World Cup 2026 - Opportunity for OKC?

[stlokc]

Not sure if this belongs in "sports" or general "development" because my question is not about the athletic match as much as the potential knock-off opportunities for OKC.

The UrbanSTL forum that I follow has had an interesting discussion going on about the World Cup in 2026 (and the fact that Kansas City will be a host city. Someone (not me) shared this thought:

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(Also, between this thread and the other thread, there has been talk of travel in between cities for games. This WC will be the first to have 48 teams - 16 groups of 3 (2 games per team in the group stage). The thinking is, each group will be assigned a pair of cities (Seattle/Vancouver, SF/LA, Guadalajara/Mexico City, Monterrey/Houston, DFW/KC, ATL/MIA, NYC/Philly, Boston/Toronto) and each team will play in each city. Keeps travel reasonable for both teams and their fans. So, in this scenario (KC/DFW pairing), seems like spectators would be more inclined to plan their travel around those two cities and focus on getting from one to the other.)

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In the scenario above, there could be many international football travelers making journeys back and forth between Kansas City and Dallas. I wonder what OKC can do to take advantage? From a tourism/marketing standpoint...

I wonder if the powers-that-be in OKC are starting to discuss this at all.

[Laramie]

Not sure if this belongs in "sports" or general "development" because my question is not about the athletic match as much as the potential knock-off opportunities for OKC.

The UrbanSTL forum that I follow has had an interesting discussion going on about the World Cup in 2026 (and the fact that Kansas City will be a host city. Someone (not me) shared this thought:

-------

(Also, between this thread and the other thread, there has been talk of travel in between cities for games. This WC will be the first to have 48 teams - 16 groups of 3 (2 games per team in the group stage). The thinking is, each group will be assigned a pair of cities (Seattle/Vancouver, SF/LA, Guadalajara/Mexico City, Monterrey/Houston, DFW/KC, ATL/MIA, NYC/Philly, Boston/Toronto) and each team will play in each city. Keeps travel reasonable for both teams and their fans. So, in this scenario (KC/DFW pairing), seems like spectators would be more inclined to plan their travel around those two cities and focus on getting from one to the other.)

-------

In the scenario above, there could be many international football travelers making journeys back and forth between Kansas City and Dallas. I wonder what OKC can do to take advantage? From a tourism/marketing standpoint...

I wonder if the powers-that-be in OKC are starting to discuss this at all.

The idea of a huge outdoor sports stadium was among the projects envisioned by city leaders as far back as 1967 and the early 70s. We had several nice hotels, the largest being the 600 room Hotel Oklahoma (Biltmore), The Skirvin and The Tivoli Inn; it looked like new life was going to be generated downtown even with the Pei Plan. Hotel Oklahoma was the city's premier convention central hotel at the time.

A huge 100,000 seat stadium was envisioned on the 400 acre State Fairgrounds complex. OU's stadium seated 62,000. There was talk of pro football entering the market with natural rivals Dallas, Denver, Houston & Kansas City. If a plan like MAPS had gotten off the ground instead of a 'bond issue' being the financial funding expected to generate $5 million to $7 million it would have been the cost at the time--OKC would have been in the same conversation of cities like Dallas, Denver, Houston, Kansas City & New Orleans. Several stories in the Daily Oklahoman with the support of the Gaylords (Father & son) supported the idea of a stadium larger than the infamous 75,000 seat Dallas Cotton Bowl & the 85.000 seat Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. The City's All Sports Association supported the idea that it would take 100,000 seats to make OKC a sports attraction in our football crazed state at the time.

Who knows, what that $7 million stadium investment would have taken OKC today. Would we have pro football instead of NBA basketball or would OKC be in the conversation of a World Cup host.

Those dreams never came to fruition.

[PaddyShack]

I heard rumors of national teams being assigned to host cities as their home base for practices and the like and I want to say OKC/Tulsa was in the mix for teams in the DFW/KC pair. So it may be possible that we will even have a team here as their home base. But it has been some time since I saw that rumor and I had no idea to the credibility of such a rumor.

[Laramie]

Just wanted to say that we need to think 'Big' in quality and planning for OKC's future. What would our city be without MAPS--Larry Nichols summed it up about the Devon Tower would have been in Houston. Thankful we have the NBA and the future does look bright for some kind of stadium venue thru MAPS 4.

[shartel_ave]

Just wanted to say that we need to think 'Big' in quality and planning for OKC's future. What would our city be without MAPS--Larry Nichols summed it up about the Devon Tower would have been in Houston. Thankful we have the NBA and the future does look bright for some kind of stadium venue thru MAPS 4.

You think the multi-use stadium would be good just east of the convention center by the rock climbing silos?

It would be perfect that area is huge, larger than scissortail park and convention center combined.

[amocore]

I think being a base camp for a National Team is OKC most attractive possibility. A posh hotel and a nice practice complex are needed.

It would be probably a team drawn in the central zone of play as the FIFA announced that how they will proceed for this Wold cup.

[Laramie]

You think the multi-use stadium would be good just east of the convention center by the rock climbing silos?

It would be perfect that area is huge, larger than scissortail park and convention center combined.

Good location. Wish we could begin with nothing less than a 20,000 seat multipurpose stadium. If there's any leftover MAPS surplus money get that venue built.

USFL football or USL would be our next best sports behind the Thunder. Just don't see the USL OKC 'Energy FC' returning now that the Funks have secured the PBR Oklahoma Freedom; God Bless the ownership group; however the Funks have never done well managing any sports including American Hockey League or IGA Tennis circuit.