I'm skeptical about pulling a "Sons of Ben-like stunt." First, this is USL and not MLS. Second, this is Tulsa and not Philly. 4/5/03 Dallas vs. KC exhibition game at Skelly Stadium WNBA’s Detroit franchise moving to Tulsa, Okla. http://sports.yahoo.com/wnba/news?slug=txshocktotulsa&prov=st&type=lgns Tulsa wants to be "Major League" in something...... ......so if I worked for USL and desired an expansion team in Tulsa, the LAST thing I'd ever want to tell the Tulsa Sports Commission is that Oklahoma will never get an MLS team. In THIS market, USL would be able to better sell their league by pointing out how many USL cities have gone/are going to MLS. I don't care about the opinions of the USL, just sell a potential Tulsa ownership group on the dream that either MLS could one day be in Tulsa or that USL-1 will be a competitively excellent alternative to MLS. Then, you can expand here with a STRONG OWNERSHIP GROUP. Otherwise, we'll get another half-baked, half-financed USL-2 level team that will play at high school stadiums.... and FAIL.
There are several great cities in the Midwest that the USL or the TOA could put another regional league together. Teams and cities I had in mind: Wichita- Metro 596452 Tulsa- 916,079 Oklahoma City- 1,236,142 Omaha- 837,925 St. Louis- 2,820,816 Des Moines- 556,230 Little Rock- 675,075 Memphis- 1,280,533 They all are semi in the midwest and the longest travel would be 9.5 hours from Little Rock to Des Moines. Most of the cities have very large companies for sponserships, potiential investors, well supported (or previously supported teams), and they have some of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. If they organized like the usl2 is the could play a 2 home and 2 away format and have the top teams play against the top teams in the USL2 for the playoffs. Just an idea but I think it could work here in the next five years (all of course depending on what happens with the USL and TOA)
Update on Tulsa County survey.... http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/arti...icleid=20091026_16_A8_TulsaC24012&archive=yes "As of Oct. 19, the county had received 1,867 recommendations as part of an online survey. They include: * Turning it into a concert venue. * Converting it to a soccer stadium. * Building an indoor/outdoor restaurant with a children's play area."
Thats exciting that soccer made the list. I wonder, with St Louis (TOA) being 400 miles away and Austin (USL) being 500 miles, which league would Tulsa go after?
Well, I'd guess there'd probably be a local preference here to join a league that includes St Louis, Atlanta, Charlotte and Minnesota over Austin, Charleston and Rochester but.... I figure the only thing that matters is who pays and how much $$$ they got.... This was a telling moment from StL... http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/da...ans_for_professional_soccer_team_st_louis.php Last question: How much does it cost to fund a professional soccer team with players and coaches and everything else? Jeff Cooper: "We're thinking about $3 million or so per team. Then again, the league does not have a salary cap." --- I thought the budget for USL-1 was around $2 million or so per team. A new pro soccer league without a salary cap? Really?
I read this and thought of this thread: REPORT: Old NASL Names Revived – Minutemen, Atoms, Strikers, Roughnecks, Atlanta Chiefs, Baltimore Bays, Detroit Express All Trademarked on Nov. 19 I know its MLSR, but its sounds credible. Roughnecks?
Lets see the Aztecs were LA and the Dips were in DC. I would imagine that NASL have no intention of fighting MLS and thus didn't waste their time. Tea Men was just a dumb name. But you would think a city like Jacksonville FL could field a NASL team at some point. Sockers are still owned by a group in San Diego.
Lipton Tea may still have the rights. That would be like MLS going out of business for 30 years and then a new MLS forms and claims the trademark on "Red Bulls".
Why not? If they are trying to make a serious push at challenging MLS, a NASL team in Boston while the Revs are still in Foxboro would be a smart move. However, that would just sound silly in the Revs' market.
I heard that the owners of the TB Rowdies originally wanted to put a team in that area as they are from Mass, but Matt Weibe of USL was able to convince them to look into Tampa and ultimately put a team there.
And the winner is......... KRMG Local News Survey Results are in for Drillers Stadium Site By Paul Crockett @ November 30, 2009 http://krmg.com/localnews/2009/11/survey-results-are-in-for-dril.html Tulsa, OK) -- Tulsa County has been asking you what to do with Drillers Stadium now that the team is moving to a new home. The results are in and it is clear sports and entertainment top the list. The county's Terry Simonson says the number one response was a multiuse sports complex. Number two was a public events festival type facility and the third choice was also some sort of entertainment facility. Simonson says the next step will be for the committee to submit a summary to the fair board which would likely suggest they request developers submit proposals. Simonson says those would not be binding and any ideas would be presented to the public before final approval. He expects the entire process to take much of next year.
But wait, there's more... now how much would you pay? 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/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20091130_16_A1_Drille458395 Asked to rank what type of general uses they would most likely support, respondents' top three answers were: a multiuse sports complex (812); public events such as concerts and festivals (648); and development of entertainment options (444). A follow-up question asking respondents to get specific garnered a similar response: 352 said they would like the site to be used for a soccer field, 107 wanted to see outdoor concerts and festivals there, and 103 suggested the space be used for an amusement park. When the survey asked what types of activities should take place at the existing stadium, soccer again came out on top, followed by concerts and festivals, and baseball.
http://www.wnba.com/tulsa/ According to this site it says Bill Cameron and David Box are the primary owners. I think Cameron is a part owner in the NBA Thunder and Box has a big entertainment company. Not sure if they would be interested in owning a team. I have talked to one of the guys with the new Tulsa NPSL team and they would eventually like to do something bigger but only time will tell.