OKC is much more in-line to receive an MLS expansion team. As far as sports are concerned, Tulsa will always be a third-rate city. OKC/Dallas/KC are bigger and close enough to cover the market. The best we can hope for is to get a proper minor league team for SOMETHING. I wish we still had the Thunder B-team at least.
Tulsa is a significantly better market for soccer (under the right conditions) even though our metro population is smaller than the OKC metro area.
Tulsa consistently shows up on Top 10 Nielsen ratings for soccer on TV, while OKC does not.
https://deadline.com/2019/06/womens-world-cup-ratings-fox-sports-thailand-1202631488/http://www.giltedgesoccer.com/womens-world-cup-tv-social-highlights/https://www.tulsaworld.com/sports/from-world-cup-ratings-to-youth-participation-soccer-is-huge/article_0c9ee994-e34a-5328-bc9b-1a6b38534704.htmlThe difference? OKC/Bob Funk Jr's Prodigal Sports bought Tulsa's USL territorial rights for a professional team in their league and then peddled them to the Drillers' owners, who never had any previous interest in soccer. It's as if OKC Energy wanted the Drillers to run a team that calls itself the "Roughnecks" because they knew the Hubbard brothers would only be willing to pay a fraction of the player salaries that Funk Jr and company were/are willing to pay to field a competitive team.... so we have a minor league version of a one time major league franchise that has never had a winning season, has had two seasons where they've finished DEAD LAST in their conference, and this season they are in 17th out of 18 teams in the USL Western Conference. So, a team that far outdrew the Energy in its first season is not competitive enough to be worth watching anymore...
https://www.uslchampionship.com/league-standings (check out "Select a season" and look at Tulsa's records in 2016 & 2018 as well as this year's standings... ugh)
Sorry, but any civic narrative claiming that OKC is capable of supporting two major league franchises (NBA & MLS?) while Tulsa is incapable of supporting any is a false narrative.
http://www.fieldofschemes.com/2019/08/07/15130/oklahoma-city-soccer-team-owner-wants-tax-money-for-new-stadium-because-economic-boost-and-diversity/Meanwhile, Tulsa County needlessly destroyed a 10k seat stadium, a stadium more than capable of hosting a high level pro soccer team as first tenant with far better viewing angles to watch a game than the soccer viewing angles at ONEOk Park... not to mention a team playing there that has never had a losing season in our seven years of existence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT_KPWnybug