i saw a brief clip on channel 5 of the express sports president speaking to the edmond city council about bring a team to edmond. in order to do this UCO would have to expand their Wantland stadium from the current 10k to about 22k. he told the council that this would the highest level of professional sports in oklahoma since the one year usfl team in tulsa. the news media seems suprisingly positive to me, otheresise there is never a mention of soccer, in the intro to the segement they did show a 96 tampa bay mutiny clip. I live in edmond, soccer is really big here, but im still in the opinion if its possible to have a downtown stadium it would be better, becuase of the proximity to the hispanic communities and its truly in the middle of the city, making it equally accessible to all. norman residents may not drive all the way up to edmond. accion
OK MLS i agree with accion about putting it downtown. i grew up in okc playing (royals fc 78, westmoore 96) the point is right on about accessibility. also, with the boom going on downtown it would be ideal to get a piece of the pie. i don't live in OKC anymore but i've seen the ballpark downtown and it is very nice, and a s.s.s. with the same architecture would be beautiful. i pose a question to the board, though. do you think OKC could support the team over the long haul? what do you think the demographics would be?
The problem is see with boih Tulsa and OKC is the TV market. I don't think either gives MLS much in that area. A major pro sports league needs to be in those big TV markets or they can't get the big TV bucks. I personally feel either is a good choice, no comp from baseball and if the folks love soccer and can fill a 22k SSS then hell I say let them in. Another problem if OKC get the team will Tulsa fans support it?
Oklahoma City-Tulsa? Kaiser That's the problem with MLS now; the big TV markets they are in have MLB, NFL, NBA and/or NHL. In some of those MLS larger markets; MLS has become a side show. You definitely need markets like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Washington DC and Dallas or Houston to make any league of national prominence work. MLS has its moderately large cities like Kansas City, Columbus, Denver and San Jose. MLS needs to look at some small markets which doesn't have major league competition like Rochester, Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Wichita. Oklahoma City is 91 miles from Tulsa. OKC's TV market ranks 45th with 623,760 TV households and Tulsa ranks 59th with 502,500 TV households; combined, these two cities have 1,126,260 TV households which is comparable to St. Louis (22nd, 1,143,690) which is a top 25 TV market city. You must understand that MLS would be the highest level of major professional sports competition in Oklahoma which doesn't have any major professional sports and both cities would support the MLS regardless of whether they end up in Tulsa or Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City's TV markets is small; however, it's larger than the NFL's Buffalo and Jacksonville tv markets. Source: Nielsen Media Research http://www.nielsenmedia.com/DMAs.html If Tulsa gets MLS, Oklahoma City fans are going to support it; many of us supported the NASL when it was in Tulsa. Today, Oklahoma City and Tulsa on the semi-professional level only compete in AA hockey; therefore, the blood-thirsty rivalry that once kept these cities apart--only exists on one level. Tulsa was a highly successful city on the major soccer level. OKC has never had a soccer team on the major professional level or anything on the major professional level. I can say that in every sport that OKC and Tulsa has competed; American Association AAA baseball; Continental Basketball Association (CBA) and AAA and AA hockey, OKC has outdrawned Tulsa. Oklahoma City over the last 10 years has consistently averaged 9,100 fans on the AA level which has been tops for minor league hockey over that period including AAA hockey. When Oklahoma City was in the CBA, the City averaged 5,200 fans its first year and that record still stands. Baseball, Oklahoma Redhawks average 6,000 fans a game. Oklahoma City now boast 1.1 million people in its metropolitan areas with 72,000 hispanics in the metro area and 51,000 living in the central city according to the 2000 Census. Only 20,000 hispanics lived in OKC in 1990--that's a 165 per cent increase in 10 years. The Hispanic and Asian popluations in Oklahoma City are the fastest growing minorities and they have their own businesss districts, the Capital Hill (South Commerce, Walker to Western) area is predominately hispanic business laced while Little Saigon (23rd - 33rd Western to Military) is a mecca of Vietnamese-Chinese businesses. Tulsa has a rich history in NASL soccer and it would have been impossible for OKC to have outdrawn Tulsa if we had an NASL team back in those days because we don't have a stadium in OKC seating over 15,000; unless the team played in Norman. If Oklahoma City or Edmond gets a team, Tulsa will support it. Many people in Tulsa are cognizant that city leaders have not put their best foot forward. I believe that with the negative attention that Tulsa has received with their last two city initiatives, the next one will be a charm and pass. Tulsa has not kept its eyes on Oklahoma City and the two cities have basically ignored each other over the past 10 years. I noticed that interest in getting an MLS team in Tulsa was somewhat dormant until Oklahoma City entered the picture. When I heard that the MLS was interested in OKC, I said to myself, I thought, why are they not looking at Tulsa? Does Tulsa really want a team or has the ball gotten rolling so that OKC doesn't overshadow Tulsa? This will make both markets more competitive and at least one should land a team; I wish both cities could land a team and you would see a rivalry in sports like you've never seen before. I wanted to see Tulsa get an MLS franchise and Oklahoma City get an NHL or NBA franchise. There use to be riots at our hockey games in the 60s and early 70s; our teams OKC-TUL would break out in a bench clearing brawl before the first puck got dropped. I understand that if OKC gets a team; then Tulsa is locked out and if Tulsa gets a team, OKC is locked out. If that's the case, I hope Tulsa gets MLS, I know they will do a good job of supporting it because I have a true feeling that its just a matter of time before the NHL knocks on OKC's door.
All I can say is Who would of thunk it? OKC or Tulsa? Come on, no one saw this one coming did they? Either way, why not? Especially if in 2004 we get OKC/Tulsa and Philadelphia/Houston. One medium market, one large market.
Here's a wet dream for a dry state: civic pride racing to build two 22k stadia, creating a rivalry bigger than the Brimstone Cup, with over 20k showing up regularly in both houses. Like I said, a dream of a rather ecstatic kind.
For All I care Get 2 O/I Build 2 SSS and put two teams in the state... It would be a rivalry and as long as there is a stadium and MLS controls revenue it is all good.
More so, to look beyond that, OK team vs the Burn could be COULD BE the best rivalry in MLS. Just take a look at the CottOUn Bowl this October. As much as Tulsa and OKC hate each other, nothing equals the hate between Oklahoma and Texas. First MLS fan riot at a game? OKFC vs Burn.
Yes we hate them. It sucks living downwind from that state. Besides the odor, two things come from Oklahoma: Tornadoes and mobile homes and I don't want to be near either one. Seriously though, a team from Oklahoma would immediately be the Burn's biggest rival. And in easy driving distance, which is a novelty in MLS. The Chicago Fire would then become like a Louisiana to us: we would just pity them. However, putting two new teams in Oklahoma just is not going to happen. Not before Texas gets a 2nd team, Seattle gets a team, Portland and the rest of the usual suspects. MLS needs to balance expanding teams with great potential local support and those that expand TV markets.