The newest addition to the local sports landscape is…the Tulsa Oilers.
No, not the hockey team. The new Futsal League team that will begin play at the BOK Center in March 2023 will also be known as the Oilers.
Owned by Oilers hockey owner Andy Scurto, a new IFL expansion team was announced on July 26 and embarked on a team name contest to determine the new name.
The football team’s new name and several different logos were unveiled Saturday afternoon during the ECHL Oilers’ annual open house event at the BOK Center in downtown Tulsa. The team colors will be gold and black and the two secondary logos represent an oil derrick and a ball shaped like an oil drop.
“We looked at all the pitches, the ideas that people had, everything else, and we realized that Tulsa Oilers is who we are,” Scurto said after the name was revealed. “We’re the Tulsa Oilers. We’re family entertainment, we’ve got a hockey team, we’ve got an ice rink, we’re building a new ice complex. It’s all about family and entertainment, so the football team should be the same. It’s the Tulsa Oilers. It’s here to entertain our fans and to provide family entertainment. So we’re going to keep it the same. Of course it has its own brand, its own identity, it has the gold and the black to tie into the theme of oil, football tied to the oil tower and all that. But they’re still the Oilers and it’s part of our brand.”
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Scurto noted that the team received about 3,500 entries in the online team naming contest between that initial press conference on July 26 and August 16, when five finalists were announced. This list included the names Oilers, Tornado, Bison, Crude and Wildcatters. The fans then voted on these five finalists.
In the end, it was decided to stick with the Oilers and keep the branding of the two teams the same, since the ownership is the same, even though they will be two separate organizations.
“We had a lot of submissions that said, ‘Let’s make it the Oilers,’ and it got a lot of votes, too,” Scurto said. “The fans liked it, so we said, ‘Great, if the fans like it, we really like it, we think it all ties our brand together really well, so let’s do it.'” So it’s going to be a separate organization. , a separate team, their own brand, but they are the Tulsa Oilers.
“We had people from all over the country, it was amazing, sending ideas and thoughts and lots of ideas. Obviously, there was a lot to tie it to Oklahoma, like the Tornado and the Twisters and that kind of thing. But it’s an oil country, we’re all oil here, so that’s who we are. We’ve got the driller, we’ve got the derrick, so we wanted to continue to tie it into what we’re here for.”
The next step for the new football franchise is hiring a coach, which Scurto said will be completed soon. Trials and player signings then open, as the IFL off-season gets under way.
“We will announce our head coach next week,” Scurto said. “And then this coach has to start signing players and moving. A lot will happen in a hurry. In October we will have open trials, building the equipment, and at the same time our operations staff is designing a football field, designing the pads, all the pieces. Let’s start from scratch. we will be ready We will have a great team on the field and we will be competitive. We’re going to have a great coach and we’re going to have a lot of fun.”
Scurto noted that the new coach will likely have some indoor soccer experience and will have to fit in with the Oilers’ family atmosphere.
“We want leadership, that’s very important to us,” Scurto said of the incoming coach. “The most important thing for us when building a team is someone who is friendly with the fans, who wants to be in the community, who wants to participate, who is competitive on the field, but championships are not our number one . We want the right team that will enjoy our fan base, work with our fans and entertain our fans. First we talk about entertaining the fans and then the wins are secondary. That’s the coach we’re looking for and we want a coach with experience.”
Before and after the announcement at the BOK Center on Saturday afternoon, hockey fans were able to pick up their tickets and enjoy a fun time on the arena floor (which still has no ice) that included bounce houses, corn hole stations, free food and drinks and various merchandise giveaways.
Once the name of the Oilers football team was announced and the logos displayed on the overhead scoreboard, the ice girls handed out free rally towels.
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