old Skelly Stadium... capacity 40,385 ... in 2005, the north end zone seating was demolished and replaced by the new Case Athletic Complex, giving Skelly a current capacity of 35,542... For 2008, the entire erector-set upper west stands will be removed and replaced by a new press box complete with lots of luxury suites reducing capacity to ?????... TU Receives H.A. and Mary K. Chapman Private Foundations Gift for Stadium Renovation Renovation will begin following the 2007 football season April 25, 2007 http://tulsahurricane.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/042507aaa.html The Tulsa World quoted new capacity of approximately 31,000 but the section being taken out is the entire upper west stands, a section with around 10k seats... making capacity closer to 25K... I assume the new press box will include lots and lots of luxury/corporate suites... Suitable for MLS?
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=ncf&id=2848602 A couple of more pix... once again... the ENTIRE section of upper west stands (below in blue) will be removed and replaced by press box/suites (the north end zone sections J-K-L from this seating chart no longer exist)... upper west stands... another side view includes the upper west stands...
As a TU alum, I can't help but be excited about this! The renderings look wonderful and the stadium and school are more than deserving and well overdue for a face lift. As an MLS fan, the prospect is encouraging, but it still doesn't solve the 2 major problems holding Tulsa back from getting a team...money and an SSS, or even plans for one. I believe HSG was behind the first push. Are they even still interested in adding? And this ...... city will never get behind building another stadium at this point, especially after the farsicle money pit that has become the BOK Arena. Any owner would almost certainly have to 100% finance the stadium themselves UNLESS the owner were a TU supporter and could somehow incorporate the two projects, similar to the 2 failed proposals in Philly and San Jose. Dare to dream, I guess. Thanks for keeping hope alive.
I might have misinformation, but Tulsa would need a minimum of 30,000 to stay in NCAA Division 1. MLS could start st the stadium but a new SSS would have to be built because they won't make any money (concessions, parking,etc) and wouldn't have control of their schedule because 1) weekday classes and 2) football season. RSL and Dynamo are having these exact problems with their college stadiums...
The new stadium will have an official capacity of approx. 31,000, including luxury boxes and press box, as mentioned in the first post. That will satisfy NCAA rules. MLS has made it very clear that the promise of an SSS is a requirement for any future expansion team. It's the primary hiccup for every potential location. However, two plans that have garnered a lot of discussion and seeming approval from MLS involve an MLS franchise in essence building a stadium for a collage, San Jose and Philly (Rowan). I know both of these plans failed, but not because the concept was unacceptable. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not holding out hope this will happen in Tulsa. I'm just saying it could happen and is a plausible plan.
The only requirements I've seen has been all the talk of requiring average crowds of 15,000 for all D-1 schools... Tulsa's Skelly Stadium wouldn't be the first to have reduced capacity... Div. I Miami of Ohio http://muredhawks.cstv.com/facilities/mioh-yager-stadium.html As far as not making money off concessions, etc... you simply don't know what's going on here. Tulsa University would be stupid to play hardball with a locally owned MLS team the same way San Jose State Univ did with AEG. Or Univ of Houston played with AEG. As far as having control of schedule due to weekday classes, are you on crack? How different would this be compared to SJSU or the now-dead Philly plan at Rowan Univ? College football season consists of 5-6 home games for TU each year... if L.A. and Chivas USA can share seasons, there's less of a problem with a Tulsa team playing at TU. The issues are what they always have been... Tulsa's former ownership group that pushed for an expansion or relocated team for 2006 needs a lead investor (35% stake) to make up for what they lost when Global Development Partners lost their mojo with MLS and DC United in Jan 2006... the field is too narrow and the field turf installed in 2000 needs to be replaced by grass... The Skelly Stadium option will be better with a much larger press box/suite seating than what OKC/Edmond presented with a refurbished Wantland Stadium in its previous bid for a MLS team.
I think the only way this becomes an option for MLS is if TU supporters are also MLS supporters (AKA part of the local ownership group). Actually HSG wasn't behind the most recent push... that would be Global Development Partners of DC, but after they crashed and burned with DC United, Tulsa's plans last year went up in smoke... after all, THIS was supposed to be a TIF district for a SOCCER stadium... http://www.globaldevelopmentpartners.com/EastEnd.html Skelly Stadium would have been a temporary solution for 2006 and 2007, so by the time the new East End soccer stadium should have opened, TU could have resumed their renovations on the same time table to start after the 2007 football season... The business model could be pretty simple... extremely low rent... high sales/availability of new press box suites (we all know the current press box is horrible)... but if TU plays hardball with concessions and parking, there'll be no team playing there... I suspect there'd have to be some real overlap from TU's donors and the $$$ people who want MLS soccer here... but they HAVE worked together before... Earliest date this could be ready for a team: 2009.
