Make your voice heard. What should be done with Driller's Stadium?

[PepePeru]

so, the articles you link are at 10 years old.
However, upon reading them, the largest crowd (3,561) was where?  Union-Tuttle stadium. 

So, what exactly are you trying to say?  Is it that south Tulsa is the right place for a minor league soccer team to play?

The demographics are there, not in mid-town, east or north Tulsa.  Little Braxton, Dakota and Cheyenne love to be driven in mom's Yukon to soccer practice, it's ever so much fun.

[we vs us]

so, the articles you link are at 10 years old.
However, upon reading them, the largest crowd (3,561) was where?  Union-Tuttle stadium. 

So, what exactly are you trying to say?  Is it that south Tulsa is the right place for a minor league soccer team to play?

The demographics are there, not in mid-town, east or north Tulsa.  Little Braxton, Dakota and Cheyenne love to be driven in mom's Yukon to soccer practice, it's ever so much fun.

I don't necessarily disagree with you overall, but you're ignoring the fastest growing demographic of rabid soccer fans in Tulsa:  hispanics.  Midtown's pretty darn close to east Tulsa.  Union Tuttle, while not far in distance, is light years away in other important ways.

[Red Arrow]

I wonder if that's got anything to do with the odd north/south street alignments on 13th between Harvard & Delaware.

I don't know, the map wasn't very detailed.

[USRufnex]

so, the articles you link are at 10 years old.

That happens to be the most recent info I have in which men's pro soccer has been played in Tulsa at high school facilities.  

I also showed a 2003 pic of Skelly Stadium with 14,000 soccer fans in attendance but you conveniently chose to ignore that and focus on the negative.  

Funny dat.

So, what exactly are you trying to say?  Is it that south Tulsa is the right place for a minor league soccer team to play?

However, upon reading them, the largest crowd (3,561) was where?  Union-Tuttle stadium.

Union-Tuttle Stadium is a reasonable venue....... for USL-2.
The USL brass want a Tulsa team to play in their top division:  USL-1.
USL-1 teams average around 4,500 fans per game.

--USL First Division requires at least 5,000 seating capacity; their benchmarks for seating type are 50% individual, 50% bleacher with back.  The ballpark offers this; high school stadiums do not have individual seats or bleachers with backs.  

--USL Second Division requires at least 3,500 seating capacity; bleachers are okay.

--The ballpark at the fairgrounds has a grass field and no massive football markings all over the field. 

--Tulsa has never hosted a USL-1 team.

The demographics are there, not in mid-town, east or north Tulsa.  Little Braxton, Dakota and Cheyenne love to be driven in mom's Yukon to soccer practice, it's ever so much fun.

"Little Braxton?  Dakota?  Cheyenne?"

You do condescending really well, Pepe.  You really do.... you have a really amusing condescending sense of humor there.
I'm more of a sarcasm man, myself.  

Try to back up your arguments by using substance rather than resorting to condescending and banal stereotypes... your self proclaimed "demographics" about south Tulsa versus midtown versus north Tulsa are far too typical of Tulsans I've met who refuse to go downtown... or north of 11th Street.... or south of 41st... or north of 51st......

It's a huge pet-peeve of mine to hear unhinged Tulsa territorialism. 
How else do you think Chris Medlock comes up with his "midtown elite" schtick?

Funny how the same kinds of people who expect all of us to be so very open-minded regarding their downtown-centric mass transit/urban density plans resort to stereotyping and pigeon-holing about "demographics" they know diddley-squat about.

[cannon_fodder]

Rufnex:

My main concern with turning the stadium into a soccer stadium is that it would be fairly screwball.  You have posted pictures of the Puerto Rico stadium like that and it looks like crap.  Clearly they converted an old baseball stadium to make an old baseball stadium where you can play soccer.

The Tulsa stadium is built like a giant K'nex set.  I wonder how easy it would be to deconstruct the current configuration and rebuild it into a soccer stadium.  I'm sure there would be some minimal expense, but I would imagine the field would fit better, the fan experience would be better, and it would look the part while being able to utilize most of the materials and the current concession, bathroom facilities and gates.  With a nice looking large soccer stadium I'm sure we could accommodate a USL-1 team as well as trying to make a bigger deal of TU-OU, OU-OSU, and other in-state soccer matches.   

Hell, if the infield of the horse track was ever made to look like a decent horse track and grass placed in the middle there it could be used as a damn nice soccer complex in mid town (dare we try to host a regional soccer tournament?).  I know, I know . . . we'd have to give up surface parking.  But it would make the track look MUCH more respectable (a paved infield?  Really?) and provide a space for kids to play soccer while simultaneously creating a new venue for the city to host functions.  There is no green space as expo square . . .

So I'm on board Rufnex.  Reconfigure the stadium to a soccer stadium and grass the infield.  Expo square would gain a nicer looking race track, green space at expo, a new soccer complex, a soccer stadium, and the possibility of hosting more events.

That's my plan.  Go.

[USRufnex]

Still no complete results for the survey that ended 10/31.... but.....

10/26/09
Ideas for old stadium pour in
The suggestions run along three categories: concerts, conversion or demolition.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=382&articleid=20091026_16_A8_TulsaC24012&archive=yes

Already the opinions are many and varied. As of Oct. 19, the county had received 1,867 recommendations as part of an online survey.

They include:
* Turning it into a concert venue.
* Converting it to a soccer stadium.
* Building an indoor/outdoor restaurant with a children's play area.

