Tulsa Talons Major?

[In_Tulsa]

Will the Tulsa Talons ever go to the majors or will it always be af2? With the new BOk Center it should go major.

[Gold]

"Major league" arena football.  []

[OSU]

I think he means af1 the league of the current champs Philadelphia Soul. I think arena football would benefit from a system close to the English premier league (soccer/football) where the bottom teams in the af1 are relegated to af2 and the top teams in af2 are moved to af1 on a season by season basis.

[Gold]

Right . . . I got that.  I was referring to the idea of the "majors" of Arena Football league.  Does the goalpost move at that level?  []

I think it would be cool if we moved up, but we'd likely lose the rivalry with OKC.  It might be a better deal for the players . . . they'd be better off working construction as things stand, though it's cool they play basically just to play.

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by Gold

Right . . . I got that.  I was referring to the idea of the "majors" of Arena Football league.  Does the goalpost move at that level?  []

I think it would be cool if we moved up, but we'd likely lose the rivalry with OKC.  It might be a better deal for the players . . . they'd be better off working construction as things stand, though it's cool they play basically just to play.

I don't see it happening anytime soon with the current average of 5000 in attendance.  Plus, the arena would modify the lease for the club to increase it, since they would be stepping up to a higher league.

[buck]

Paul Ross, co-owner of the Talons, said that the costs to go to AFL would be substantial, that they would have to have a lot of coporate sponsorships and he didn't feel like they could get that in Tulsa, the Tulsa will always be an AF2 market. I don't know if you have ever looked at the Talons fan club message board, but but if you do I'm sure are threads on this topic over there. Talons message board

[USRufnex]

I saw somewhere that a potential owner for an AFL team would need assets in the neighborhood of $60mil... expansion fee was $20mil?.... can't remember where I saw it though...

The smallest market in AFL is Grand Rapids, MI.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-afl-expansion-on-agenda,0,3358752.story

Arena Football League expansion on agenda
John Mullin | Chicago Tribune
8:23 AM EDT, July 8, 2008

ROSEMONT, Ill. - With an attendance increase of 6 percent despite a down economic market, Arena Football League Commissioner David Baker said Sunday the league was looking at expansion, with Boston, Pittsburgh and South Florida among the leading locales.

An announcement could be made at the July 27 ArenaBowl in New Orleans, he said.

Baker also said London and Berlin were under consideration for international expansion. The NFL discontinued its European league and its spring games, but Baker said NFL games usually were played in soccer stadiums with fans far back from the fields, whereas AFL games are played in smaller venues with fans much closer.

"We've had 21 international exhibitions, and they've all been sellouts," Baker said. "This is a great introduction to football for people."

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Of course, yours truly--aka "the soccer guy" keeps saying Tulsa's best chance has been Major League Soccer, but now that the league has David Beckham, the fees for expansion teams have quadrupled since 2003 ($10mil when LaFortune was talking it up in 2003, $15mil when Global Dev Partners were trying to deliver a soccer stadium in the east village in Nov/Dec 2005.... now $40mil)...

There have always been soccer people (folks who've never lived here) who talk from time to time about MLS's viability in Tulsa....

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=15283300&postcount=24