After hosting the largest-ever Sports ETA Symposium, discover how Joel Koester and the Tulsa Sports Commission are helping to transform Tulsa, Oklahoma, into a premier sports tourism destination
When Joel Koester traded the urban sprawl of Chicago Southland for the collaborative heartbeat of Tulsa, Oklahoma, he didn’t just change cities—he embraced a community that moves as one. Now serving as Director of Sports Sales at Tulsa Sports Commission, part of the Tulsa Regional Chamber, Joel is at the helm of one of the most ambitious chapters in the city’s sports tourism history.
In this SPG exclusive, Joel reflects on the road from bid to execution, reshaping perceptions, challenges and more. From orchestrating the largest Sports ETA Symposium to date to showcasing the depth and diversity of Tulsa’s sports infrastructure, his leadership is both strategic and passionate.
Check out more sports tourism industry interviews with Faces of Sports Tourism!
SPG
Since you’ve moved down to Tulsa from Chicago Southland, we’ve heard nothing but great things from you. Tulsa is a very different community, so how was your transition?
Joel
Very different, but a lot of similarities in a couple different ways. In Chicago Southland, we represented 63 Southwest suburbs, so you work with 63 different mayors with different politics. Coming [to Tulsa], we have 10 communities in total that we represent, including Tulsa proper. That said, [Chicago Southland] prepared me to go out and build relationships throughout all the communities, so the transition was actually made easier.
Everyone here is rowing in the same direction, while in Chicago, everyone’s kind of going every which way, right? We’re trying to get everyone really focused on the task at hand, which is tourism, creating quality of life for residents, and then community shared value. It makes life a little bit more manageable.
Tulsa is also a great city. I wasn’t even looking to go anywhere when I was in Chicago, but I got a call out of the blue one day just saying, ‘hey, would you consider running the Sports Commission for us down here in Tulsa?’ and, quite honestly, I had never really thought about it. I’d only been to Oklahoma once, to Oklahoma City to be exact, so I didn’t know anything about Tulsa.
I took a chance though, flew in here and absolutely fell in love with the people. From a community standpoint, everyone I met kept saying the same thing over and over again about how everyone’s unified here—that everyone’s doing the same things and relaying the same messages. At first, I was skeptical. I thought, ‘this can’t be real, right?’ But no, it is.
Tulsans are resilient, they want what’s best for this community, and they’re willing to invest back into it. That’s what really resonated with me.
SPG
What lasting impression are you hoping that attendees take away when they return home?
Joel
I hope it shines a light on Oklahoma in general because there’s not a lot of preconceived notions of what it’s like if you’ve never been here, right? A lot of people may prefer to travel somewhere in Florida. But I think visitors are pleasantly surprised. You come into a city like this not really expecting our arts and culture scene to be top-notch. On top of that, we’re a massive sports destination and I hope that’s what everyone sees.
We did the opening at USA BMX Headquarters and Hall of Fame and Museum, which was an amazing night. There was an event at our ballpark downtown. On top of that, the food scene here is unbelievable. Last year, I think we had more James Beard-nominated chefs than anywhere else per capita in the country. We just have a lot going on.
But what I love about this week too is that I hope we shine a light on mid-tier destinations. Typically, these shows go to large destinations, but they end up just another thing that’s happening there. I think what people felt this week is that this is the thing. Tulsa is supporting the Symposium while it’s happening and that’s what’s important.
Joel Koester (far left) during the TRT Team closing lunch at the 2025 Sports ETA Symposium.
SPG
What are some major challenges that you and your team faced while preparing for the 2025 Sports ETA Symposium?
Joel
When we bid on this, back in January 2020, the event was half the size. This year, we’re hosting the largest Symposium ever with just under 1,200 participants, so adding the additional hotels and making sure the venues are large enough for all the events made everyone feel welcome and safe.
Despite waiting five years, the good news was that we had time to really put a lot of thought into it—making slight tweaks and adjustments as time went on. We didn’t throw this together in the last six months, and I hope our efforts show.
SPG
With strong community support, particularly around sports, has there been local media buzz with the show being in town?
Joel
My gosh, yes. During the summer, when we hosted the board meeting, the media was all over that with John David being here. This is a big deal for our city. Not often do we get to bring this many sports organizers and destinations in to show them what we have to offer here, so even though we’ve hosted larger events, we kind of consider this as our Super Bowl because we know the impact that this is going to have on the community. After the opening evening at BMX HQ, their booth was swamped the following day because people were like ‘Wow, how do we get a track going in our community?’
