Considering how they've treated soccer 2013-1990, they've done more in a year than they did in the prior 23 years. No coverage of MLS scores/matches/goals during the entire life of the league. No coverage of any prior teams to the Energy or OKCFC. Prior to this World Cup, no reporting other than US scores/goals, always with "if only our best athletes played". 2002 was a bit of a outlier because of the run, with a bit more coverage, but almost nothing for 2010/2006/1998/1994. The most coverage you ever got was when there was a riot or stadium tragedy. Not to mention abject belligerence by TV/Radio personalities until this WC Cycle. Dean Blevens: "Black people just don't play soccer".
Sorry, the whole unnamed group that's always been just on the verge of investing, but never does story and the MLS Vapor Deposits story got old a long time ago.
And you have to go looking for Energy news on the Oklahoman site. It's never on the main sports page, though the ads are. It's a complete afterthought. Yeah, they have at least had something to pass for coverage where none existed before. But, to me, it seems it's very much of the "this team is here and is professional, so we have to do something" variety, not because of any actual interest in adding soccer coverage. The only thing the Oklahoma City media is good for is the weather report, and even then, you have to be careful which one you trust.
You mean, the season ticket drive that was requested by MLS in 2003? I don't consider it "vapor" when I write down my bank account or credit card number and hand it over to a third party... maybe you do... Tulsa's people actually did what MLS and Mark Abbott told them to do-- nothing more, nothing less... and if they had told us to take $75 deposits, we would have done it that way... but when it came time for Brad Lund to do a season ticket drive in 2003 for MLS in OKC, all he could say wuz... "Blazers, Blazers, Blazers..."
Last year at this time, the point man for a Tulsa bid to join the NASL alongside OKC was... wait for it... Brad Lund. If Tulsa had been announced in the fall of 2013 as an NASL expansion team, who do you think would have been running day-to-day operations? Jeff Lund's Tulsa Oilers organization? Nope. Jeff sold the Oilers in the summer of 2013. The Tulsa Athletics organization?.... heh-heh... in your dreams. Although I'm sure Brad would have tried to make the Athletics into his new Tulsa NASL club's "academy team." ugh. I have no doubt that people from Brad Lund's Sold Out Strategies would have been the operating organization for Tulsa, and excuse me if I don't think those people will ever have the Tulsa soccer community's best interests at heart... they were also the folks who once suggested on their OKC NASL facebook page that the Red Dirt Brigade could vote to change their name to the "83 Ultras." Which is kinda creepy, when you think about it for more than five minutes.... And, once Tim McLaughlin (and Brian Harvey) defected, it gave our guys who've been working their butts off this season, the shot at the NASL that they have so richly deserved. What I mean by "the right people" is that IF an NASL franchise is approved by the BOG and slated to play here in Tulsa, it won't be OKC people calling the shots. It'll be the Athletics, and that's as it should be.
Not really - if you actually did think about it for five minutes, you would have realized that it was a joke to tease lurkers from Tulsa.
My bank doesn't consider it a "deposit" until the funds leave the account. Maybe you do... Actually, it was Funk Sr. who wanted to spread the $10 mil expansion fee over 5 years that killed it.
So, what reason would Oklahoma City have to block Tulsa from getting an NASL franchise? Tulsa has long been our archrival... Do you always have to take a 'crack' at OKC to make Tulsa viable; why do you continue to harp on OKC? Move over, step back from your computer and put the crack pipe aside. You don't miss an opportunity to take a crack at Oklahoma City every time you post. Your bowel movements are getting about as stale as the stall you continue to make your third world timed turd deposits. FYI: Owners of your WNBA Tulsa Shock are from Oklahoma City. Tulsa multibillionaire George Kaiser now joins the group of Oklahoma City Thunder owners. Where in the hell is the money in T-town; did it dry up? Does anyone have faith in the city anymore that Oklahoma City investors have to take the lead? Give it up Rufnex, you will be beating that drum until the cows come home, or someone with cold hands touch a cows' titty and the whore jumps over the moon. Tulsa will get an opportunity to showcase her mastery of soccer as a pivotal city that has a history of reputable soccer prowess. Just give it time! It is so obvious, you continue to show your jealousy toward Oklahoma City. Did the NBA's arrival in OKC cause you to become distraught and downtrodden? Your jealously toward Oklahoma City is so blatant. Tulsa is a great American city. You continue to live in a ship that has long since left the harbor and sailed out to sea. Like the old battle cry slogan about 'The South shall rise again.' Let the dead bury the dead...
