League NBA Development League Founded 2005 | Arena Capacity 2,610 Arena/Stadium Cox Convention Center Championships 2 (2003, 2004) | |
History Asheville Altitude2001–2005Tulsa 66ers2005–2014Oklahoma City Blue2014–present Team colors Blue, sunset, yellow, dark blue Ownership Professional Basketball Club LLC Owner Professional Basketball Club LLC Profiles | ||
The Oklahoma City Blue is an NBA Development League team based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and the minor league affiliate of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The franchise began as the Asheville Altitude in 2001, before relocating to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2005 and becoming the Tulsa 66ers. After nine seasons in Tulsa, the franchise were moved to Oklahoma City in 2014 by the Oklahoma City Thunder and were subsequently renamed the Oklahoma City Blue.
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Franchise history
The Asheville Altitude were a founding team of the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) in 2001. They played at the Asheville Civic Center in Asheville, North Carolina, where they won back-to-back championships in 2004 and 2005.
Following the 2004–05 season, the Asheville Altitude were purchased by Southwest Basketball, LLC. The group moved the franchise to Tulsa, Oklahoma and were renamed the 66ers in honor of U.S. Route 66, which runs through Tulsa and the state of Oklahoma. For their inaugural season, the 66ers were directly affiliated with four NBA teams: the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks and New Orleans Hornets.
On July 31, 2008, the 66ers announced that Clay Bennett of the Professional Basketball Club LLC (owner of the Oklahoma City Thunder) had agreed in principle to purchase the 66ers, marking the third D-League team to be owned by an NBA team (the first two were the Los Angeles D-Fenders and the Austin Toros, owned by the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs, respectively).
After three seasons of playing at the Expo Square Pavilion in Tulsa, for the 2008–09 season, the team moved to the brand-new SpiritBank Event Center in nearby Bixby, but retained the Tulsa 66ers name. The one-season relationship with the arena ended with a lawsuit regarding more than $100,000 the team claimed it owed. The 66ers filed a lawsuit seeking more than $200,000 in compensatory damages from SpiritBank Center's ownership group. The team subsequently moved to the Tulsa Convention Center in downtown Tulsa for the 2009–10 season.
In May 2012, the 66ers announced that they would return to the SpiritBank Event Center for the 2012–13 season. However, in June 2014, SpiritBank announced that it would no longer seek bookings or lease the arena space.
In July 2014, the 66ers relocated to Oklahoma City, and in September 2014, they were renamed the Oklahoma City Blue for the 2014–15 season.