SPG
Talking about your Super Bowl, this is a unique situation where you plan for it and play in it. Because your destination is on display and yet you have appointments to attend. How does the Tulsa Sports Commission handle that?
Joel
Our support staff is amazing. Our VP of Experience Events, Sarah Inboden , and our Director of Experience and Events, Rachel Nogalski really stepped up and worked with all of our partners to ensure that these events all around town and here were well executed. This gave me a little bit of bandwidth to focus on the task at hand of not only hosting and being everywhere but also being able to take over 60 appointments.
Obviously, [appointments] are the bread and butter of the job, but what I love more than anything is interacting with our community. There’s a fine balance of making sure that we’re being good hosts but also keeping focused on what we need to do.
Joel Koester (right) with Center reps, providing a check for the Center for Individuals with Physical Challenges.
SPG
From shovels in the ground to new things opening, what’s changed since you’ve arrived in Tulsa and is there anything on the horizon, even theoretically?
Joel
Bringing in the quantity and the quality of sports that we’re doing now has really opened a lot of eyes. When our ECHL team was purchased by a gentleman out of Southern California, he came in here and saw what we were doing and said, ‘hey, I want to contribute, and I want to make this a family destination.’ He went out and bought an old Macy’s and converted it into a $36 million two-sheet ice center that now hosts national events for ice hockey, curling, and figure skating. We even hosted World Axe and Knife Throwing championships there, so it’s become a staple in the community.
BMX was no different. Before I got here, that process started where BMX saw what was happening here and told Tulsa that they want to be part of our growth since the city has been so supportive. We’ve also got the brand-new Cal Ripon complex that’s going into one of our suburbs in Jenks with 10 turf fields, and certainly it’s only going to continue to grow our county and our city.
Learn more about mall and other infrastructure conversions into sports facilities and venues!
SPG
Are there any other challenges that you see going forward in terms of hosting potentially bigger sporting events?
Joel
What’s exciting for us is we’re in the process of adding a new 650-room hotel, which will be directly attached to the convention center. We hope to hopefully be open by the first quarter of 2029. That’s going to be a game changer, because not having enough hotel rooms? That’s a challenge right now with any major growth.
Tulsa’s seen so much in the last 15 years. Back then, we didn’t have an arena or a ballpark downtown. We had one hotel and a spaghetti warehouse. Now, it’s blossomed into something that’s amazing. We have a brand-new VA hospital that’s being built on the backside of the convention center, a new mental health facility, and affordable housing being built which will alleviate homelessness that’s developed over the past couple years.
We will see growing pains, like any city, but they’re really growing blessings more than pains because we’re moving in the right direction. The community knows that the city is doing everything they can to make this place better because it’s easy to communicate, even with the decision makers. It’s easy to get a seat at the table here because when you’re passionate about something, they want to share that passion with you and make sure that happens.
USA BMX Headquarters during the opening evening of the 2025 Sports ETA Symposium in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
SPG
People want to stay in Tulsa because of the community and passion, but we’ve heard that are also incentives for people to relocate here?
Joel
Yes, we have an unbelievable program that’s put on through a non-profit here called Tulsa Remote, which offers up to $10,000 to relocate and work remotely here in Tulsa. There’s not a single time that I don’t travel around the country that someone doesn’t bring that program up to me. At the US Sports Congress back in December 2024, we were having dinner one night and a waitress asked if I was from Tulsa. I confirmed that she said that her best friend just got accepted in the Tulsa Remote program. She went on about how she loves Tulsa and how she was also applying for it.
Of course, that program then became the main topic at the dinner table. I always come back to Tulsa and tell the director of the program here. I think they’ve awarded over $380,000 to people relocating here, likely even more now. What we’re seeing is that it’s dramatically growing our young professionals as well as our tech sector. This provides the city sustainability moving forward.
SPG
Tomorrow morning, we hope you don’t have an alarm set. What’s your next week look like?
Joel
[Laughs] Oh, geez. Well, there’s a wedding on Saturday, but I will probably sleep all day Sunday. We have a lot of large events coming up over the next three weeks, so we’re right back into it on Monday.
Discover more Oklahoma destinations in SPG’s Oklahoma state guide to sports!
