The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Oklahoma has two USL franchises (Energy FC & Roughneccks FC).  Would love to see an MLS franchise in Oklahoma, I'm ole school, a supporter of the NASL Tulsa Roughnecks in my younger years; therefore, I would love nothing better than to see an MLS franchise in Oklahoma.

The MLS appears to favor cities in the 2 million MSA populations range or more; that doesn't mean that you couldn't rule out a Tulsa franchise that would gather regional support from Oklahoma City & Wichita.  And let's not forget those transplants in Kansas City & Dallas who once lived in Tulsa & Oklahoma City.

Tulsa IMO could support a Major League Soccer franchise; just like Oklahoma City supports the NBA with the help of Tulsa & Wichita.  Personally, I wouldn't care if the franchise favor the Tulsa name; I think all of Oklahoma would support it.  OKC IMO would be marginal to support both NBA and MLS.

The biggest hurdle would be a stadium.  Chapman Stadium doesn't meet the pitch requirements for professional soccer; therefore it's an American football venue only; same can be said for Gaylord Family in Norman.  

We need to rally behind a multi million dollar state-of-the-art $200 million-$300 million, 30,000 seat stadium in Tulsa; something similar to what they are building/planning in cities like Austin, Charlotte, Indianapolis & Nashville.

I like to use Baylor University's McLane Stadium in Waco as a place holder because it's on the river:


McLane Stadium seats 45,140, built in 2014 at a cost of $270 million.  Tulsa would need something in the seating range of 30,000 with expansion capabilities.  

Truly believe that we will get beyond this Covid-19 Pandemic sometime beyond 2022.   Tulsa does have a Tulsa Stadium Trust in place that could oversee an operation of this magnitude:  Could a 10,000-seat outdoor stadium be built downtown? https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/could-a--seat-outdoor-stadium-be-built-downtown/article_8054d661-7047-52e9-9090-ade8e8d2f209.html (https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/could-a--seat-outdoor-stadium-be-built-downtown/article_8054d661-7047-52e9-9090-ade8e8d2f209.html)


It's time to work together with both cities pulling together as we've successfully done with the NBA. Believe it could work since Oklahoma City & Tulsa already supports an NBA franchise; why not a Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise supported by both cities based in Tulsa...