Mayors push Bedlam football revival in mock state legislation

Stillwater Mayor Will Joyce and Norman Mayor Stephen Tyler Holman co-authored mock legislation last week recommending state lawmakers require the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University to play each other in football annually, though a viral social media video confused many into thinking the proposal was actual legislation headed to the Oklahoma Legislature.

The mayors drafted the recommendation Feb. 6 during the Mayors Council of Oklahoma's Congress of Mayors, an annual training event where municipal leaders practice legislative processes and develop policy recommendations for state lawmakers.

"This was part of the Congress of Mayors, which is a program put on by the Mayor's Council of Oklahoma on an annual basis where we get together, mayors and other city leaders to, yes, we do a mock legislature at the State Capitol," Joyce said in an interview Wednesday. "We pass five different bills that are on different subjects with a number of requests or priorities that we would like for them to deal with."

The Bedlam proposal was added as an amendment to a broader economic development bill during the mock legislative session held in the Oklahoma House chambers. The amendment passed unanimously among the mayors present.

"The two of us were just sort of like, yeah, we'll propose this together," Joyce said. "I proposed it as an amendment or we jointly proposed it as an amendment and it was approved unanimously to be added to the economic development list of priorities, just because, I mean, everybody loves Bedlam."

The recommendation calls for legislation requiring OU and OSU to play each other once annually as a non-conference game, alternating between Norman and Stillwater, to restore the rivalry that ended after the 2023 season when OU joined the Southeastern Conference.

Social media confusion

The proposal gained widespread attention Tuesday after the OU Daily, the student newspaper at the University of Oklahoma, posted a video clip from a Norman City Council meeting where Holman discussed the Congress of Mayors exercise.

The video, posted at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, had garnered 68,400 views by early afternoon with a caption stating: "Norman Mayor Stephen Tyler Holman and the Stillwater mayor co-authored legislation that, if it passes the state legislature, would ensure a yearly Bedlam football game."

The framing led many social media users to believe the mayors had drafted actual legislation for the Oklahoma Legislature to consider, rather than recommendations developed through a mock legislative exercise.

"I guess was that a video from him at their council meeting talking about it?" Joyce said when asked about the OU Daily post. "I haven't watched the video."

Joyce said he planned to speak with the OU Daily to clarify the situation.

In a Facebook post Sunday, Holman described the Congress of Mayors experience and acknowledged the Bedlam proposal was a "fun bill" developed during the training exercise.

"One of my favorite moments was teaming up with Mayor Will Joyce from Stillwater," Holman wrote. "The two of us co-wrote and sponsored a fun bill to require OU and OSU to play each other in football every year and cement Bedlam as a Statewide tradition. It received unanimous support."

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No city authority over scheduling

Joyce emphasized that cities have no authority over university athletic scheduling and the recommendations developed at Congress of Mayors carry no binding weight on state lawmakers.

"We have absolutely zero say in what, who gets scheduled. And we shouldn't, right. I mean, it's not our job," Joyce said. "They have no obligation at all. Like we just, we pass five different bills that are on different subjects with a number of requests or priorities that we would like for them to deal with."

The mayors positioned the Bedlam revival as important for local economies in both Norman and Stillwater, particularly given the drawing power of the historic rivalry compared to non-conference games against out-of-state opponents.

"From our perspectives, our communities, ... it's a big game and it draws lots of people," Joyce said. "It's way better than playing some no name school from some other state that doesn't draw the same kind of attention, the same kind of crowds."

Joyce said quantifying the economic impact of losing Bedlam games has been difficult due to limitations in sales tax data collection, which cities receive as monthly lump sums rather than event-specific breakdowns.

However, he noted the stark difference in attendance between Bedlam and other late-season matchups, particularly during unsuccessful seasons.

"If you take the last two years of OSU football, which have not been great, and you go back to when Bedlam was the last game of the season just about every year, you've got a team in OSU that's not going to go to a bowl," Joyce said. "That last game being Cincinnati at home or BYU or whoever it's been the last couple of years, it's not that well attended because there's not a whole lot to play for at the end of the season. If it's OU, it's sold out."

The Congress of Mayors, held Feb. 5-6 at the Embassy Suites in Oklahoma City and the State Capitol, brings together municipal leaders from across Oklahoma to collaborate on policy priorities and learn about legislative processes.

"I think it's good. I think people, hopefully people understand that it's a great process for our city, you know, leaders from around the state to kind of get together and try to talk about the things that we as communities share and the, the sort of common problems and the common challenges that we have," Joyce said.

The last Bedlam football game was played in 2023, with Oklahoma State defeating Oklahoma 27-24.