Yeah, I mean what could have motivated Tim Holt to choose Funk Jr. over the invincible team of Lund/McLaughlin?
Other than his father's vast fortune? It couldn't have been his successful track record in operating sports teams...
People will eventually accept it but Oklahoma City is not a soccer city. It has a soccer community, but it is nowhere near the level of even Tulsa. It's a solid market and it'll be around even with bad ownership, but I would never expect the Energy to move beyond Taft and USL. That's just reality.
Maybe the reason Tim Holt and USL Pro chose Funk Jr./Prodigal over Brad Lund/SOS was because somebody in USL offices was smart enough to figure out that Brad Lund was seriously pursuing an NASL franchise with Tim McLaughlin in blatant violation of the deal Lund and others had just inked in Feb of 2013 with the PDL... a deal that included a very upfront non-compete clause... suffice to say, I seriously doubt Brad and Soldout Strategies ever get any future work in the USL. And looking at how things are going these days, the chances are far greater that Energy FC joins D-2 in a future USL merger with the NASL than Lund's OKC FC has of ever kicking a ball in Yukon... ironic, eh? And please don't try to tell me that Taft Stadium would have had a fully constructed press box and a happier supporters' group if only it was Brad Lund running the show... if Brad had actually played his cards right (instead of trying to play the USL and their stable of lawyers like fools), his organization might have been an easy choice for Tim Holt over the on-the-fence alternative. And now, Brad only has himself to blame for the defection of his lead investor and his tilting-at-windmills desperation to bring the NASL to Yukon in 2016... and if the guy doesn't have the stomach to keep his NPSL club in a division that had added a solid FC Wichita this year... well?
In 1993, Tulsa had 2,300 season ticket deposits for the original MLS (about 600 more than what Seattle got), putting Tulsa in the final 18 cities for a team... 14k for a 2003 MLS exhibition game after OKC only drew 9k the previous Saturday in Edmond... 5,000 season ticket requests for Tulsa compared to ZERO for Brad Lund & Bob Funk Sr.'s OKC bid that same year... an agreement with DC United ownership in late 2005 to build a soccer stadium based on a proposed TIF district-- unfortunately, the guys who made Gallery Place in DC were far better at spending other people's money and pretending they had the assets to buy DC United and build them a stadium at Poplar Point than committing any of their own money... a 2013 NPSL club in Tulsa run by a restauranteur that drew triple the number of fans of Brad Lund's PDL club in OKC... this year, 2015, hundreds of fans were turned away at the first Tulsa Roughnecks' home game, with many many others forced to sit (or stand) in sections with no view of one of the goals...
I never accused either group of being very smart or not being small time operators. You never tire of setting up arguments that no one else is making, do you. So very Tulsa. If they every kick off, I doubt they last 3 seasons either All they needed was an Investor / Operator, which they never found. So sad Ticket Requests, which are not deposits. a Now you're touting Tulsa's failures as more spectacular than OKC's. Go on... 1984 - Brad Lund breaks prom date with @USRufnex - Something suddenly came up... When did you become a Nova Roughnecks fan?
Not what I remember reading in the summer and fall of 2013... For a guy who hated Tulsa for looking down its nose on OKC, that's pretty funny... and strangely ironic (ain't role reversal fun?) since I seem to regularly witness OKC's Bricktown Greek Chorus of Superiority over anything that exists in Tulsa... "oooh, that Brady District up there is looking really nice... almost a mini-bricktown... so cute..." MLS did not request a local Investor/Operator... many teams were league owned. But please, keep acting like an expert on things you know little about... No, what I'm saying is that Tulsa tried and failed, but even in failure were far more successful than OKC's feeble efforts to steal our thunder, pun intended... I didn't know Brad Lund had been promoted in 1984, just in time to kill the Roughnecks the first time... 1984? As a sophomore at OCU, I believe that was the year I couldn't drag anyone from OKC kicking and screaming to go see the Slickers at Taft... the only OCU student I ever coerced into going to a soccer game was for a Roughnecks - Cosmos game at Skelly Stadium that ended with a Beach Boys concert... Beach Boys tunes were the only reason he roadtripped with me... a few years later I was best man at his wedding... Facts are facts... the first game was a sellout, unsurprising considering the amount of ads and media coverage they got... of course, once it became clear that the best views of the field are either from directly behind the goals or sitting in the grass with picnic blankets, attendance settled into the current 3k to 5k range. I don't have to bow down to the Drillers' front office in order to root for some individual players (Adam Black and Cristian Mata or even Fat Sammy at times) or the team in general with the understanding that I will have Tulsa Athletics season tickets for every single year they're in existence... it's kinda like having to go to Starbucks for my caffeine fix when I'd rather go to Topeka Coffee because they close early.... not unlike the Athletics, who closed for the season about three weeks ago... http://www.alwayssonnypodcast.com/archives/2015/7/14/episode-19-sonny-takes-an-uber
Rough translation of part of the announcement: Rayo Vallecano grows and expands. The historical Vallecas club has become the majority shareholder in the Oklahoma City franchise to be incorporated soon to the NASL (North American Soccer League). The Lightning, after a long period of negotiations that has included numerous trips to the United States, became the first Spanish club to sign an agreement with a soccer franchise. The Lightning will own most of the team and the rest will be in the hands of a trusted partner who will work with the entity in the development of a team in a city steeped in years of NBA basketball Oklahoma City, the home of the Thunder , a franchise with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka, among others. Rayo enters the Yankee market with a view that expansion of the club is considered essential. Rayo plans to make the agreement official shortly and explain the details of the commitment to the franchise in Oklahoma City, which is the state capitol of Oklahoma, the "Sooner State", a state in the south central US . United States is the new market the Lightning are trying to break into ,having already set foot in China.
I asked a student to translate the original story from the Spanish paper, and all he could get was "Expect more news in 30-60 days."
They are certainly losing it with SKC since they're starting a reserve side. I was just checking for activity and making it so I got notifications when/if people start using it again. Interested in the goings on there. Think it is diamond in the rough for future soccer culture.
Excellent season, OKC. You came up a bit short in the Western Conference final, but there's a lot to build on nonetheless. It seemed like too many of the players were anxious and nervous in the 1st half, and by the time they settled down and starting playing in the 2nd half they had to make up a 2-0 deficit to Los Dos. After cutting the lead to 2-1, the crowd got energized, and I really thought they might score a 2nd and send it into OT but it was not to be.
Impressed with the Oklahoma City Energy FC's last 4 home game attendance figures: 2015 Regular season August 29, Austin 2-0 win. Attendance: 6,089 September 12, Colorado Springs 3-3 tie. Attendance: 6,847 Energy FC's largest regular season crowd history. 2015 Playoffs October 4, Colorado Springs 3-2 playoff win. Attendance: 6,370 October 11, Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 playoff lost. Attendance: 7,654 Largest crowd In Energy FC's history. Will this trend of 6,000-plus attendance continue into the 2016 season?
I h I hope so but who knows ? With the NASL franchise announcement coming soon we could be looking at a split. fanbase again
Energy secures a PDL franchise to begin play next summer: http://www.energyfc.com/press-release/energy-fc-secure-pdl-franchise-to-begin-play-in-summer-2016/
Nice Q&A with Bob Funk, Jr. http://www.uslsoccer.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=32800&ATCLID=210603888
Interesting analysis by Jason Poon over at Big D Soccer regarding the Energy's style of play being a good fit for an FC Dallas affiliate. http://www.bigdsoccer.com/2015/12/30/10686080/why-the-okc-energy-would-be-a-good-fit-for-fcd#