This thread isn't for Tulsa vs OKC. Its for discussing NASL's future in the state of Oklahoma. If you don't want to talk about that subject, don't post. Thank you.
Topic subject: "Is NASL dead in the state of Oklahoma?" It is alive and kicking in Oklahoma City suburban Yukon, Oklahoma where NASL Oklahoma City will debut in 2015.
Isnt his post part of it? He was answering a negative post claiming that Oklahoma City was somehow blocking Tulsa?
Did I point to a specific post? No. Theres just too many and too convulted for me to just "fix it". So from this point on, just stay topic. And if you have a specific question to ask a individual poster (ie me) then PM that person and do not post your OT questions on the thread.
I answered someone's question. Someone else from OKC asked me to expand my answer. I did. I responded honestly and forthrightly. I've been critical of Brad Lund and Sold Out Strategies in particular. And I've been far less critical of Funk Jr. and Prodigal Sports compared to several of the posters in this subforum. OKC-based Cameron-Box Sports owns a Tulsa WNBA team that has yet to make the playoffs in the five years since moving the team from Detroit. Their best season was this summer-- when the club went 12-22. Last year, the Shock didn't even make the Top 5 favorite sports teams in Tulsa People magazine's annual A-List. And nobody cares about Oklahoma Thunder's D-League team in Tulsa either, as it didn't even make the Top 5 favorite sports teams in Tulsa People Magazine for 2014... however, an amateur soccer team in the NPSL run by Tulsans did make it...
Go ahead Rufnex, you've got the green light! Excuse me while I get my foot out of this bear trap (smile).
The George Kaiser Family Foundation and corporate partners are spending over $350 million dollars on a single privately-funded parks project. So yes, there's money out there and people are investing in Tulsa. They just aren't lining up to endorse Brad Lund's idea of building a 10k-seat soccer stadium as a prerequisite for Tulsa to be awarded an NASL team. Like me, they weren't born yesterday. I'll put the Lunds efforts in the "with friends like these" catagory.... from this article dated 10/3/2013... Not true. I've had several conversations and over a dozen correspondences with NASL officials from 2009 to 2012, and Tulsa's market size was never a concern. Heck, they were also mentioning Albuquerque and Omaha... Also not true. I've never seen this as a requirement. I've discussed 3-4 different sites for an eventual soccer stadium push with the NASL, but there is no hard and fast rule of 8,500... and the NASL didn't seem to have a problem using Taft Stadium. I am not automatically opposed to having a team owned by an OKC group in particular or an out-of-town group in general. The fans of the Tulsa Oilers ice hockey team seem reasonably pleased with the recent purchase of their club (from local Tulsan Jeff Lund) by the owners of the Wichita Thunder. The Drillers ballclub has been owned by the Hubbards of New Hampshire for decades now. Although I worry about conflicts of interest for both the Drillers and the Energy for different reasons, at least Prodigal LLC isn't operating the club. I even exchanged a handful of voicemail messages with Cameron-Box Sports about the idea of a Tulsa NASL franchise operating out of the old ballpark at the fairgrounds. Getting to the current situation... you can accuse Tim Holt of several things, I guess. But there are a couple of things that don't pan out. I don't see him as incompetent. And I find it hard to believe that he would engage in shady business dealings due to his years of experience. He may not be a saint. But he's no dummy. The problem I have is with Brad Lund and Sold Out Strategies. And it's because of their actions over the past year and a half. I'll put it this way... if I was Tim Holt, and somebody had tipped me off that the very same group that had just inked a PDL deal with me (who had also been applying pressure to pre-purchase a USL club) was simultaneously pursuing an NASL franchise (in direct violation of the contract they just signed), I'd be angry enough to make sure that if another group were also pursuing an OKC bid prior (Prodigal LLC), that they