10/28/2009
County asks
What to do with old Drillers ballpark?
http://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/article.aspx?subjectid=61&articleid=20091028_61_A20_Timeis745349&archive=yes

Some of the ideas already put forth for the 5.5-acre site include a concert venue, a soccer stadium and an indoor/outdoor restaurant with a play area for children.

County Commissioner Fred Perry, chairman of the fair board, said input he has received so far suggests survey results will fall into three general categories: a concert and sports venue; new development featuring recreational, retail or hotel development; or more parking, barns and other facilities to augment current Expo Square uses.

[USRufnex]

Phish at Toyota Park 2009-08-11

[dbacks fan]

Ruf, I understand your passion for soccer and think that it's great to be passionate about something, but a facility like Toyota Park would not fit into the foot print of the old Drillers Stadium without taking out turn 3 and 4 of Fair Meadows and taking out the TCHD building. Toyota Park, just the stadium is 650' end to end, and 560' from side to side. It's roughly the size of Skelly Stadium, and with some of the backlash that I have read about BOk and ONEOK, who would pay for a soccer stadium to be built in place of the old ball park? Also Toyota Park has three sports played there, MLS, WPS, and lacrosse all playing overlapping seasons from April until October. Would, or could Tulsa support two to three more teams?

[USRufnex]

I have never proposed that a 20k seat stadium for Major League Soccer be constructed at the fairgrounds.  I simply posted the images above to demonstrate how an outdoor stadium venue can be used for concerts....

I'm glad you appreciate my "passion" blah-blah-blah.... but there is a pro soccer league that wants to be in Tulsa, and there is a potential fanbase here who have  made their voices heard in the county's survey, and it may be possible to keep the old ballpark intact as a combination concert/soccer venue while still being used from time to time in a baseball/softball configuration.

This is reasonable, it is feasible, and it is doable...... on second thought, maybe we can preserve the old ballpark by selling it to OKC or Edmond, considering Tulsa's proclivity for taking perfectly good structures and bulldozing them for surface parking....  

My argument has been that the old Drillers Stadium would work perfectly well for USL-1 and would need very little retrofitting.  No movement of upper deck stands would be required.... a 90-degree angle in either leftfield or rightfield would be all that is desired for a soccer configuration... and a concert stage opposite the the leftfield or rightfield stands can be a desirable option as long as it's cost-effective....  

Since the health dept is not going to be around, that building could be used for "an indoor/outdoor restaurant with a children's play area."

Will the county honor these ideas or is the survey a way to placate the general public while they decide what they REALLY want to do with it....?

[JeffM]

... looking over NASL confidentiality agreement...... lawyers, lawyers everywhere, and not a drop to drink...... signing, faxing........... microchip firmly implanted in back of neck.....

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.... VIVA LE RESISTANCE!..........

http://www.nasl.com

coffee?....  

[pfox]

I could use some coffee.  A good rumor would be nice too...

[perspicuity85]

* Turning it into a concert venue. 
* Converting it to a soccer stadium.
These two can be easily combined.

* Building an indoor/outdoor restaurant with a children's play area.[/i]
Dumbest idea I've ever heard.  What single restaurant would occupy the site of a 10,000 seat stadium?

The combo soccer/concert venue makes since-- minimal capital improvements required.  It could be used for a pro soccer team and youth soccer leagues.  Since youth leagues have Spring and Fall seasons, there would be almost year-round use of the stadium.  Summer would be the most common time for outdoor concerts.

If the stadium is torn down, Big Splash should use it for expansion.  Oceans of Fun in Kansas City is a good example of the type of water rides/pools that Big Splash needs.  Example: http://www.worldsoffun.com/public/parks/oof/slides_pools/index.cfm. Big Splash is in major need of upgrading.  I don't think that many kids in Tulsa even go there anymore.  The place hasn't changed in 25 years.

[perspicuity85]

The combo soccer/concert venue makes since-- minimal capital improvements required.  It could be used for a pro soccer team and youth soccer leagues.  Since youth leagues have Spring and Fall seasons, there would be almost year-round use of the stadium.  Summer would be the most common time for outdoor concerts.

If the stadium is torn down, Big Splash should use it for expansion.  Oceans of Fun in Kansas City is a good example of the type of water rides/pools that Big Splash needs.  Example: http://www.worldsoffun.com/public/parks/oof/slides_pools/index.cfm. Big Splash is in major need of upgrading.  I don't think that many kids in Tulsa even go there anymore.  The place hasn't changed in 25 years.  The county needs to improve it enough to attract a private company in the amusement park industry to purchase and operate.

[JeffM]

Perspi, long time no see.....

* Building an indoor/outdoor restaurant with a children's play area.[/i]
Dumbest idea I've ever heard.  What single restaurant would occupy the site of a 10,000 seat stadium?

Sorry if it sounded that way, but the indoor/outdoor restaurant idea was more for what to do with the health dept building next door, since they will be moving also.....

Check your msgs.

[sgrizzle]

The combo soccer/concert venue makes since-- minimal capital improvements required.  It could be used for a pro soccer team and youth soccer leagues.  Since youth leagues have Spring and Fall seasons, there would be almost year-round use of the stadium.  Summer would be the most common time for outdoor concerts.

If the stadium is torn down, Big Splash should use it for expansion.  Oceans of Fun in Kansas City is a good example of the type of water rides/pools that Big Splash needs.  Example: http://www.worldsoffun.com/public/parks/oof/slides_pools/index.cfm. Big Splash is in major need of upgrading.  I don't think that many kids in Tulsa even go there anymore.  The place hasn't changed in 25 years.

Big Splash also needs to remember to pay money to their utility bills and not to their county commissioner's campaigns but they keep forgetting that.