Major League Soccer in Tulsa -- One question quiz

[perspicuity85]

If there is one thing that I can't gripe about enough on this forum- it's the lack of promotion of Tulsa's assets to its own citizens.  If you can fix the perception of Tulsa in the mind of local citizens, that's the first step towards landing MLS-caliber opportunities.  The C & V Bureau is invisible as far as I'm concerned.  Tulsans do not share a sense of community throughout the city, and there is a general lack of community pride that results.

[USRufnex]

I guess I shouldn't be so hard on the possible St Louis club playing in Collinsville, IL... truth be told, it reminds me of Owasso with all the new stuff... strangely enough, some of the current handful of MLS owners may be afraid of.... a team owned by.... gasp...... wait for it.... LAWYERS!!!

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/17/meet-mls-in-st-louis/

quote:The main stumbling block for the St. Louis group is its over all capitalization. Some M.L.S. owners have told Cooper to find additional investors, while other M.L.S. owners are reluctant to welcome a club led by a group of lawyers into their club.

quote:Originally posted by perspicuity85

Ruf, thanks for the info.  Do you know Noel Lemon?  From what I've read about him online, he seems to be the type of person Tulsa needs to bring pro soccer back.  He seems to be thought of as a passionate person and a risk-taker.

No, I've never met Noel Lemon... these days, he resurfaces in the Tulsa World about once every four years, so I'm guessing we probably won't hear from him again until the World Cup in 2010... []

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=105430

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=384090

select quotes from Noel Lemon over the years... 1998, 2002, 2006.... []

"We had quite a battle," Lemon recalled this week during a telephone conversation from his home in Florida, where he is still involved in the sport as a pro moter. "Tulsa was such a small city. A lot of people in the league didn't even know where it was."

"We put everything on the line," said Lemon. "Everyone in the room had the same question. They wanted to know why would we go to Tulsa, Oklahoma? What made it different from other small markets that wanted franchises?"

"The hardest thing we faced was trying to convince the NASL that a franchise could make it in Tulsa," said Lemon. "We had no history to tell them about. We were going into this deal cold turkey. We were selling the league dreams and ideas."

"I don't know if people realize how difficult it was to keep the Roughnecks going," said Lemon. "We were very popular in this city and it was still a struggle."

"I don't think any teams in the league were profitable," said Lemon. "Our losses, at least for a while, diminished each year. The owners thought the losses were manageable, and there was some hope. The league just fell apart around us."  When asked if professional soccer has any better prospects today than it did 20 years ago, Lemon said: "That's a good question. The MLS has one thing we never had -- tremendous financial resources."

"Things are different, now. I know in our heyday, when things were going great, we always talked about getting our own stadium. In fact, we went so far to have discussions with Oral Roberts University about building a 30,000-seat facility. We would have loved to have had a grass home to call our own."

"I really think we helped the city because we provided something that they didn't have before," he said. "We provided a national sports team. The team was covered on more than one occasion in Sports Illustrated, and that had never happened before. We were covered obviously in all of the major newspapers around the country."

"People around the country got to know where Tulsa was. When we got there, people (in other towns) talked like they thought there were tumbleweeds rolling down the street in Tulsa. We showed them that wasn't necessarily the case."

------------------------------------------------

And then there was the bitter end... the league dwindled down from a high of 24 teams from 1978 to 1980, to 21 in '81... then only 14 teams in '82... 12 teams remaining for '83.....  

"In 1984 the Roughnecks went head-to-head with the Outlaws (ed: Tulsa's new USFL team) just as the city sank into the depths of an economic recession. Getty Oil, one of the Roughnecks' biggest corporate sponsors, was sold to Texaco. Attendance sagged to less than half what it had been only a few years before. The club announced it would cease operations after the 1984 season finale, a 2-0 win over the Cosmos.

But Lemon, who had already been fired twice, found new investors for the ill-fated 1985 season.  Sponsorship money had slowed to a trickle, and the team was forced to play in Driller Stadium. Fan support dwindled.

Never known for restraint, the frustrated Lemon said Tulsa would never get another team, "unless it's professional bowling or jousting."

Now he says, "If there's anything I can do, let me know."


----- "professional bowling or jousting?"   heh-heh-heh.

