Professional soccer in downtown Tulsa (ed: Semi-pro human pinball at Conv. Ctr.)

[TulsaRufnex]

The news conference....

Professional Soccer Coming Back To Tulsa
http://www.newson6.com/story/20683331/professional-soccer-coming-back-to-tulsa

"Bringing soccer back to Tulsa on a professional level just kind of makes sense right now, with the PSL," said owner Adam Mellor. "It's a good time, especially with the youth and the way the youth is going with the youth organizations that are coming in. It makes a lot of sense for us to be in right now."

The league is really hit or miss in terms of attendance. Dallas has the attendance record with 5,900 fans, but the league average is less than one thousand a game.

"But wait! There's more!...."

Youth Soccer Growing In Popularity In Tulsa
http://www.newson6.com/story/20701863/youth-soccer-growing-in-popularity-in-tulsa

Viva la Revolution!
New soccer franchise continues local tradition
JANUARY 30, 2013
http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A56437

On April 26, 1980, more than 30,000 Tulsans packed into Skelly Stadium at TU to watch the Tulsa Roughnecks' 2-1 victory over the all-star loaded New York Cosmos. Thirty-three years later, Adam Mellor and Shannon Clarke hope that they will be able to tap into that love for the sport in the city. Professional soccer has returned to T-Town.

Mellor and Clarke are the co-owners of the newly formed Tulsa Revolution, who will make their home at the Tulsa Convention Center downtown. The Revolution will pick up the mantle of representing Tulsa in professional soccer from a string of teams that started with the original incarnation of the Roughnecks.

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It's hard to pinpoint the exact reason why the Roughnecks were such a popular team, whether it was the foreign players like Billy Caskey or player/manager Charlie Mitchell, the Scotsman who would lay his roots in Tulsa as a restaurant operator and participant in local youth soccer. Or the colorful management of Noel Lemon who famously quipped in 1980, "We've only been in the league two and a half years and already half the teams hate us. Give me another two years and we'll have them all."

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"We started this team due to our love of the game and the great interest in the sport and the extreme soccer talent in Tulsa," said co-owner Shannon Clark. "We're putting in a lot of effort to bring in the soccer community, especially young kids." When asked what kind of atmosphere can fans expect, co-owner Adam Mellor said he hopes that it's "similar to an atmosphere you might see in the EPL [English Premier League] with fans chanting, and noisemakers."

Pro Indoor soccer returning to Tulsa
by John D. Ferguson
1/16/2013
http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=29&articleid=20130116_29_B2_Profes450044

Professional Arena Soccer League commissioner Kevin Milliken has two simple rules for allowing teams into the indoor league.

"One, I must like you, and two, you have to have a place to play that's acceptable by the league," Milliken said by telephone Tuesday.

While Milliken and other team owners know there's much more to it than just two rules, Tulsa's entry in the PASL met every criterion.

Tulsa Revolution marks return of indoor soccer to City
by John D. Ferguson
1/25/2013
http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=29&articleid=20130125_29_B2_CUTLIN778527&allcom=1

Game tickets will range from $9 to $25. Season tickets will be available at the end of February.

More team information can be found at tulsarevolution.com. Mellor added the website will go live next week.

Joining the Tulsa press conference was Dallas Sidekicks owner Ronnie Davis. The Sidekicks have the highest PASL attendance, averaging more than 5,000 fans per game.

"Now, how much would you pay?"  

http://tulsarevolution.pointstreaksites.com/view/tulsarevolution#.URfgwGfaGSo

http://www.arenaleague.com/

[Ed W]

Watching soccer is like watching a golf tournament but without the edge-of-your-seat excitement of watching grown men swat little balls around in a park.

Just sayin'

[heironymouspasparagus]

Watching soccer is like watching a golf tournament but without the edge-of-your-seat excitement of watching grown men swat little balls around in a park.

Just sayin'

They go for the excitement of possible concussion, broken bones, maiming, or even death of or from the fans in the stands.

[dbacks fan]

So this is soccer's version of arena football, or I couldn't cut it in the NFL or the CFL so I wound up here.

