Soccer Stadium

[Richard at Remax]

For expansion references, the footprint of the Frisco stadium is ~700`x ~860' and Houston's is ~955' x ~630'. That would rule out any location in bricktown.

[BoulderSooner]

Not sure why practice fields and the stadium would need to be adjacent to each other.

On edit, based on Rover's comment I just read the original article and not the small part provided in the OP. I suddenly lost interest in this project. Put this out in the burbs if this is what he has in mind.

Prodigal, ADG to build soccer stadium in Oklahoma City | News OK



I will say this though - someone need to explain to Funk what 'green' is. You can build a LEED platinum stadium but if you build it with lots of parking and everyone has to drive you destroyed the very thing you were spending all the extra money to save.

anyone building a 20k event venue is going to want lots of nearby parking

[CuatrodeMayo]

You could never achieve LEED platinum with this type of project, and gold would be prohibitively expensive.

[hoya]

There are existing public soccer fields immediately to the west of Walker and Wiley Post Park. My guess is that they could be used as practice fields.

[Larry OKC]

Funk has the money to build it himself if he wishes.

This

Any word on where the funding is coming from. I am just having a hard time seeing them pay for a stadium out of pocket since as of this far their teams have always played in city owned facilities.

[QUOTE=architect5311;665608]

Would there be any interest in doing something like what FC Dallas did? Build a 20,000 person stadium with 17 tournament-grade fields around it.


I agree...maybe on the Myriad Gardens II Site (Central Park Site). Oh, to late for that.

Not really, they were talking about putting playing fields etc in the southern section of the Park anyway…just put the Stadium on the southernmost end?

[Architect2010]

There are existing public soccer fields immediately to the west of Walker and Wiley Post Park. My guess is that they could be used as practice fields.

The only thing immediately west of Walker and Wiley Post on the south side of the river are some ponds and walking trails. There are a about half-a-dozen practice fields immediately southwest of Wiley Post, in the middle of the neighborhood between Western and Walker. They are accessed by SW 22nd or 23rd streets. There are a few more in Wheeler Park on the north side of the river and a couple of makeshift fields in Wiley Post itself. I for one, do not like the idea of ruining either one of these parks for the likes of a soccer stadium however. There are better sites that don't ruin one of the Southside's best parks, not to mention Wiley Post and Wheeler are both historical with grand old trees and lots of fairly-recent improvements have been made to both.

I vote Fairgrounds, or one of our regional parks such as Will Rogers or Earlywine. Better yet, I vote the Adventure District. It would be another draw to the area and would fit nicely alongside another sport venue, the ASA Hall of Fame. Remington's parking lot is so vast, use part of that, and some of the empty land to the north of Deep Fork could be used for practice fields. Definitely more than enough room I would think and has access to I-44 and I-35.

[Just the facts]

For expansion references, the footprint of the Frisco stadium is ~700`x ~860' and Houston's is ~955' x ~630'. That would rule out any location in bricktown.

Go measure the footprints in England. I think you will find them quite a bit smaller.

[bradh]

which stadiums are you looking at in England? there are quite a few different types of venues over there. of course, i know what you're getting at, they can use smaller footprints because it's not a car driven area and everyone uses transit.

[Plutonic Panda]

Yes, we know that the ONLY thing important to this town is to be downtown, next to the street with no setback and no accommodation for other than pedestrian traffic. Otherwise let's hate it and go sit in a corner and sulk.

Sometimes there are valid reasons for other than downtown locations. Does that mean we shouldn't support them? What childishness and arrogance.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

[Rover]

which stadiums are you looking at in England? there are quite a few different types of venues over there. of course, i know what you're getting at, they can use smaller footprints because it's not a car driven area and everyone uses transit.

That's not necessarily true either. Only one country in Europe where more than 10% of the passenger miles are by rail. Cars dominate there too. There has been plenty of parking near by all of the stadiums I've been to in Europe, including England. now, if you are talking about neighborhood fields that isn't necessarily the case. But we are talking about a commercial team with ambitions to be a regional draw. They will need people to drive in to see them. Funk isn't going to spend millions and then locate where it is hard to get to.

[bradh]

That's what I was getting at. Teams play at those cozy neighborhood fields (which I love, by the way), but the Arsenal, Citeh's and ManU's of the world have venues much more like traditional stadiums we see here.

[CaptDave]

I think we are more likely to see something similar to Swansea AFC's Liberty Stadium. Seating capacity is 20750. Swansea is a Welsh club who was promoted to the Premire League in 2011. You can see there are a couple of reasonable sized parking lots but not on the scale of most American stadiums. I think something similar to this for a future MLS team is a worthy goal for OKC. (I think this might fit in that Farmer's Market location someone posted earlier. I am 100% sure it would fit the Coop site easily.) It would be better with some type of garage structure - vertical better than spreading it out even if more expensive initially.

