MLS in OK?!!!

Holy merde, but this makes my entire weekend, nay, make that my entire MONTH! Muchos besos to MLS News and Views for posting this link to an article from the Sapulpa Herald newspaper that the Kansas City Wizards and FC Dallas will play an exhbition in Moore, and some are hoping that the game, the Saturn Challenge Cup of Oklahoma City, will become an annual thing.

This isn't the first time that MLS teams have played exhibitions in Oklahoma. The Wizards played FC Dallas back when they were the Burn in 2004 and the Crew in 2003. Both had sell-out performances and prompted some efforts to land an MLS expansion team in Oklahoma. This all was just before I became a rabid fan of this sport that I now adore beyond belief. I was playing indoor soccer (very very very badly, mind you; passion for the game doesn't seem to automatically confer skill upon you) in 2004 and remember thinking that I should attend the Burn-Wiz game, but tickets sold out before I could even think about getting them.

This kind of excitement about soccer has always belied the Oklahoma sports media's belief that this is a sport that only kids play. Obviously there are soccer fans in Oklahoma, and yet coverage is generally minimal. I checked the archives of one of the state's newspapers and only found a handful of stories about MLS over the past 18 months, two of them features about wunderkind Freddy Adu. I do remember that the qualification by the US Men's Team for the 2006 World Cup was relegated to a mere three-inch brief on the inside of the sports section. After all, there was American football going on that weekend.

This being a World Cup year, with interest sparking thanks to national media investment in the upcoming brouhaha in June, soccer's stock is starting to rise, not just in Oklahoma but everywhere in the US. If the US Men's Team does well, it may translate into some real enthusiasm that could give MLS a nice boost. I remember in 2002 there was a blip of interest by the US team's nice performance in South Korea/Japan, but it faded pretty quickly and the "no one is interested in soccer" attitude returned full force. But things are changing, and it looks like interest in both soccer in general and MLS in particular really is starting to gain a foothold.

Can that translate into an MLS team for Oklahoma? Either an expansion or, if the rumors hold true, a disgruntled team leaving its original base? I dunno. I honestly don't think Oklahoma has the population density to support a professional league sport yet. But playing host to the New Orleans Hornets while their city is getting back on its feet has shown that we can do it, at least in a temporary capacity, and it might lead to greater things. But soccer? The regular attendance for a soccer game -- about, what, 15,000? 18,000? -- is the size of a regular-sized town in Oklahoma. Outside of the holy duo of college football and basketball (and lately the Hornets), I'm not sure that any other sport gets that kind of attendance. There just aren't enough people in this state of 3.5 million people -- which is smaller than most metropolitan cities -- to have the kind of diversity needed to cultivate a soccer fanbase.

I'd really like to be wrong about this, because I would give my right foot to have a team of my own. Oooh, except then would I have to give up my passion for DC? When my home team and DC played, who would I go for? Oh, what a Sophie's Choice of a deal that would be. ...

Well, it's all quite unlikely, unless the Kansas City fails the Wizards miserably and they do come to Tulsa, as the rumor mill says. State officials have pretty much said that landing an MLS expansion is years and years away, and by then I'll be outta here.

But at 7:30 on March 25, I'll be ponying up my $25 for a seat up front to do my part to support professional soccer in Oklahoma. Every little bit helps, right?