[perspicuity85]

Ruf, a couple of questions:
Is there anywhere around Tulsa one could find Roughnecks memorabilia?  
Is the Roughnecks logo still trade-marked?

There is a big market for nostalgia sports gear these days.  You don't have to look hard to find old pro team logos.  Is it still possible to produce Roughnecks t-shirs?  I would buy one today.

[USRufnex]

don't really know of anyplace... and the couple of shirts I've seen with the Roughnecks' logo on them have been, well... pretty lame.... the only thing I see every now and then is the famous Dr. Pepper bottle...



and then there's some soccer-luvin-dweeb who just decided he'd swipe the tulsaroughnecks.com web domain...

http://www.tulsaroughnecks.com   [:I]

I'm asking for some advice from these guys as to how best to put it together...
http://www.tampabayrowdies.com/rowdies%20action.htm
http://goalseattle.com/MuseumLobby.htm

hard to find much, it's been years since I've seen Tulsa's media guides available on ebay...



So, it may be time to put together a website, especially since 2008 will mark the 25th anniversary of the Tulsa Roughnecks 1983 Soccer Bowl victory... Oklahoma's only major league championship team...





Okay, these video clips are very poor quality... this is still a work in progress, still playing around with webcam/dig.camera stuff... audio ain't bad, though... just don't want 'em to be too good... don't wanna get sued... []


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi1kYUVtZT4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5jZnD9JVfw

Oh, and I hear Seattle wants to sell their USL1 team... hint, hint...

[perspicuity85]

quote:Originally posted by USRufnex
Oh, and I hear Seattle wants to sell their USL1 team... hint, hint...

Ok, Ruf.  Opportunity for you.  Figure out whether or not the Roughnecks logo is still trade-marked, and I can get some shirts made.  There ought to be a massive memorabilia craze going on with Roughnecks merchandise right before these soccer team opportunities come up.  Get people to demand the product(team) before it's available.  It's called marketing "pull."    Young people in Tulsa have absolutely no idea that we once had a major league soccer team.  The league folded before most of this year's college graduates were born!  I'm young enough to not remember the Roughnecks, and I thought it was ridiculous to assume that Tulsa would ever be considered for a MLS team, until I did some research about the Roughnecks and the NASL.

I'm not saying re-make Roughnecks merchandise is going to land Tulsa a soccer team, but it also can't be discounted as a factor in creating demand for a team.

If nothing else, someone could profit from selling Roughnecks stuff at stores like Dwelling Spaces.  If you find out the trade-mark info, let me know.

[Renaissance]

quote:Originally posted by perspicuity85

quote:Originally posted by USRufnex
Oh, and I hear Seattle wants to sell their USL1 team... hint, hint...

Ok, Ruf.  Opportunity for you.  Figure out whether or not the Roughnecks logo is still trade-marked, and I can get some shirts made.  There ought to be a massive memorabilia craze going on with Roughnecks merchandise right before these soccer team opportunities come up.  Get people to demand the product(team) before it's available.  It's called marketing "pull."    Young people in Tulsa have absolutely no idea that we once had a major league soccer team.  The league folded before most of this year's college graduates were born!  I'm young enough to not remember the Roughnecks, and I thought it was ridiculous to assume that Tulsa would ever be considered for a MLS team, until I did some research about the Roughnecks and the NASL.

I'm not saying re-make Roughnecks merchandise is going to land Tulsa a soccer team, but it also can't be discounted as a factor in creating demand for a team.

If nothing else, someone could profit from selling Roughnecks stuff at stores like Dwelling Spaces.  If you find out the trade-mark info, let me know.

I was born in 1979 and I'd buy your shirts.  I was at Dwelling Spaces last time I was in town and snagged a boatload of Tulsa kitch.  My '918' shirt is my favorite kick-around tee at the moment.  The best is the occasional knowing look I get at the mall in Dallas from people with Tulsa connections.

[USRufnex]

Trademark is over 25 years old...
http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=460478

might check with a lawyer if you're thinking of marketing it and selling retro-shirts...

Bad generic retro...


Genuine item...... look at the bid...


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=150191310158&Category=50133&_trksid=p3907.m29#ebayphotohosting

...and no, I didn't bid on it.

[andeegee]

hahaha.. what's up with the beatles wannabees? the hair sucks!

go tulsa

[andeegee]

got to give it to these guys!