[boitoirich]

Arenas and stadia I've visited in Asia all front the sidewalk, incorporate a mix of uses on an active edge (usually sports bars, restaurants, some retail), and provide access to pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, and cars through structured parking. It's not hard. Car users should be able to visit the soccer stadium, but if it's going to be in the urban core then this development needs to respect its surroundings. A sea of surface parking and a cluster of soccer fields does not do that. If that's what is to be built, then put it in Edmond.

[bradh]

Here is an aerial of Houston's setup, no much surface parking but most people who attend Dynamo games (and Astros games across US-59) just park on surface lots scattered throughout downtown, or in garages.

[CaptDave]

Funk sounds like he is going the Frisco/FC Dallas route. Maybe Lund will look to build a European style mid-sized stadium if his team survives and becomes an OKC MLS franchise.

Both Oklahoma City soccer groups plan to build stadiums | News OK

[G.Walker]

They should do a joint venture and build a massive stadium...

[CaptDave]

I think having two competing soccer franchises in OKC is a mistake too. But I understand there is some bad blood between Lund and Funk and that is probably the reason they are not cooperating. A cooperative effort quite possibly would culminate with an OKC MLS team. I am kind of worried how this is going to turn out so I am not going to get my hopes up. I will go to both teams' matches and see what happens though.

[bradh]

Adventure District seems perfect for Funk's idea. I'm okay with that.

[bombermwc]

Yeah im not sure why everyone thought immediately that it had to be downtown. I'm more likely to expect it to NOT be in downtown because it's going to be cheaper to build basically anywhere else. I just hope it's not up on the far NW side or out on the outskirts to the west.

[catch22]

The adventure district would be perfect.

In the future there will be a rail line connecting that district to downtown. Far enough away from downtown to allow for lower land acquisition costs but close enough to be connected by a short rail trip.

[stdennis]

That's what I was getting at. Teams play at those cozy neighborhood fields (which I love, by the way), but the Arsenal, Citeh's and ManU's of the world have venues much more like traditional stadiums we see here.

Arsenals stadium doesn't have parking around it. It relies on public transportation or local supporters(has a station right next to it with large pathways connecting it) their website even suggest "Supporters are strongly advised not to drive to Emirates Stadium." Now Manchester United and Manchester City both have quite a bit of parking around them(probably not as much as the American Football stadiums) but they also aren't located in the heart of the city they are close to our adventure district in locations. Its about half and half on stadiums with parking and ones without. The ones without parking are located either on the outskirts of town or in large sporting developments and even those are further out.

The walk to the stadium from the pub/bar or public transit spot there is a similar tradition to our tale-gate tradition here.

[BoulderSooner]

Arsenals stadium doesn't have parking around it. It relies on public transportation or local supporters(has a station right next to it with large pathways connecting it) their website even suggest "Supporters are strongly advised not to drive to Emirates Stadium." Now Manchester United and Manchester City both have quite a bit of parking around them(probably not as much as the American Football stadiums) but they also aren't located in the heart of the city they are close to our adventure district in locations. Its about half and half on stadiums with parking and ones without. The ones without parking are located either on the outskirts of town or in large sporting developments and even those are further out.

The walk to the stadium from the pub/bar or public transit spot there is a similar tradition to our tale-gate tradition here.

i'm sorry but comparing a stadium in london (from both a transit and pop standpoint) to a new stadium going to be built in okc makes 0 sense

[stdennis]

I like the adventure district area too. But what property would be available for them to build on? They have to be able to acquire the land if they are going to build on it

[stdennis]

i'm sorry but comparing a stadium in london (from both a transit and pop standpoint) to a new stadium going to be built in okc makes 0 sense

I agree actually. But to say that stadiums in England are more like our football stadiums here isn't true. Even Chelsea are looking to build a new stadium and cant expand their current one because there isn't enough transit capacity to support anymore people on a game day.

That being said they are looking to expand to 60,000 people from about 40,000 and we wouldn't even come close to those numbers.

[bradh]

Arsenals stadium doesn't have parking around it. It relies on public transportation or local supporters(has a station right next to it with large pathways connecting it) their website even suggest "Supporters are strongly advised not to drive to Emirates Stadium." Now Manchester United and Manchester City both have quite a bit of parking around them(probably not as much as the American Football stadiums) but they also aren't located in the heart of the city they are close to our adventure district in locations. Its about half and half on stadiums with parking and ones without. The ones without parking are located either on the outskirts of town or in large sporting developments and even those are further out.

The walk to the stadium from the pub/bar or public transit spot there is a similar tradition to our tale-gate tradition here.

Thanks for the clarification. I've never been over there so I was speaking plainly on pictures I'd seen of the stadiums while watching EPL games.