For anyone wondering what factors account for the success or failure of a soccer franchise or even a league, read this article from a year and a half ago on what it took to succeed back in the day-- there are many telling comments from former Tulsa Roughnecks general mgr Noel Lemon-- for old NASL Seattle Sounders fans, that's the man who fired Alan Hinton... no thanks necessary. Soccer team's success wasn't easy RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer 09/15/2002 Tulsa World (Final Home Edition), Page a1 of News The Tulsa Roughnecks survived eight seasons, and the former general manager says an MLS team could make it. Nobody knows more than Noel Lemon about professional soccer in Tulsa. His name has not come up much during discussions of a proposed Major League Soccer franchise, but his team has. If there is such a thing as a successful professional soccer franchise in the United States, the Tulsa Roughnecks were one for a few magical years in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Lemon served as the Roughnecks general manager or managing partner for most of their eight seasons. He brought the team to Tulsa from Hawaii in 1977 and closed the doors for good in 1985 when the North American Soccer League folded. For most of that time, the club was considered a success and even something of a marvel, a small- market, small-payroll side that drew good crowds and played competitive soccer. The NASL had 24 teams when the Roughnecks played their first game on April 1, 1978. The Roughnecks were one of four left when the league folded seven years later. "We had quite a battle," Lemon recalled this week during a telephone conversation from his home in Florida, where he is still involved in the sport as a pro moter. "Tulsa was such a small city. A lot of people in the league didn't even know where it was." In later years, the Roughnecks' success became somewhat romanticized. They never sold out Skelly Stadium -- the largest crowd was 31,000 to see the hated New York Cosmos in April 1980 -- and the club never made money. But the Roughnecks did average about 15,000 for league games, about the same as the current MLS average, and better than 16,000 before the USFL Oklahoma Outlaws came to town in 1984. "I don't think any teams in the league were profitable," said Lemon. "Our losses, at least for a while, diminished each year. The owners thought the losses were manageable, and there was some hope. The league just fell apart around us." When asked if professional soccer has any better prospects today than it did 20 years ago, Lemon said: "That's a good question. The MLS has one thing we never had -- tremendous financial resources." It also has more financial discipline. While the NASL operated much as other American sports leagues, with each team as a separate unit, the MLS controls all player contracts. And, while the NASL featured rosters choked with high-priced international players, the MLS uses mostly bargain-basement Americans. Lemon says the standard of play is not as good, but the business model may be more workable. "I think it could go. There's much more support now than when we started out." Lemon said the biggest obstacle to the Roughnecks' success was the city's and the state's relative unfamiliarity with the sport. "Bringing it to Oklahoma, which is consumed by football, it took awhile to gain acceptance." To counteract that, Roughneck players were required to make public appearances practically every day they were in town. The club also fostered a rough-and- ready reputation enhanced by Skelly Stadium's narrow pitch and sandpaper-like turf. Lemon became acquainted with Tulsa while scouting for another NASL team, the Chicago Sting. He, local businessmen Tom Keeter and Fred Latham and former Sting coach Bill Foulkes, who would become the Roughnecks' first coach, worked for six frustrating months to land a team before hooking up with Hawaii owner Ward Lay. Although the Hawaii franchise was transferred to Tulsa in mid- November 1977, the team itself was not. Charlie Mitchell, now the soccer coach at Northeastern State University, was the only player retained. In what would prove to be typical for the Roughnecks, Lemon and Foulkes hastily assembled a side, wheeling and dealing players in a bewildering series of trades, transfers and signings. While the Roughnecks may be remembered as a great success -- and by NASL standards they were -- it was hardly all sunshine and lollipops. The first game was little short of a disaster, with an admittedly inflated announced attendance of 6,000. The team changed ownership four times and coaches six times. Top players had to be sold off to avoid bankruptcy. The club actually folded after winning the 1983 NASL championship but was saved by fan contributions and cable television executive Mark Savage. In 1984 the Roughnecks went head-to-head with the Outlaws just as the city sank into the depths of an economic recession. Getty Oil, one of the Roughnecks' biggest corporate sponsors, was sold to Texaco. Attendance sagged to less than half what it had been only a few years before. The club announced it would cease operations after the 1984 season finale, a 2-0 win over the Cosmos. But Lemon, who had already been fired twice, found new investors for the ill-fated 1985 season. Sponsorship money had slowed to a trickle, and the team was forced to play in Driller Stadium. Fan support dwindled. Never known for restraint, the frustrated Lemon said Tulsa would never get another team, "unless it's professional bowling or jousting." Now he says, "If there's anything I can do, let me know."