Nope But not necessarily a major structure. The parcel has a significant slope that would have to be overcome with either a large cut & export of spoils / large import of suitable soils (both extremely expensive) or a large amount of cut & fill on site (less, but still very expensive). The theater complex across the road did the cut and some on site fill, but had to haul and dispose of a lot of expansive clay soils, which added significantly to the costs for site development & infrastructure Generally, as long as you have positive drainage for sanitary sewers & storm drainage, infrastructure and utility improvements are the cheaper costs to bear for development, rather than trying to make even a moderate slope buildable for a large event structure like a stadium/arena where a large portion of the structure must be on a level grade. .
Fairgounds held stock car racing on weekend; racing had been a big past time for a lot of racers and race fans. Now the race track bleachers are gone; the track has been leveled. Would old Grand Stands area at Fair Park be an economical area to build a soccer specific stadium?
http://www.sacrepublicfc.com/cal-expo-multi-use-facility/#.UxHWhfldWE4 Sac Republic just got approval for their stadium; soccer pitch: 120 x 80 yards stands: "temporary" bleachers that will hold 8,000 cost: $3 million time to build: 2-3months
According to their forum, the cal expo site is their temporary home for 2-3 years before making the big push for the downtown stadium. They are shooting for a site just south of Raley Field on the west side of downtown. That would be a great location for them. They had hoped to have the temporary stadium built prior to the first match of this season, but hey had to jump through a number of hoops with the city & state for approval at the fairgrounds.
Don't know if many of you remember the 1989 U.S. Olympic Festival held in Oklahoma City in commemoration with the 100th birthday of the Sooner capital city; Edmond hosted the soccer events at Hafer Park in which they constructed a soccer stadium with a seating capacity of 8,ooo. It was unusual in that they demolished the stadium a year following the games. Opening ceremonies 1989 U.S. Olympic Festival at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Norman, OK - 76,000.
Indeed I agree that will be a great location. As new franchises and stadiums are going up for not just soccer but other sports as well having a type of area where a modern SSS in the same area as the new Minor league Baseball park creates an area where it becomes like a sporting complex area and other development would be done in the area, retail, resturants, pubs, etc.
I posted this in an local Oklahoma City forum today: I wonder how it would go over if we, somehow, were able to get an MLS franchise (a MAJOR LEAGUE team, not just another minor league team) and one of the options was to let go off our AAA baseball team, and use a reconfigured Bricktown Ballpark as the stadium, just like what Portland did? Portland got rid of the Beavers and added sideline seats to PGE Park to make it the The Timbers home, and it seems like it was an incredible trade. I know downtown is where everyone wants WANTS to put a stadium (And I'm sure that @Mr. Warmth will give a treatise as to why this is not the end-all-be-all ) , but many cities don't have that option. OKC does. I have nothing against baseball, but I feel that the next "major league" sport that will come to OKC is soccer. Maybe I should re-phrase that, I think the ONLY major sport that we have a chance at getting in the next 20yrs is MLS. Would people be willing to change Bricktown Ballpark to a soccer stadium (leaving all of the front facade just the way it is) if it meant we got an MLS team?
I don't think so. You're also talking about losing the Big 12 baseball tournament in that case, and the All Sports Association (which still has a lot of civic pull) would blow a gasket over that.
My concern is the longevity of AAA & AA baseball where minor league teams are being moved closer to the main operations (Financially more feasible for MLB). Applaud Portland, they made a very bold move. Just don't see minor league clubs operating from mid-major cities in the future. Just don't feel that the Bricktown Ballpark would be reconfigured; that would be one hell of a fight. The question about the Big 12 tournament was brought up. Suggestion: Why not do a temporary configuration for softball? You would have more options with the annual WCWS and with bleachers in the outfield; the stadium could accommodate 14,000-15,000. Let's invest $250-$300 million--construct a soccer-American football specific stadium near downtown on the riverfront.
The stadium in Portland has always been multi-use. Bricktown Ballpark has potential for a better makeover than most minor league ballparks of its type, but I believe an overwhelming number of baseball fans would balk at the prospects of sharing a field with a soccer team and.......... There's no way Funk Jr., Prodigal, and John Allgood would ever allow the use of Bricktown Ballpark for a rival NASL soccer team run by Lund and SOS. Not a chance in hell.
Yea, when someone mentioned the NASL using the ballpark, I was confused because I thought Funk had a finger in that. But no one said anything so I thought I just remembered what I had been told incorrectly. So Funk DOES have something to do with the baseball team?
His father USED to own them. They sold the team to Mandalay Sports. Who, btw, are looking to sell them and their 4 other MiLB teams
Not currently. Funk Jr. sold the club in the summer of 2010, and John Allgood moved from the Redhawks FO to Prodigal. http://www.newson6.com/story/14728954/source-city-council-approves-sale-of-redhawks http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100912&content_id=14600916&vkey=news_t238&fext=.jsp&sid=t238
Said baseball fans may be noisy, but they don't own the stadium, City of OKC does. Redhawks are the contracted operator, but if they lose MLB salary support, it's unlikely Mandalay Sports will continue to operate the team. Neither Funk Sr. (Express Sports) Funk Jr. (Prodigal) no longer own the team and Allgood jumped ship at the sale of the team to Mandalay Sports, to work for Prodigal Not any longer. Funks have not owned the team since 2010.
To stay on the same topic I still think there is a chance that Oklahoma City will lose the baseball team. OR, we will lose AAA baseball. It's been reported that the Astros want their AAA team closer to Houston. At first there was talk that they wanted to move it to The Woodlands. Lately, though, there have been reports that they want to "swap" affiliations with the Texas Rangers, and have Round Rock be their AAA franchise. It's also been reported that The Rangers actually looked at buying the Redhawks recently but they balked at the asking price. Mandalay Sports is looking to off-load their minor league baseball teams. They own both Oklahoma City, and the Rangers AA affiliate in Frisco, TX. One scenario I can see is; Rangers swap affiliations with Houston, making Round Rock the Astros AA team. Rangers purchase the Frisco team and then make IT their AAA affiliate, and change OKC to their AA team. Or, if Mandalay saw that was the intent of the Rangers, they would not want their OKC property to become a AA team, which would devalue it. At that point, they may move them, in order to keep them in AAA. Or, drop the asking price to something the Rangers can agree to. At the end, though, Oklahoma City loses AAA baseball. Now, IF that happens, would Oklahoma City be more amenable to changing the configuration of Bricktown Ballpark to better suit a soccer team? Or would they cling to the hope that another team will come?
This would be a slap in the face. Oklahoma City baseball fans are not going to support a double-A affiliate of the Rangers; they can stick both Ranger farm clubs up Frisco's canal; Houston could do the same with some wood in the Woodlands. My grandson and I probably attend 20 RedHawks' games a year. My grandson loves the Cardinals, we'll fly up to St. Louis for five or six games via Southwest Airlines. This would open the discussion for a total retrofit of the Bricktown Ballpark to be expanded (20,000 plus) and reconfigured to an American football & soccer specific stadium which could probably be done with less than $75 million. We need a stadium to bring back the high school football playoffs as well as other events. If that happens, let's follow Portland's lead...
The big 12 baseball Playoffs are held there but I do not think that would be enough if there was no other minor league team AAA prefered. Virginia is using their new Ball park as a multi purpose baseball/soccer design
San Antonio is also double-A. They've done just fine for decades. http://www.milb.com/content/page.jsp?ymd=20100302&content_id=8648324&sid=l109&vkey=league2