The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

So, how long before they bulldoze it just like they did to Bells Amusement Park....?    :P

http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A33458

Sending letters every week is not much of a campaign.

Don't go confusing the simple folk.

Agreed, agreed and agreed. As someone who lives in the neighborhood and who has a vested interest in seeing it responsibly developed, that's a piss poor marketing effort (and, I dare say, starting to seem a common thread in Tulsa's general business development efforts).  

I'm not asking for the place to bulldozed tomorrow, but knowing that the committee tasked with soliciting development bids is actually beating the pavement for interest is important.  It's a significant piece of future revenue that the city could be exploiting, but if we've mounted a letter-sending campaign to move the ball forward . . . well, good freaking luck.

/frustrational rant

Well, to be fair, it's the county and not the city. Not that I would expect much more out of Dewey.

I don't know a developer that would touch that corner with a 100' pole. . .Not for at least 5 more years.

1.  100% chance of neighbors hating whatever you propose.
2.  100% chance of massive cost over-runs based on trying to make everyone happy.
3.  100% chance of noise complaints, even if you just plant a tree.
4.  100% chance of a union protest because of the site visibility, unless you hire union (see #2).

This is my opinion, and I hate to say it, but that property will have to sit vacant for a while until ANY development is viable.  There will need to be at least half a dozen concept failures before the site will welcome development, and even then there will be the standard "Historic/Nostalgic Element" protests to contend with. Whoever decides to develop there will have to be willing to pour a ton of money into it, and maintain some pretty sharp chopps, because it's going to be a hell of a fight.

It would be better if the county just dedicated it as a park and get a private company to purchase naming rights to pay for maintenance as part of the deal.  They could call it QuikTrip Park and have walking trails and bronze statues of famous TulsaNow forum posters.

I'd assumed something had come about when the tire place across the intersection closed after decades.

With the massive letter writing program, apparently I was wrong.

What ever happened on the issue of the city collecting sales taxes on the fairgrounds?

Gaspar sounds like a perfect project for a class A ahole like JB Jr.

FYI.... check out 1:06 to 1:30 in this youtube clip for 1985 highlights from Drillers Stadium....

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLy_CA-_fGg[/youtube]

Jeff, any luck lately on the new Roughnecks venture?

 I think that's done. Wasn't the water fee part of that?

Not sure.  I know we waived the requirement during the Arabian Show as they balked at the idea after they'd signed their contract.

I met Lance Walters, the president of the AHA, a few weeks ago and he said they've been more than happy with Tulsa.  I'd like to see Tulsa steal the AQHA show from OKC.  That's going on right now and I believe might bring in even more $$ than the Arabians.

I don't know this for sure, but I assume something that size would require a huge upfront bid fee from the city to acquire.  Not that that's NOT doable, but the city would have to actually have the $100k (or whatever) to plunk down to get the business. 

And that's just the first barrier to entry.  They also have to like Tulsa, too.

I really felt like at some point a few weeks after the World Cup, somebody would have shown some serious interest and would have coordinated some kind of effort.... didn't really matter if it included me or not.... money talks, something else walks......

That said, my few meetings last spring/summer with county officials, and with individuals who live blocks from the stadium, and soccer people out at the Empire bar, Fox & Hound, etc., etc., have me feeling positive for this idea at some point in the not-too-distant future... provided the stadium is still standing....

1.  SOCCER WAS THE BIG WINNER in the survey Fred Perry offered to citizens over a year ago....  http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20091130_16_A1_Drille458395

2.  People who live in the area of the fairgrounds have, by and large, been very supportive of my desire to attract a pro soccer team to the old ballpark... when educated about the 15-20 home dates required for an NASL team, those people I spoke with really liked the idea and hoped this would leave the stadium available for more concerts and other non-sports events  than was the case when the Drillers played there....

3.  The pro soccer idea has been politically palatable and desirable to county officials and some of their staff who, alas, would rather passively cheer me on than do anything proactive on their part to attract local investors....

4.  League officials from the NASL have been very interested in identifying any kind of financially stable and committed local ownership group to use the old ballpark as home for a pro soccer team... and if the franchise is successful, commit to a soccer specific stadium somewhere in/around Tulsa.... west bank of the river?... Jenks Riverwalk?... East End?....

5.  The occasional supportive email to yours truly at TulsaRoughnecks.com... international intrigue, eh?.....  
"NASL was lost and all teams are winners of American soccer revived. This is not the time to tulsa?, oklahoma have to unite for the show and memories resurface."
cristian keipert, buenos aires argentina 8/9/2010

I've been given enough "atta-boy's" in the last year to really make things depressing for me these days..... when somebody eggs you on to sell the idea of an NASL franchise to folks at the Tulsa Club or ???, yet nobody wants to have any "skin in the game," it makes me wonder..... Cameron-Box Sports seemingly has no desire to see pro soccer share the summer media spotlight with the WNBA Shock and the AFL-1 Talons... there was already grumbling of a lack of local corporate support from the Talons' office last spring... my salespitch to Cameron-Box Sports fell flat because they told me the fairgrounds soccer proposition needed "additional revenue streams" -- aka corporate suites, etc... available at the new arena and new ballpark but missing from the old Drillers Stadium....

