what's the status of the stadium?

[MD_05]

anyone been down to the site lately?

[Wallydrag]

Last I heard they're starting construction again to expand it to 20K+. But I haven't seen it with my own eyes.

[LowEnd]

What's Phase One? How many seats? And how many Phases?

Congrats on the team, glad to see OK getting some action.

[sch2383]

Does anybody have a link to what the final stadium will look like?

[purojogo]

I am trying to fully understand what OK is trying to do....This is a quote i repeatedly see on the press releases: "In addition, the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, a suburb of Oklahoma City, has begun an extensive renovation plan on its 20,000-seat soccer-specific stadium in a bid to land an MLS expansion team."
Ok, so it seems there was a stadium already in place before (was it for soccer?) How big (crowd capacity) was it before renovations? What is/will be the final cost of such renovations? And finally, would it host any other teams, and /or concerts? One would hope so, of course, in order to help whoever the ownership group becomes to make money off of a future deal

[Daddo]

Wantland's quite old and has served as the home for the University of Central Oklahoma Bronchos (NCAA Division II, and quite a gridiron tradition) and the local high school Edmond Bulldogs. In recent years, Edmond grew enough to have to split from one to three high schools, meaning four gridiron teams call that stadium home...needless to say, grass was out of the question with that much traffic, they have a very nice FieldTurf down, now.
It's in something of a bowl on the south side, and open to flat ground at the north, with plenty of space around for expansion if needed. They're going to be adding a press box and locker rooms appropriate for MLS, the requisite luxury suites, and seating for about 20,000.
Interstate 35 which runs North-South through the state and connects OKC with Dallas and Wichita is about 4 miles east of UCO and there are several exits that will get you to the right place. There'll probably need to be a little work done on the smaller streets near the stadium, but that's not hard. College campus, but UCO is a very commuter-oriented school, many if not most students live in Oklahoma City, drive in for classes, then head home, not many in dorms or Greek system, so for weekend games there should be plenty of parking.

[Stomper]

Originally posted by purojogo
I am trying to fully understand what OK is trying to do....This is a quote i repeatedly see on the press releases: "In addition, the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, a suburb of Oklahoma City, has begun an extensive renovation plan on its 20,000-seat soccer-specific stadium in a bid to land an MLS expansion team."
Ok, so it seems there was a stadium already in place before (was it for soccer?) How big (crowd capacity) was it before renovations? What is/will be the final cost of such renovations? And finally, would it host any other teams, and /or concerts? One would hope so, of course, in order to help whoever the ownership group becomes to make money off of a future deal

The stadium is a football stadium at the moment. It will still be used by UCO for football as well as a couple of local high schools who use it presently (pretty sure the high school teams will still play there). The old field was just replaced with fieldturf. I would rather see real grass, but with that much use, fieldturf is about the only option, except for making the high schools build their own stadiums. I believe concerts are a possibility as well.

[Wallydrag]

Courtesy of www.MLSinOKC.com

http://www.mlsinokc.com/proposed_stadium.jpg

It'll look nothing like it doesn now. They'll pretty much raze the stand and start over.

[purojogo]

Thanks a lot guys...Hopefully you join the league very soon...

[Sanguine]

Originally posted by LowEnd
What's Phase One? How many seats? And how many Phases?

Phase 1: Collect Underpants
Phase 2: ????
Phase 3: Profit!

[Chris_Bailey]

Bump.

Surely if there's enough people in the area interested in soccer, someone would have the time to see if there's any changes made to the complex...as in construction for this 23,000 seater...

[jatterbu012]

Originally posted by Sanguine
Phase 1: Collect Underpants
Phase 2: ????
Phase 3: Profit!


that is freakin hilarious! i loved that show.

[Sports Fan Stan]

Originally posted by Chris_Bailey
Bump.

Surely if there's enough people in the area interested in soccer, someone would have the time to see if there's any changes made to the complex...as in construction for this 23,000 seater...

Heck, I've never been to the stadium. Mike tells me its only 30-miles or so from my home (in Moore), it sounds close. Nevertheless, it is on the complete other side of town.

Originally posted by Daddo

Wantland's ... so for weekend games there should be plenty of parking.


Good post, seems right on to me. I just don't see how MLS could survive with so many "co-" tennants in Wantland sta.

Hopefully, the investors are serious. Maybe they see little chance in this round of expansion, and are positioning themselves for next go-around. Hopefully they realize the risks with the Wantland situation, and are carefully evalualting (read: they see what happened in Dallas this year). Knowing these investors, certainly this MLS deal is much bigger than their wunder-Blazers.

I hope for the best. When MLS comes to OKC, I'll be ready. Until then, I guess I'll follow my hapless Rapids... :) Off to their forum,

Stan