[DolfanBob]

I love it. The Dallas Sidekicks and The San Diego Sockers. I wish there were more NASL team names. Brings back fun times and memories.

[TulsaRufnex]

I'll probably make it to some of the games since they're downtown, but yeah, it's pretty much soccer's version of arena football.
The first time they tried to make this work, they played a partial season at Soccer City on Mingo in 2007 and drew a couple hundred fans or so per game, if memory serves.

After the NASL died in the mid-eighties, indoor soccer became the highest level of pro soccer in the US by default.
I think the San Diego Sockers were more known for their indoor success and years playing in the MISL than the old NASL outdoor team.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Indoor_Soccer_League_%281978%E2%80%931992%29

DB (and dback, for that matter...), I keep hoping that somebody with $$$ and a league with a suitable business model will spur a return of the Roughnecks into the new outdoor NASL one level below MLS, but keep getting only nibbles thus far... http://www.nasl.com/index.php?id=7

Technically, Tulsa couldn't get into the MISL in the 80s because our indoor arena was deemed too small-- although I suspect the real reason was because the MISL already had a small market team close by in Wichita.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wichita_Wings
If memory serves, it was owners from Wichita who bankrolled the Tulsa Ambush thinking they could find local ownership here in 1991-92.
Unfortunately, the team went 7-33 and drew average crowds of around 3k per game before being moved to St Louis the following season. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis_Ambush
 
Outdoor professional soccer was minor league in this country for an entire decade, until MLS was formed in the mid-nineties.
Tulsa was a finalist for a team, but Skelly Stadium still had astroturf and the league wanted all games played on natural grass surfaces.

So far, the team has yet to name a coach or any players... would be fun to see this guy play again-- he's worth the price of a ticket... and he's back in Tulsa on the coaching staff with NSC/Hurricane...
http://www.tschurricane.com/staff/622894.html

Wait and see.

[RecycleMichael]

He coaches a girls team in my daughter's league this indoor season. My daughter's coach is former Roughneck Victor Moreland.

[guido911]

Watching soccer is like watching a golf tournament but without the edge-of-your-seat excitement of watching grown men swat little balls around in a park.

Just sayin'

Yep.

[TulsaRufnex]

Dear Heirony & Guido,

Go play in traffic.

XXXX's and OOOO's

RUF

[TulsaRufnex]

And in related news....

OKC Lands PDL Soccer Franchise
http://www.news9.com/story/21199719/okc-lands-pdl-soccer-franchise

Oklahoma City, OK - Oklahoma City has been awarded a Premier Developmental League (PDL) soccer franchise and will open its inaugural season at home on May 11 versus the Austin Aztex. Home games will be played at Stars Field on the campus of Oklahoma City University.

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"We welcome Oklahoma City FC to the PDL and look forward to having them compete in one of the league's strongest divisions starting with the 2013 season," USL President Tim Holt said. "With such a strong and stable ownership group and experienced executive leadership, we expect Oklahoma City FC to thrive in a market with unlimited potential."

Oklahoma City FC's ownership group is led by metro-area residents Sean Jones, Donna Clark and Tim McLaughlin. Sold Out Strategies, operated by former Oklahoma City Blazers pro hockey executives Brad Lund and DeBray Ayala, will serve as the managing partner.

Oklahoma City will compete in the Southern Conference's Mid South Division featuring five opponents from Texas – the Austin Aztex, Texas Dutch Lions (Houston), El Paso Patriots, Laredo Heat and West Texas Sockers (Midland).

"Oklahoma City has historically supported its minor and major league teams like no other city in the country," stated Oklahoma FC managing partner DeBray Ayala. "PDL will be the highest level of team soccer OKC has showcased in more than 15 years."

So... Brad Lund has found a minor league opportunity where you don't have to pay any of your players?......... schweeeeeeeet!

[heironymouspasparagus]

Dear Heirony & Guido,

Go play in traffic.

XXXX's and OOOO's

RUF

Took you a week??  Geez....I'm losing faith in you!


