The game would have to be played at Athletics Stadium though. Roughnecks wouldn't have a chance playing at their home field. They can't seem to win anything there.
Speaking of home field advantage...The Athletics have scored an insane 25 goals during the last three home games. They beat Houston 8-3 over the weekend.
Make that 30 goals in the last 4 home games. Another 5 goals scored against Joplin on Tuesday. Big game at home against Wichita tomorrow night.
Decent, but obviously our home attendance has taken a big hit... only announced crowd was 1,127 for a game a few weeks ago... my guess is attendance ranging from about 600 for a weeknight game up to a high of about 1,400 or so on the weekends... but our core crowd is still as rowdy and enthusiastic as ever. http://www.alwayssonnypodcast.com/archives/2015/7/7/episode-18-ava-birch-in-the-studio Tonight is the Tulsa Athletics final game of the season as we host second-place FC Wichita at 7:30 pm at Athletics Stadium on 15th & Yale. The FC Wichita supporters group, "Air Capital Firm," has sold out a chartered bus and will be roadtripping to T-town. After winning our division the last two years, we have already clinched a third place finish (6 wins, 4 losses, 3 ties) this season in an eight team South Central Conference. FC Wichita can clinch the title over first place San Antonio Corinthians FC with a win tonight or a win in their home finale on Sunday against Ft Worth. Johnny Chavez is back with the club after not getting playing time with the Roughnecks. The Athletics lost the previous meeting on 6/13 in Wichita by a score of 4-2. This season the club got off to a poor start, but have hit our stride of late, winning our last couple of home games 5-2 and 8-3. Very proud of our July 4th game which benefited VFW Post 577... and the previous week's match which benefited Oklahoma Project Woman and BCAP. All tickets for tonight's game are $7. Tailgate starts at 5:15 in the parking lot next to the old Health Dept building. "Gentlemen... start your livers..." #TulsaTilIDie
so do you have any weblinks available on the team website to these groups??? I always support giving back especially when it is driven initially from a soccer perspective... feel free to PM me... Best, M
The club will live on, just playing somewhere else. Sonny D mentioned that either on his podcast or the open letter he put out before the Vision vote. This could end up being the best thing for the club (my opinion). Not having to pay that ridiculous rent to the county would be a financial windfall. It's been reported to be $5k a month. Ludicrous for what that stadium is to charge that much. But in any event, the Athletics will be fine.
A tale of two clubs... From the Tulsa Athletics' 2016 Opening Day program, this from an interview with Sonny Dalesandro: Question: You mentioned proving yourself again, last year was pretty rough, especially compared to the first and second seasons, if you need to prove yourself again, what are the A's going to do this year? Answer: Last year, Dr. Kern and I had to make a decision before the season started, and that was: Do we want to go blow for blow with a team that has more money, is newer than us, and they can say they're professionals. Tulsans are going to go see what something new looks like. We made the decision before things got started: Let's tighten up the belt for 2015, and let's just stick around. Let's not do anything reckless that could mean that we wouldn't see 2016. I'm not afraid to say that we were actually a profitable club last year. While our attendance might have shown a dip, we did what was necessary to getting us back to where we were in 2013 and 2014. We don't regret it. Principles of play Despite losing stadium, Athletics’ demise greatly exaggerated By John Tranchina The Tulsa Voice /May 18-31, 2016 http://www.thetulsavoice.com/May-B-2016/Principles-of-play/ FROM MANCHESTER TO TULSA - LAURIE BELL: STARTING FROM SCRATCH http://inbedwithmaradona.com/journal/2016/5/16/starting-from-scratch
To me, this is getting WAY too much talk. Get through this season. Then, focus on next. NPSL clubs have a hard enough time getting through the current season...not much in future needs to be talked about until the season is completed.
The Athletics seem to be a well run club and its impressive that they were profitable last year and drew 1350 per match even with the D3 USL Tulsa club to compete for fans with. Hoping they find a suitable venue for next season, not sure whats available in Tulsa.
I am not disagreeing one bit. Just...can we let this season play? Tulsa has played just 4 games so far, and we're still in the first couple weeks of this season.
Why? I posted a timely article. The club met with fans a few weeks ago and they are of course going full speed ahead for this season. It is possible to walk and chew gum at the same time.
As I said previously, 4 games into the season. The focus should be on this season. Yes, both can be talked about...but, there doesn't need to be anything solved RIGHT NOW. Updates, sure they are good, but leave that up to the front office. They will keep everyone updated when they feel necessary. Everyone else, can just root and hope Tulsa will compete for the South Central title.
To give you a bit of background, 2015 was a year in which most local traditional media outlets kicked the amateur NPSL Athletics to the curb in favor of the professional USL Roughnecks. Honestly, if it weren't for social media, last year would have been even worse attendance-wise. I wouldn't be surprised if some low-info soccer fans thought we'd either folded or had been replaced by the USL Roughnecks. Any media speculation, whether from the local ABC affiliate or the local downtown bi-weekly, over what might happen with us for 2017 is already as much or more publicity than we got in general last year. Tulsa Athletics talk new home during meeting By David Norris Wednesday, April 13th 2016 http://ktul.com/embed/news/local/tulsa-athletics-talk-new-home-during-meeting And the club had to say something when the looming prospect of losing the stadium to a BMX National HQ become a likely scenario rather than allow speculation to fester before or after the April vote passed... here's the first one. An Open Letter from the Owners Posted on March 28, 2016 http://www.tulsaathletics.com/news/an-open-letter-from-the-owners/ Here's the subsequent one.... Athletics Stadium Open Forum Posted on April 6, 2016 http://www.tulsaathletics.com/news/athletics-stadium-open-forum/ We have a core fanbase who are very invested in the future of the team. So, while we focus on the field for 2016, I think our fans are on notice that things will change. And if the rest of the fans are anything like me (hint: they are!), we'll be proactive in offering our input or anything we can do to help the club in their decision process over what to do and where to go for next year. And tonight I'll be going to Arnie's Bar to watch the stream from Joplin... Go A's!!!
Not too early to talk about a stadium at all. A group of us met with Sonny a few weeks ago. The club is going nowhere and they'll play wherever. It's ashamed what Tulsa politics and the Roughnecks front office have done.
First goal... FC Wichita PBP announcer slips and calls us a dirty word. Gotta say, this club doesn't substitute as much as we RELOAD!!!
appears to be many teams in your conference with some games at hand...so I assume that the top 4 teams make the playoffs?