau. “To have an event like that, we’re selling out the largest softball stadium in the world for eight straight days, which does things for our city from an economic impact standpoint that nothing else can match.”

Oklahoma City hosted the 2022 Phillips 66 Big 12 Softball Championship on May 14-15 at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex, which featured two of the nation’s top teams – the Oklahoma Sooners, the defending Big 12 and national champions, and the Oklahoma State Cowgirls, who also qualified for last year's World Series. OSU shocked the softball world by defeating the Sooners in the championship game. Both teams will have a good shot of making a return trip to this year’s College World Series, which has been expanded this year by two full days.

“From a destination standpoint, seeing an event of that caliber extended even further is fantastic. Being two days longer is significant from a hotel and restaurant and attraction standpoint,” Wisniewski said.

Last year’s College World Series drew record-breaking crowds to Oklahoma City, mainly due to the stadium expansion completed in early 2021, allowing for an additional 4,000 seats in a new upper deck. The fact that both OU and OSU made it to the 2021 College World Series also helped push attendance over the top, Wisniewski said.

“From a visitor experience, it’s going to be even better this year. And we’re really excited about that because we’re talking about immediate sellouts for the entire week,” Wisniewski said.
Wisniewski said the NCAA released the all-session passes to the 2022 Women’s College World Series about eight weeks ago and within 20 minutes, all of the passes were sold out. Single-game tickets went on sale recently as well and sold out by the end of the day. But that does not necessarily preclude softball fans from getting tickets to the games.

“If you want to go to the event, you’re looking at using the NCAA’s fan marketplace and exchanging with people who bought those tickets but can’t make a game or only want to make some games,” Wisniewski said. Please visit ncaa.com to access the NCAA Ticket Exchange.

This article originally appeared in the May 2022 edition of the VeloCity newsletter.