Or are you, too, becoming compromised by the corruption in another mafia run sport?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/soccer-match-fixing-scandal_n_2671282.html

[TulsaRufnex]

The ONLY reason you're posting crap like this is because you hate my views on gun control.

If I were a baseball fan, you'd post some bogus argument about guns versus baseball bats.

If I were a hockey fan, you'd post some nonsense about that sport...

The Tulsa metro area is a unique soccer market... http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/index.php?topic=6533.10;wap2

I would love to see a pro team at the top of the pyramid here as fitting tribute to the decades of community involvement by soccer people like Charlie Mitchell, Victor Moreland, Keith Eddy, Steve Earle, etc etc etc... and yes, there is a bias on my part dating back three decades ago that our fans deserve a pro team more than other cities already in MLS and the NASL...

http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/tulsas-charity-case

On November 4, 1983 KMRG radio host Fred Campbell launched a "Save Our Soccer" campaign in a last ditch effort to make the payroll and save the franchise. Within hours donors were lined up outside the station, with Roughnecks players and staff handling phone pledges and Tulsa residents going door-to-door asking for donations. As Communications Director Allen McLaughlin put it, "this is more or less the fans bailing us out."

By the next day 12,350 fans had given $65,627 dollars, $25,000 more than was needed to make the payroll.

If you were trying to make a serious argument as to whether the new team here will fail or succeed, I might take something you post seriously.

Otherwise, you're just being a Troll.

[TulsaRufnex]

He coaches a girls team in my daughter's league this indoor season. My daughter's coach is former Roughneck Victor Moreland.

RM, have you seen this one?

Billy Caskey & Victor Moreland Interview
GlentoranTV posted in 2011[/i]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2m7GdEP_ig

Billy & Victor start talking about their Tulsa days at 12 mins.... again at 18 mins talking about cutting off Caskey's cast with a hacksaw in the hopes he could play at least 2 minutes in Soccer Bowl '83.... at 34 minutes, Victor talks about his youth club...

[heironymouspasparagus]

The ONLY reason you're posting crap like this is because you hate my views on gun control.
f I were a baseball fan, you'd post some bogus argument about guns versus baseball bats.
If I were a hockey fan, you'd post some nonsense about that sport...

The Tulsa metro area is a unique soccer market... http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/index.php?topic=6533.10;wap2

I would love to see a pro team at the top of the pyramid here as fitting tribute to the decades of community involvement by soccer people like Charlie Mitchell, Victor Moreland, Keith Eddy, Steve Earle, etc etc etc... and yes, there is a bias on my part dating back three decades ago that our fans deserve a pro team more than other cities already in MLS and the NASL...

http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/tulsas-charity-case
If you were trying to make a serious argument as to whether the new team here will fail or succeed, I might take something you post seriously.

Otherwise, you're just being a Troll.

Wow!  You DO understand...in EXACTLY the same way as you have so enthusiastically attacked fans of all the shooting sports!!  Kind of surprised with all the brain damage going on in soccer (1.5 million incidents a year in this country alone) as well as real football, that it was that easy to figure out!!  

As for a new team failing...well that would pretty much seem to be a foregone conclusion based on history - regardless of what either you or I might wish to happen... I wouldn't mind having soccer here - it's almost as entertaining as Rugby, which I like to watch from time to time.  Plus there are enough relatives into that sort of thing, I know they would enjoy.

Sadly, it seems like so many have gotten "bored" with the traditional sports, including football, baseball, hockey, soccer, etc.  Just not enough "excitement" in them....we are devolving back to the point where we want 'blood sports'....  WWE and RAW, the Ultimate Fighting Championship carp, etc.  Hockey has always been there, but now we seem to be putting it into the others more and more.  I expect to see ancient Roman Coliseum type events during my lifetime.  James Caan did a movie called "Rollerball" a long time ago (mid 70's) that touched on the direction we seem to be headed - and it was remade in 2002.  Didn't see the most recent, but I am sure it was the same only more so.


So...if I am a troll, then I guess that would make YOU one too!!  Maybe you could post something sometime that someone could take seriously??

[dbacks fan]

Heir, don't watch the remake of Roller Ball, it was an abomination. Mostly flash and eye candy.