From today's "Daily Oklahoman"... In a nuthsell: Looks like the "suburb" that Lund mentioned was interested in an MLS team (should OKC turn it down), is indeed Edmond. The University of Central Oklahoma is looking at building a new 25,000 seat stadium for their football team which could be shared with an MLS team. Apparently, that is ONLY IF the OKC plans fall through. So, this whole OKC/Tulsa debate SHOULD be OKC/Edmond...haha too bad Tulsa! Actually, though, Tulsa was NOT even mentioned in this article. Here's the full article from todays "Daily Oklahoman". http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=892326&TP=getmoresports The Oklahoma Frontier The Oklahoma Pioneers The Oklahoma FC The Oklahoma City Slickers The Oklahoma City Boomers The Oklahoma City Natives This is getting exciting...
As an Edmond resident, I'd be beside myself with joy if a stadium were built here but I still think somewhere near Bricktown would be a better choice. More restaurants, bars and hotels. Although.....Edmond has some strong reasons for putting in a new stadium. Would MLS agree to partially fund a facility that the city wants to also use for college & high school football?
Honestly, as long as an MLS comes to the Oklahoma City metro, whether it be OKC or Edmond, I really don't care. I would prefer, however, that it be in OKC only because OKC has more to offer in Bricktown with entertainment and restaurants for before and after the game. The atmosphere with the canal, the riverfront, Bricktown and the skyscrapers combined with a stadium would be ideal. Plus, OKC is a central location to both Norman and Edmond. But like I say, around the metro would be fine with me. Tulsa? I probably wouldn't go to any games there...
Edmond will not be used as a pawn. Now that suburban Edmond (pop. 68,315) has entered the picture, I know that Oklahoma City and ole homefries (Mayor Kirk Humphreys) is going to get the ball rolling. I don't feel that Edmond is being used as a pawn to get Oklahoma City into a biding war. One thing that I can say about Oklahoma City leaders, they will not get into a biding war with any city--they lay their cards on the table and that's it! Edmond is an option--and a very attractive option at that since the local University of Central Oklahoma (of which I am a proud graduate--B.S., M.Ed) has plans to either enlarge Wantland Stadium or build a new stadium. Keeping Wantland Stadium for track and field and some high school games which doesn't require 10,000 plus fans crowds will be great. I say, build a new 25,000-seat stadium and since there are three high schools in Edmond, keep Wantland Stadium. The new stadium could be used for Major League Soccer, college and high school football games of interest.
JC Watts is coming back to Oklahoma, he introduced the Bill in the Congress saluting the US Team. So I say name the team. JC FC or Watts FC
How wealthy is Edmond? The reason I ask is this --- a city like McKinney of almost identical size and very high wealth says they can't afford to build a stadium. So what's the difference? Is it the intervention by the school? Would an Edmond stadium show McKinney for a confederacy of bald-faced liars? Also, I think it's an itneresting idea to build jointly with another body. If MLS gets to control the stadium revenues for its own events and split construction and maintenance costs ..... is there something I'm not thinking about that would make this less appealing than on first blush.
Edmond is home to doctors and lawyers and the upper middle class. They have money. How any of this would work is that the MLS I/O would go in with the city and state to help build a new stadium to share with the University of Central Oklahoma. They're wanting to upgrade to a 25,000 or more stadium. If the I/O puts in even 5 million, chances are he'd have the run of the place since the MLS is a summer sport and football is a fall activity that barely overlaps the MLS season. The pitch dimensions and layout would be primary because a football field would easily be layed over top of it.
Both cities seem comparable but from what I've seen the McKinney stadium would be part of a soccer complex while Univ. of Central Oklahoma has been "chompin' at the bit" to either expand Wantland or build another stadium. Lots of state $$$ goes through UCO. Former Okla. Gov later to become UCO prez George Nigh raised huge funds for the school a few years back. Pool the resources of UCO, Edmond Public Schools, the City of Edmond, and I/Os from Express and OPUBCO and you could get a state of the art facility that MLS would get concessions, parking, etc. during the season since this is a stadium it helped to build/fund. It sounds like a win/win situation for all involved... unless the mayor of Edmond decides an Arena II team would be better
I have no idea what Division Central OK is in (I'm guessing DII, maybe DI-AA), but college football starts in late August (the MLS runs until late October) and is played on Saturdays (unless non-Div. I-A schools play at different times) just like the MLS. Clearly this will require some crafty scheduling especially when playoffs come around. I also thought that OKC had completely fallen through until the economy improves since the mayor refused to use city funds to build an SSS. Am I mistaken here?
i just want to ask something... you were talking about population above... well how many people do you think that an MLS city must have for being profitable (because if a good percentage of the people of one city goes for the match the team will be profitable...) my city have an 50K SSS... and have 2 million people and in the last six months we averaged arround 30K per match..... well of course we have the best attendance in our countr, but that is not being discussed here
It depends on a lot of factors. In cities where MLS may be the only game in town as it was in Columbus at one time, MLS took the heart of Columbus fans and it will continue to grow. Columbus is a moderately good size market with 1.5 million. I can eventually see them enlarging Crew Stadium or moving some games back to Ohio Stadium as MLS starts to get its share of the fans' market. MLS could be successful in any market with a population base exceeding 500,000 with no major professional or competing sport. Cities like Omaha, Des Moines, Wichita, Quad Cities, Fort Wayne, Mobile, Colombia, Little Rock and Albuquerque shouldn't be overlooked!
well it a good think to see that a "minor" cities can hold a goo MLS team... you mentioned above Des Moines... i think that this city can be an MLS city y few years (because of their beautiful stadium they are building...)
Re: how many live there? U.S. Census 2000 MSA: Oklahoma City 1,083,346 Projected MSA population for 2002: Oklahoma City 1,125,100
Can't wait Back up plan in Edmond. Great. Whoever gets the team will they join in 2003 or 2004 season? Oklahoma Octane!
Probably 2004 at the earliest because it would take that long to get a stadium designed and built. Or they could just temp house the team in the 10,000 seat Wantland Stadium on the UCO campus.
One good thing about Wantland Stadium, it is bowl shaped with a grass embankment which easily seat bring the seating capacity to 15,000. Taft Stadium would also be a good option. The ancient old coloseum built back during the WPA has a minimum seating capacity of 14,000 and could easily accommodate 18,000. Using either stadium will create an instance demand for tickets. When Oklahoma City applied for a NHL franchise back in 1997, I didn't see half of the support for NHL that I am seeing for MSL. MSL is going to be a big hit here--comparable to the impact MLS has on Columbus.