Executive John Allgood switches from the RedHawks to hockey with the Oklahoma City Barons

John Allgood has never been afraid to try something new. That may be one of the reasons he's survived the better part of the last 20 years in the Oklahoma City promotions market.  

If you've been to AT&T Bricktown Ballpark for virtually any reason the past 15 years, then your experience was either created or signed off on by Allgood, who served the Oklahoma City RedHawks in a variety of roles, most recently as the executive director.

With the RedHawks' sale to Mandalay Sports Entertainment complete this fall, Bob Funk Jr., owner of Prodigal and Prodigal Hockey LLC, tabbed Allgood as his new right-hand man.

His official title is executive vice president of sales and marketing for Prodigal, whose biggest iron in the fire right now is the day-to-day operation of the Oklahoma City Barons professional hockey team.

"The concepts are all basically the same," Allgood said of his new role. "Sports business is about selling tickets, and it doesn't matter what the product is. The hockey operations part and how hockey works as a sport itself I'm learning continuously each day."

And it was his ability to sell tickets that made him too appealing for Funk to pass up.

"It's a tremendous asset," Funk said. "Having somebody that has a lot of experience especially on the revenue-generation side, but also sees the operational aspects is a great asset for us to have and for me to have because I'm not going to be able to spend all my time down here.

"Having him kind of as the last piece of the puzzle was good for us and good for me from that standpoint to have someone who could focus on the revenue-generating areas of the business. John's expertise and contacts within the market are the biggest part of that asset."

When he's not working on promoting hockey, Allgood will use those contacts to co-promote professional bull riding events in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Nashville, Tenn., and the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo for Prodigal.

He's also been told by Funk to keep a keen eye on the local market for any new and unique sporting event opportunities to bring to the city.

Mark Pritchard, Barons director of corporate sponsorships, was general manager at White Water in the mid-'90s when he first encountered Allgood, who was starting his career as a young sales rep with the water park.

"Even back when I first met John, you knew he was the kind of guy that was a very bright guy, a guy who would be a force eventually in the market some day," Pritchard said. "He has a lot of great ideas promotionally, things that I think work in the marketplace. I think he has a really good handle of what the pulse is in the market.
"He can put something together that's going to work, and it's not always the same thing."

Pritchard met up again with Allgood, working as the director of corporate sponsorships for the RedHawks the past five years.

During that time, the RedHawks flourished under Allgood, who was named the 2005 Pacific Coast League Executive of the Year after the club herded more than half a million fans through the turnstiles that season.

Snow tubing at "The Brick" also popped up during Allgood's tenure, giving the park a steady attendance " and revenue stream " during December.

"It's something different every day," Allgood said of his new job. "I come to work, and I'm very passionate about sports and entertainment and providing the quality of life for Oklahoma City. When I know I'm contributing to the quality of life for everyone in OKC, it makes it easy to come to work."

And pretty easy to keep trying new things.