Oklahoma City area officials (interested parties) will be in Edmond, OK on Tuesday, August 27 to meet with stadium design companies who will be making stadium design presentations and the public is invited. Lamar Hunt who owns MLS franchises in Kansas City and Columbus will also be present. That and this report from the Daily Oklahoman: Meeting to address soccer stadium possibilities http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=906927&pic=none&TP=getmoresports
The difference is that in this case a stadium WILL BE BUILT... Correct me if I'm wrong, but McKinney was going to be part of a soccer complex. An Edmond project would involve a Div II college with a small stadium already and high schools that need a good facility. The wild card in this one is: how much $$$ would Express Sports and possibly Hunt be able to put into the kitty to give the stadium the right seating capacity and get it up to MLS specs? Answer that question and you could also find out to what extent an MLS team would be the first option in dates, revenue, etc... Keep in mind Wantland Stadium already exists with a capacity of over 10,000... Dig up that worthless asphalt track, and with a few other little renovations and increased seating and you very definitely have a wide enough field for MLS... Wonder if Mr. Hunt has ever gone on the big soccer boards?
would MLS really go for this sharing the stadium thing. maybe the facility that is presented includes a high school feild near by the main faciluty so that the MLS club wont have to be bothered by a high school team(s)
If any of the Oklahoma people are lurking here,here's a good web site to get ideas for stadium designs WWW.EUROSTADIUMS.COM
Don't forget to push for seats at or near ground level right behind both goals so your supporter clubs can make the most noise. Also, a roof is great for keeping the noise in. Sachin
Won't happen that way. There is no question that MLS will share a stadium with other entities, as long as MLS controls the dates MLS controls all the revenue MLS doesn't actually own it, but has exclusive management of it MLS gets a 20 year minimum lease After that, everything is negotiable. For MLS to get enough votes to win a bond election, they will have to promise to share. The issue is the quality of the turf. People throwing around ideas about 3 or 4 football teams scare me. Right now the football season is starting, and there are 6 to 8 weeks left in the MLS season. Maybe they can keep the turf in good shape, but I'm doubtful. If they are smart, they'll use the tray system they used at the Swamp, one field for all the football teams, the other for the soccer team. I still think Nexturf is viable in that scenario, as long as the texture is better than Naperville's, which seems to be a problem.
Isn't that tray system, (1) incredibly expensive and (2) a dismal failure as far as soccer is concerned at Giants Stadium? I could be wrong, but I remember reading that replacing sections of worn out grass due to football being played at Giant's Stadium and other events being scheduled there has meant that the playing surface for soccer ends up being rather rough: i.e., the new trays and old trays lead to an uneven surface. Also, while this is no longer an experimental system, I know it cost the MetroStars a ton of cash to develop it and install it each year (before the Jets and Giants bought into it). I'd be concerned that a tray system would just be too expensive as compared to a grass field or, dare I say it, some sort of artificial surface.
Viking64: It's great to see someone posting from Fort Worth, Texas my 2nd hometown. I own a duplex there in Fort Worth in the Green Oaks area near Ridgemar Mall and I lease out the other side, it is my home away from home. The situation in Edmond, Oklahoma in which three high schools would share a stadium with an MLS teams is a very sensitive one. Edmond voters will be willing to build an MLS specific stadium, the survey conducted by the Edmond Sun shows that the people there are in favor of financing a stadium if it is going to benefit all five; however, the three high schools and university definitely will not be slighted. They currently have a situation in which they try to avoid having no more than two of these teams playing on the field on any given weekend. Oklahoma is noted for its red clay and there hasn't been a problem with placing black topsoil and canadian sod above it.
i don't think a better textured next turf is going to matter much... it'll still retain heat as well as a frying pan, it'll still make players go down left and right because they can't dig in for cuts (i don't mean injuries, just wiping out).... it's not much of a problem for football because of the north-south aspect and that it is played in colder periods of the year (and they aren't out there 45 minutes at a time... just a few seconds here and there)
Any artifical grass solution would have to be FIFA-approved. And so far, there is only one -- FieldTurf or something like that. It's used in Seattle. That's the only way OKC can get international matches such as friendlies and World Cup qualifiers. Sachin
This is still one of the best stadiums i've seen. http://www.eurostadiums.com/stadiums.php?id=76&lang=eng
Just got back from the meeting at University of Central Oklahoma. Preliminary artwork of a proposed Wantland Stadium project looked GREAT! Mike Segroves was taking pics with a digital camera, and will be posting them soon, I suspect. Mr. Hunt was in attendance, which to me is a very encouraging sign. Who knows what a billionaire's schedule must be like, yet he took a day to come to Edmond to attend this meeting and speak. Mr. Funk of Express sports was there as well, and sounded very enthusiastic. Good turnout as well. Probably around 100-150 people. The room was filled. Lots of representatives from the UCO student leadership. They're behind the project it seems, that can't hurt at all. Very exciting stuff for soccer fanatics in this area. One video camera, though I couldn't determine if it what media outlet it represented. Several print reporters and a couple of photographers. I'll update if I see TV or print reports in the next few days.
Thanks for the report, dj. What's Mr. Hunt's connection to this project? Is he acting as an MLS representative, or would he be a prospective investor/operator for the team should Express Sports bail out?
I'm guessing that he's there representing MLS. It makes sense to have him there because he's sort of local and because he's a major investor in the league. If he speaks, it'll have some serious authority.
Channel Four that was Channel four, I think a Oklahoma reporter was there not for sure if he was there as sports fan or a reporter.
only made it there for the last 20 mins or so... slide show was nice... think it was a KC constructions company... they assured the folks that construction could be done DURING the football season since they did renovations/additions for Nebraska's stadium... actually, according to Tulsa World, there is to be a meeting this Thursday the 29th in Tulsa with officials, potential I/Os including Hunt-- wonder if Lamar's on the "Puddle-jumper Express" as we speak... Should be a fun week... I thought for sure Segroves woulda posted those pix by now but maybe he's afraid "the process has become ENTIRELY TOO PUBLIC!" NAH! Anyway, I think the Tulsa meeting is more of a "behind closed doors" affair... But I hear Cartman's bringing "pie & punch..." Viva La Resistance!
sorry... meant to say Hunt is supposed to be at the meeting... Tulsa World quoted Hunt as saying he would not be an O/I...
There was also a guy there from Hunt Sports Group, though I'm not sure the significance of that. Could just be he was with Mr. Hunt as an assistant, could be they're interested. Pure speculation, though.