would get the nod. Not only that, but if Lund and SOS decided to directly compete with USL Pro in OKC as an NASL outfit, it would give me no other choice but to serve them with cease-and-desist papers and if that didn't stop them... a lawsuit. I also have a problem with Sold Out Strategies and Lund pursuing teams in both OKC and Tulsa because it makes no business sense. The state of Oklahoma has never hosted a D-2 team in the modern soccer era (1990-present). Look no further than the reorganized AFL and see what happened after the OKC Yard Dawgz and Tulsa Talons (teams with years of reasonably successful history) both made the jump to AFL-1. What makes them think that two NASL teams in the state will survive, and where do they think they can find the $100 million in assets? Maybe a sports marketing organization with better business acumen would have understood that if they couldn't get awarded their first choice in OKC (USL Pro), maybe they could have concentrated on another USL Pro franchise in any number of cities rather than OKC to avoid a messy lawsuit and/or potentially ugly showdown. But, once again, if I were Tim Holt and was aware that Lund and SOS were in flagrant violation of the non-compete clause, don't know if I'd trust them for much of anything... Or, if they didn't like the way they were treated by Holt & Co., they could have pursued an NASL bid in a city other than OKC. The one that would naturally make the most sense would be up the turnpike in Tulsa. They could have exacted revenge on Holt by denying USL a market they've wanted for years. In fact, if Prodigal LLC could have given Holt assurances that John Allgood would talk the Drillers organization into joining USL Pro in their new ballpark, that alone may have been enough to tip the balance in Prodigal's favor over SOS. And lastly, I don't harbor the same animosity towards Prodigal LLC as I hold for the Lunds and SOS. What Funk Jr and Holt have done has been pretty predictable. I'm convinced Holt wouldn't have awarded him the Energy if he had thought SOS would have done a demonstrably better job. And we're watching it play out... I would have guessed that Energy FC would draw crowds of 2,000 to 2,500 their first year at Pribil, but they have exceeded that significantly. My core opinions of what's going on wouldn't change whether I lived in Mesta Park or Owen Park.
Rufnex, You should know the Lund family (uncle & nephew) by now. Jeff and Brad have always had the luxury of using OPM (Other Peoples' Money). In Brad defense, he has the experience and the know-how to run an organization. Just don't give him a blank check because he will take risks. I saw some renderings of the $350 million project which will be a blessing to the beautiful Arkansas River parks near Tulsa's Riverside Drive and River parks. A good detailed article appeared in the Daily Oklahoman. Tulsa proposed $350 million river park project. You are fortunate to have both the Kaiser and the Reynolds Foundations that support Tulsa and Oklahoma. Don't get me wrong, I understand how Tulsans have always felt about OKC--let's leave it at that because it's not going to change.
NASL Commish Bill Peterson was on the broadcast of the Indy Eleven last Saturday - commenting on NASL OKCFC he stated "we could know something next week" when the commentator mentioned OKCFC as one of the teams joining in 2015. It by no means sounded definite that they will in fact be in the league next season. An answer will be coming soon enough though, after the September NASL BOG meeting. My guess is the 20 Million dollar man the ownership group needs is one of the pieces in the puzzle that may not be there yet.
NASL BOG Meeting is Sept 15-17th, I think. OKCFC is finalizing the ownership group information and are headed to the BOG meeting. They are still on track for Spring 2015.
Not surprised at this... but it's amazing that you'd finally finally finally admit it. So, you had the nerve to go nuclear on Rochester fans back when they had a real stadium getting built, because their guy wanted to spread out the expansion fee.... that's a level of hypocrisy I didn't think even you were capable of... Oh well. Back to topic. Compare Yukon FC to the Jacksonville Armada. Rinse. Repeat.