http://www.alamosoccercity.com/articles/all-may-not-be-lost-with-oklahoma-city-to-nasl news regarding the NASL in OKC
I used to be their biggest cheerleader on here (as you probably know) but I don't believe anything they say anymore
I asked Brad Lund on Twitter what was happening and he replied "stay tuned. Hope to have good news in a few weeks"
Way too many F'ing times! I'm TIRED of it! And in a few weeks they'll say, "Big news coming!". And then a month later, "Hope to make a big announcement by next month." All my good will is used up. My Give-A-Damn is busted at this point. I would just like to say "Thank You" to Bob Funk Jr, Tim Mclaughlin, Brad Lund, and anyone else involved. The one thing I used to want for OKC was a soccer team. Now, I just don't really care anymore. PTFC!
But that isn't really the case is it? It been pretty evident through the whole "Battle for OKC" saga that what you wanted was a soccer team owned by Brad Lund's group. For whatever reason you picked a side early on, let business manuverings between two rival companies/leagues become personal to you and now you can't enjoy the team that OKC has, with an owner that you initially supported when he was on your "team", playing in a stadium that you were once excited about. My advice would be to just let it all of the off the field stuff go and enjoy what is sitting there right in front of you, an professional soccer team in OKC.
Or, not one owned by Funk Jr., given his track record of running OKC sports teams into the ground Has for now. Do you trust someone that shows that level of lack of ethics? An professional soccer team? Somewhere, you're HS english teacher just put a 12 gauge in her mouth and pulled the trigger with her toe. It's hard to enjoy a professional soccer team when it isn't really a professional team and is being run by people that appear about as competent as the Chicago Fire FO when dealing with their fans.
He already supported OKCFC before the Energy came along. He already had a team so why would he switch allegiance?
Either he felt Prodigal was the better bet, which would show that he didn't do much homework on Funk Jr. and got caught up in the razzmatazz of that sexy Energy branding & buzz or he was never in for OKCFC for real and got in to string them along and abandon them.
And he's done neither. I admire people like himself and USRufnex who've stuck to the teams that were there before the new ones came along.
18th Paragraph, under the pic of PRFC: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...romotion-and-relegation-in-North-America.html
Energy, in the Second Round - OKCFC failed to answer the bell to start the third. This isn't really a shock, of course: Ever since McLaughlin and Funk joined forces (and many local soccer fans were hoping for something like this when the whole mess started), the result was inevitable - OKCFC had lost their momentum. A lot of people up to that point were skeptical, including myself, if Energy would even get around to getting a name and a coach. After all, the only established club was OKCFC. But Energy kept moving forward to launch in '14, and the other side made little if any noise. The promise of a launch in 2015 and an NPSL season in 2014 (I still have the T-shirt!) was ineffective in the face of an actual pro season that summer by the Energy. Adding Tulsa this season - something I warned Peterson about in person as being pivotal to this battle, which he emphatically dismissed - was another example about how well USL can quickly seize markets that would/could fit into NASL's column. I honestly thought an OKCFC bid in NASL would have been successful, at least as successful as Energy's has been, and I was pulling for it - along with a lot of others who are now Energy supporters. I was hesitant up until the final weeks before the start of the 2014 season before I actually committed myself. But I guess I'm just more attracted to the tangible than the conceptual, and love the sport more than I hate businessmen. I'm glad to be enjoying a third consecutive season of soccer in my town.
Truth be told, it's been alot easier for me to stick with the Athletics, who made a vacant ballpark their home with a crap ton of grit and sweat equity. I am truly disappointed that OKC FC gave up on the NPSL; the summer of 2015 with Wichita, Ft Worth, Joplin, Tulsa, etc. could have been even more fun with an OKC rivalry... If OKCFC lacked the commitment to field a low budget NPSL squad for 2015, it's just silly how long they kept insisting they'd field an NASL team. I'd spoken with Aaron Davidson at length in late 2009/early 2010... he was excited about the rebirth of the Tampa Bay Rowdies and the decision of the TOA to rebrand as the new NASL and he'd later inform me of the pending rebrand for the Miami team to the Ft Lauderdale Strikers. They were excited about my ideas for a Tulsa Roughnecks rebirth and I'd represented the NASL in meetings with Tulsa County officials regarding the future of an 11k capacity ballpark post-Drillers, after signing multiple non-disclosures with the NASL, of course. I'd all but given up on the idea by the summer of 2012, only to be emailed with the news of the new NY Cosmos, and it was requested I sign another non-disclosure, and then met with the county again. Received an invite to Soccer Bowl 2012 and if the game had been in San Antonio, I would have gone... but a last minute flight to Tampa/St Pete wasn't really an option. After Soccer Bowl 2012, I was informed the league would be "concentrating on Tulsa." Then David Downs announced he'd be stepping down as commish, soon to be replaced by Commissioner Crazy Pants. Then I started to hear of an OKC group with interest in the NASL... couldn't possibly be Brad Lund, I thought, because he'd just signed up for a PDL club. So, when USL Pro and the NASL descended upon the OKCPS school board in 2013 for a meeting about the future of Taft Stadium, I honestly thought it would be Funk Jr angling for the NASL, and not The Brad. I'm convinced to this day that in early 2013 Brad Lund had been hard selling Commissioner Peterson for months on OKC as a more appropriate market for the rebirth of NASL soccer instead of Tulsa, not alongside Tulsa. You could hear this sentiment throughout the OKC school board meeting in which Brad droned on and on about the storied history of the Cosmos and the NASL (with Peterson standing beside him) while touting that OKC will be the league's smallest market. Then, he's stuck hitting up his uncle Jeff Lund and backtracking after insisting to league officials that a Tulsa team would have "no place to play" (disrespecting my work and the A's setup at an 11k stadium) and that Tulsa was too small a market to be worthy of an NASL team... Tulsa World Article from 10/3/2013... Lund is hopeful soccer-crazed Tulsa can get an NASL team In the few years of dealings I had with the NASL, there was never any concern whatsoever expressed over Tulsa's market size. No misgivings. None whatsoever. That is, until Mr. Lund arrived... So yeah, thanks Brad.... for nothing.
Not. Dead. Yet. According to Brad Lund. @KolynByrne our plans have not changed. Stay tuned.— Brad Lund (@BradLundokc) August 12, 2015
I'm DONE with this crap! "Stay Tuned!" "Big News Coming!" "Announcement will shake the soccer world!" BULL SHIT! Like I've said, I used to be their biggest cheerleader. I'm done. Just admit that you got outplayed, and move on.
OK, question for someone who may know; In the Tulsa World artivel there was this figure given in regards to building a stadium; If so, how did Sacramento build Bonney Field for a reported $3 million? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonney_Field
Because it's just a soccer field with half a million in Musco lighting around it and site erected bleacher seating with some ADA paving. It's not a stadium
http://www.kcra.com/news/Finishing-touches-put-on-Bonney-Field-for-Sac-Republic-FC/26336680 Finishing touches. This was 2 weeks before the opening game.