"Below, an estimated crowd of more than 14,000 watches the Kansas City Wizards take on the Dallas Burn during a Major League Soccer exhibition game at Skelly Stadium on April 5, 2003." STEPHEN HOLMAN / Tulsa World Oh, almost forgot my favorite picture of Skelly Stadium's west stands... take out the upper sections and... that "estimated crowd of more than 14,000" could pass for an announced 20k sellout at Pizza Hut Park...
I remember that day. It was a good day. I got one of those Mountain Dew soccer balls they were kicking into the stands as well. 14,000 is not too shabby for an exhibition between 2 teams no closer than 5 hours away. I'm pretty sure it's been one of the best turn outs for an MLS exhibition match in a neutral city, based on other written reports. If MLS ever does make it to Tulsa, I am very confident the fanbase is already here waiting for them. Dare to dream.
Ya Skelly sounds perfect. Especially with the renovations. Wonder if they considered trying to land an MLS team to play there? I know quite a few TU nuts that would come out for soccer. But I'm not so sure they represent a majority. All the same, I 'm pretty sure Tulsa could draw crowds at least like Colombus, if not more like Salt Lake. Not alot of competition for entertainment dollars lately.
MLS'll never happen here, but I want to thank USRufnex for continuing to come up with interesting topics of discussion. At the very least, I'm definitely going to catch some U-Tulsa games after the renovations.
it's interesting to hear the word "never"... got some insider info there, sachs? I agree that Tulsa will not be building a soccer stadium using private funds anytime soon... because nobody else has done this for an expansion team, either... so far, in MLS's history, no US city has ever built a soccer specific stadium BEFORE that MLS team arrived... so that also qualifies as "never." Why is having an owner/investor spending $70-$100 million dollars on a soccer stadium a "good business plan?" Couldn't that money be better spent on building a fanbase and a solid place in your community for a few years before going to the public to try to find a sight for a new stadium or gain some public funding for it? We're starting to see a pattern here. New stadiums are not increasing attendance substantially... they may provide a nice looking bottom line AFTER the huge initial expenses of money/time/political clout are spent on a "soccer stadium at all costs" strategy... Have you noticed these stadium plans (Cleveland, Milw, StLouis, KC, SJ) have all gone to plan B, then plan C.... and so on... Compare the size and looks of the new Skelly to that of soccer specific PaeTec Park. Look at a bogged down process in Rochester/NY that has spawned a bare-bones stadium that still doesn't have any club/corporate seating. The nice thing about the new facelift for Skelly is that it is still in a good location for a team... better, in my estimation, than a Collinsville, IL location for a StL team and more centralized than Olathe, KS for KC... If somebody screws up and pushes through a stadium in a bad location or exhausts all their time and efforts on so-called privately financed soccer specific stadiums (keep in mind ALL these "privately financed" stadium ideas have dwindled down to begging for TIF's, Starbonds, cigarette taxes, sharing with a university, etc, etc...), this would leave an opening for Tulsa starting in 2009... Former mayor LaFortune was never the only person who could make MLS happen in Tulsa... just the most effective so far... We honestly don't know what MLS will look like in 5 years... or 10... and Garber has a track record of naming off laundry lists of cities only to find out those cities had only vague interest in MLS... lists that didn't include SLC... many lists that never included Toronto...
No, no, no... it's very simple. I tell myself that we will "never" get MLS. Then, if I'm right, it's easy not to be too disappointed because I've already set myself up for it. If I'm wrong, and by some miracle we do get a team, it's merely a wonderful surprise!
They play large HS rivalry games up there - Union vs Jenks. Also, if there was a basketball game going on, parking would be an issue. Also, I think the field is synthetic. (And now I see USRufnex pointed that out.)
They play large HS rivalry games up there - Union vs Jenks.--Loghyr Yeah, but that's a Friday night game, right? I thought Union/Jenks was the only rivalry game played at Skelly Stadium last fall... the proposal for an OKC MLS team to use Wantland Stadium a few years back would've involved sharing the field with NCAA D-II Univ of Central Oklahoma and Edmond's high school teams... I don't think TU college basketball would affect more than a playoff game or two in November...
"I've placed information vital to the survival of the future prospects of Major League Soccer in Tulsa and to bring back the Roughnecks into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi; you're my only hope."
http://www.tulsaworld.com/sports/article.aspx?articleID=070920_238_B1_hTUss05764 When did TU start using MLS's business plan???
The upper west stands have now been bulldozed... I've heard rumors that the field will either be natural grass or sportexe... I'm hoping for grass but am betting due to costs, it'll probably be sportexe, if the decision hasn't already been made... anybody from Tulsa should drive by the stadium, it's pretty striking without those upper deck stands... construction hasn't started on the press box/suites/etc... great views from the link below... http://tulsahurricane.cstv.com/facilities/tuls-chapman-renovation.html If the field were a little wider, this refurb would be right at home with those other "soccer specific" stadiums...
I like where TU plays their soccer games, it has a nice feel to it. Of course, I'd love a professional outdoor team to be here as well.