Tulsa Roughnecks are back in the NASL as early spring 2015

Just sayin'

http://tulsaroughnecks.com

 

Here's the Tulsa ballpark, 10,997 capacity........

Survey backs fun, games at stadium
Family entertainment is wanted at the ex-baseball field, it shows.
By KEVIN CANFIELD World Staff Writer
Published: 11/30/2009 2:28 AM
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/artic...1_Drille458395

And here's the 2003 KCW-DAL exhibition game from Skelly Stadium...
MLS: Kudos to Wizards, Tulsa
http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsext...d=29&articleid=030406_Sp_B1_Kudos&archive=yes

 

Winnercomm was a sponsor of the aforementioned 2003 MLS exhibition game at Skelly Stadium. The first MLS weekly highlights shows were broadcast from Winnercomm's studios in Tulsa, OK.

They sold out their majority ownership a few years ago after they acquired SkyCam from Philly and moved it to Broken Arrow, OK. Winnercomm is now owned by The Outdoor Channel.

TV client buys Winnercomm
Outdoor Channel pays an undisclosed sum for the Tulsa company.
By ROBERT EVATT World Staff Writer
Published: 1/13/2009
http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=52&articleid=20090113_52_E1_Winner59837

Read on.....
http://www.winnercomm.com/2006/about_history.asp

I believe the contacts and valuable production work done by locals for NASL visiting team broadcasts in Tulsa helped Winnercomm get off the ground in 1982. Co-founder Chris Lincoln is back doing sports at KTUL-8, although he surely doesn't need the money at this point.

Chris Lincoln in 1978...... and St Louisan Bob Carpenter...
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7PfWlYYuQ4"]YouTube- NASL 1978 Playoff pregame - Tulsa at Minnesota[/ame]

IMHO, getting these Winnercomm guys on board will be VERY IMPORTANT. Maybe NASL can use Outdoor Channel as an alternative to FSC, or use both.

I hear rumor that the Winnercomm locals kept control of Skycam for the $$$ while parting with majority ownership of the other aspects of the company.

I doubt they'd want to own the new Roughnecks, but would want to be integrally involved in anything that could make them or their parent company some $$$.

I don't think it would be wise to go to the Drillers' owner or to Cameron Box Sports at this point (both Cameron and Box are OKC businessmen, BTW). They're more likely interested in getting their teams and their new digs off the ground and it would probably be in their financial interests if the old ballpark at the fairgrounds were bulldozed and replaced with surface parking. The new headquarters of Arenafootball 1 will be in Tulsa and Cameron Box Sports are also majority owners of the Tulsa Talons....

Lucky for us, I believe bulldozing the ballpark would be political suicide for the county commissioners. And I haven't seen any sign of partnerships between Winnercomm and WNBA or Arenafootball 1 at this point.

I believe the best way to get a stable and solid local ownership group in Tulsa is if one of the stronger owners of NASL becomes a majority owner in Tulsa for 1-2 years, then tries to sell the team to the locals. This was how the Roughnecks were sold to Carl Moore and Co. in 1980, and it was what out of state owners were hoping for when the 1991-92 Tulsa Ambush attracted 3,300 fans per game indoors for the NPSL-- the team went 7-33 and any perspective local owners with the $$$ were put off by NPSL's minor league status, anticipating a possible league owned team in MLS. Meanwhile, the Ambush moved to St Louis.... Tulsa was a finalist for the original MLS, but TU only offered to do a requested stadium conversion from artificial turf to grass if the soccer people would pay for it. They didn't have the $$$, and it didn't happen.

If guys like Wellman and Fisher and Saputo, etc etc can play their cards right, an NASL team can succeed here in ways USL-1 or USL-2 wouldn't have had available to them.....

Regardless, it's going to be an uphill battle; in another stroke of luck, we are getting a new mayor.... oh, and one of the current Tulsa County commissioners was former mayor LaFortune's liason to MLS back in 2002-2003.....

Fingers crossed.

NASL people..... ARE YOU READING THIS?!?

 

Done.

 

Tulsa WNBA team name choices!

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsext...tid=413&articleid=20091129_29_B1_Theown611133

Shock, Fire, and Tempo....... I'm betting on Shock because....... well....

Fire? I understand naming a Chicago team the Fire, but what does "Fire" mean here in Tulsa?!?


Tempo?


I personally would vote for "Lightning" but somebody must've veto'd that one.......

Hmmm.... Tulsa Tweekers has a nice WNBA ring to it.....

 

Well, come to think of it, I do know OKC's soccer background. The Daily Oklahoman was pretty hostile to the sport of soccer in Tulsa when the Roughnecks were around and for years after that.

When Tulsa won Soccer Bowl '83, it was front page news in Tulsa..... the Daily Oklahoman gave us a tiny one column story in its sports pages.... they consistently took the storyline that soccer was a pinko-commie sport and years later blamed "soccer moms" for re-electing Clinton... I went to see a few Oklahoma City Slickers games at Taft Stadium back in the late 80s. There was never a reason to think OKC could be a good soccer market until Brad Lund tried to get Bob Funk/Express Sports to bring MLS to the city in 2002-2003.

But when Tulsa's soccer specific stadium for MLS was left out of the city's Vision2025 tax initiative in 2003, I was rooting for OKC to get a team because I felt the city was only going to use MLS as a steppingstone to get the NHL or NBA. Give MLS OKC a few years, and the team would eventually relocate to Tulsa after the "new" wore off....

I get tired of explaining this to people, but simply going down a list of metro population statistics with a buncha pencil pushers doesn't tell the story of which markets would work best for MLS or NASL or USL-1 or USL-2....

For the original MLS 15 years ago, Columbus came out with the best plan and most number of season ticket deposits. So, they got a team in 1996, while cities like Philly and Houston and Atlanta and St Louis didn't. Tulsa was a finalist and had more season ticket deposits than Seattle... OKC didn't submit a bid.

Why is Rochester a soccer city while Buffalo is not?

p.s. I would love to see a successful soccer franchise operating out of Edmond, OK.... just don't call them the Roughnecks, they don't deserve the name.

 

It's really a shame that a pro rivalry never happened.
I think a soccer rivalry with St Louis would be more popular here than one with OKC..... and Tulsans traditionally hate OKC.

The NASL St Louis Stars moved to Anaheim to become the California Surf in 1978, which was the same year Team Hawaii moved to Tulsa. When Tulsa tried twice to join the MISL and play the St Louis Steamers, the league told them the city was too small. Of course, they already had the Wichita Wings playing in that league, so I assume having the MISL in Wichita prevented that league from approving a team to play in Tulsa.

Quite a few of the Tulsa Roughnecks' American players were from SLU, and Tulsa ended up getting an indoor NPSL team in 1992. I'm pretty sure Coach Mac played for the Ambush, then the team moved to St Louis......

A St Louis/Tulsa rivalry would be great for the sport, but only if the Tulsa team isn't stuck playing at a high school football stadium. I believe a USL-2 team would fail miserably here, just like it did ten years ago...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_Roughnecks_(USISL)

I assume the people mentioned by adoptedsooner who "weren't the right kind of investors" included Mr. Amini (Amini's Galleria sells pool tables, etc) http://www.aminis.com/aminis-locations.html
...and current Tulsa Spirit coach Ali Adibi, who was the last Tulsan to my knowledge to "own" the Roughnecks' trademark.

 

An oldie but a goodie.....

https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=99933

btw, former mayoral aide Karen Keith is one of three current county commissioners who will be deciding the fate of the old ballpark....