In the meantime, the same pro soccer league that bought the rights to use "North American Soccer League" including the old logo and last year secured trademark rights to the use the nickname "Roughnecks" for soccer promotion purposes, has recently announced a 2012 expansion team for San Antonio.
http://www.nasl.com/article/san-antonio-name-the-team-contest

So, with the NASL's offices and staff in Miami, FL.... where is Noel Lemon?
And where are the people who could attract interest in a Tulsa Roughnecks team playing at an 11k capacity stadium at the fairgrounds against the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the next few years?  It's not like we're trying to bring back the Brooklyn Dodgers?... or is it?

This much I can tell you.... if Tulsa's corporate donors had invested half the money, time and effort they spent in pursuit of a WNBA team at the urging of Kathy Taylor, then paying an expansion fee rumored to be around $6mil..... well, IMHO, an NASL team in Tulsa could have been much more successful due to grassroots support and the potential expansion and marketing of that support....

So, I guess we'll just have to wait for the demise of the Shock or the demotion of the Talons to AFL-2? before the seed money or corporate sponsorships will be there for a high level pro soccer team to come to Tulsa... and by that time, I fear the stadium will be leveled to make way for a Super-sized Chuck E. Cheese with ample surface parking....  :P

/rant.

The magic question becomes: what will it cost to get a team up and running?

Tulsa has had a strong soccer culture since the 1970's you'd think it would be a cinch.

Back in the 70's soccer had huge popularity because every child from about age 7 and up played.  My whole family played, and every friend I knew.  My mom even played.  We went to Rough Neck games whenever we could because it was exciting to see a sport you were involved in. 
When Charlie & Paula Mitchell moved in across the street from us, we thought we were in celebrity heaven.

By the time my little sister started in soccer (about 1977), something new had come along that sucked the kids right off the field.  Every day after school, there were fewer and fewer kids showing up at practice.  I stopped participating, and I remember why! 

The Atari 2600 hit the market.  No more trips to the arcade on the corner.  A $200 gift for the whole family.  Myself and my band of motley mop heads would gather in a dark living room after school, and be there until dinner, only to return after speed-eating a bowl of whatever.

After that day, I don’t remember participating in the sport, going to a game or a single soccer reference.  Because most of the schools treated soccer as a non-scholastic sport, it slowly died, as did many other after school kids sports.  The incentive to go see soccer heroes on the field died with it.

That was my experience.

Both of my children have played competitive soccer. The sport is still huge here in Tulsa. We have been to tournaments with 200 teams from four or five states compete here in Tulsa.

In the Tulsa area, these are the club programs...Tulsa Soccer Club, Nationals Soccer, Blitz United, Extreme Soccer Club, the Texans, Westside Soccer Association, Highlanders Soccer, Hurricane Soccer, and other clubs in Claremore, Bartlesville, and every other small town. Each of these clubs have at least one boys and girls team with 12 to 17 players at every age between six and eighteen. Some of the clubs have four teams of girls or boys in one age group. Each of these players pay between $50 and $100 each month for coaching for two or three practices a week year-round.

Besides that, there are probably as many recreation teams playing in leagues organized by Blitz United or Tulsa Parks. There is an indoor facility in east Tulsa that has adult games most of the nights with some games starting after midnight.

We live in East Tulsa with the lots of hispanic kids in the schools. Every playground is filled with soccer players during recess and after school. Tomorrow at East Central High School there is an exhibition match between two professional Central American teams. There is also a tournament for 15 to 19 year old boys that has 15% of the top teams in America competing.

Soccer is huge in Tulsa.

Soccer is most certainly a school sponsored sport. It's not as popular a spectator sport at the high school level but it's just as competitive. And I don't think that any after school sports have died. My kids have played a number of rec sports since before they started school. I would say that most kids play sports of one kind or another, at least up until middle school.

My kids have played softball, baseball, cheer (football) and my son now plays on an academy level soccer team and I can tell you that soccer is by far the most popular youth sport in Tulsa. And it's not even close.  He's playing indoor winter league right now.

The Atari 2600 did that?  I thought it was the introduction of red haired sensemilla to the Tulsa area 8)

That just dropped my high scores on the 2600!

I, uh, I mean one of my friends actually got more focused and my er, uh his scores went up.

Nice attempt to backpeddle that one.  ;)

I helped with the demolition of the old Driller's Stadium and got some good lumber and plumbing fixtures from the place.  Maybe I can score some of the new stadium when they tear it down.

This will probably go the way of the horse track at the fairgrounds.  Big build up.  Kick out the race cars.  Bring in horses.  Corruption by the powers that be that put the horse track out of business.  Ineffective use of the facility ever since.

Yeah, that sounds about like Tulsa County administration of the fairgrounds.  Oh, yeah, don't forget Bells!

I see that the old stadium has gotten a lease for next year for major tournaments for kids baseball, and for no baseball events. Glad to see it getting used.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=16&articleid=20101222_16_A5_CUTLIN463825&archive=yes (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=16&articleid=20101222_16_A5_CUTLIN463825&archive=yes)