Abstract
Oklahoma City taxpayers approved a 1% sales tax to raise an estimated $120million for improvements to lure the Seattle Supersonics, now the Oklahoma CityThunder. City civic leaders engaged a “Big League City” campaign, touting economicgrowth, increased business activity and jobs, and better quality of life as reasons tosupport the initiative. We evaluate the “Big League City” economic claims usinglocal sales tax revenues to estimate the level and growth impacts resulting from therelocation of the now Oklahoma City Thunder. We find no significant relationshipbetween the operation of the franchise and contemporaneous sales tax collections.However, we find a modest positive significant relationship between the presence ofthe franchise and the year-over-year growth rate of aggregate sales tax collections,providing some support for the amenity “Big League City” argument.
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