Chisholm Creek Soccer Stadium

[Pete]

Soccer stadium planned for far North OKC

Plans have been submitted that show the intention to build a soccer stadium and related facilities as a part of the Chisholm Creek development on the south side of Memorial Road between Pennsylvania and Western.

Although the application was submitted by an engineering company on behalf of an unknown client, the obvious implication is that this could be the future home for Oklahoma City's professional soccer team, The Energy.

Plans show stands on all four sides of the stadium. Given the size and extent of the grandstand, it appears capacity would be between 5,000 and 10,000.

Also indicated are a small office building, controlled entry gates at each corner of the property, drink stands, restroom buildings, a video scoreboard, press box, ticket booth, VIP parking, and a removable stage at the south end of the field. The configuration appears to allow for future expansion of the east and west granstands.

The planning application describes a “multisport and entertainment complex in order to accommodate team sports such as soccer, rugby, track and field and concert events”. The site plan designates two different options for a food truck park.

The property is 13.11 acres and very near an 80-acre park being consctructed by the city to the south.

The Oklahoma City Energy are owned by Prodigal LLC which is headed by Bob Funk Jr.

The team was launched in 2014 and played its first season in Pribil Stadium on the campus of Bishop McGuiness High School. In 2015, the team moved to a newly renovated Taft Stadium which is owned by the Oklahoma City Public Schools.

There has been much talk among fans that the current season would be the last at Taft, as the field is unusually narrow for a soccer facility and the Energy is the last team in their league to be playing at a high school stadium.

The United Soccer League, of which The Energy is a member, has a stated goal of having each of its clubs playing at soccer-specific stadium by 2020.

The Energy have been averaging about 4,000 spectators per game this season, with their largest crowd being 6,757.

Looking for a long-term home, Funk had sought to purchase the 37-acre former Producers Coop property just south of Bricktown in 2016. The plan, which ultimately fell through, was to use 10 acres for a new soccer stadium and partner with investors to develop a mix of hotels, retail, housing and other uses on the balance of the property.

Funk has expressed the desire for the Energy to ultimately join Major League Soccer (MLS) within 6 to 9 years. Previously a plan had been discussed to open a new stadium with near 10,000 seats and the capability to add 10,000 more as part of an MLS bid.

If the Energy were to occupy this Chisholm Creek stadium, it would likely be a temporary home. Funk had previously expressed the desire to locate somewhere near the Oklahoma River. Engaging the large hispanic population on the near southside has been seen as an important long-term goal.

Several professional soccer franchises have utilized 'pop-up' stadiums as a way of creating a dedicated soccer facility for their teams in a quick and efficient manner while continuing to work on longer term plans.

Chisholm Creek is a 190-acre mixed-use development featuring TopGolf, Cabela's, and many other retails and restaurants and bars. Recently, Uncle Julio's recently opened to long lines and several other restaurants are under construction including Birra Birra, Hopdoddy, Firebirds and Chalk.

Negotiations are close to being finalized for Oklahoma's first Alamo Drafthouse and construction will start soon on Costco just to the east of Chisholm Creek on the southeast corner of Memorial and Western.

[d-usa]

Good spot to pick up the Edmond crowd, further away for the South OKC crowd although access will be easy right off the turnpike.

[Pete]

Even though this will likely be what is considered a 'pop-up' facility, they could easily be there for quite a while, as the long-term desire is for an MLS-quality stadium is still the plan for somewhere near the river.

I understand they have had extensive talks with the Strawberry Fields people but it's hard to imagine how that would work given the huge investment in the land there.

[ditm4567]

Personally, I am not a fan of this. If it will be a temporary home for the Emergy, what will it be used for once they have a new stadium? It will more than likely just sit empty. That area could be better used for something else, IMO.

[d-usa]

A pop-up stadium, which is what the Energy are planing on using last I heard, wouldn’t take a lot of permanent work on that spot and could be removed rather easily. It would be a good placeholder while the rest of CC is developed, and then it could become a permanent stadium if the Energy stays there or be removed for a different development there.

[Pete]

Remember, Chisholm Creek is 180 acres and there is nothing planned for this particular area for some time.

If the Energy was to use this pop-up for 5 years, only then will that area even start to be developed.

And it could be easily adapted to another use.


It all makes a lot of sense as the Energy works to find a long-term site near the river. That could easily take 5-10 years.

[jccouger]

The 3rd temporary stadium for the energy.

TBH, its getting kind of old. I can see why the fan base is shrinking.

[jccouger]

I dont think its a bad spot for a permanent stdium though.

Kind of reminds me of the proposed university north park arena. You can go down there for dinner and a game, and then go have drinks afterwards. The one form of entertainment that Chisolm is missing right now is live sports.

[rezman]

If anyone thinks the traffic in the Penn/Memorial area is bad now, just wait.

[Rover]

Wouldn’t this be like the Dallas stadium in Frisco? It isn’t near the Hispanic area of DFW and does well.

I know many or most on this board hate anything north of 30th street, but this is an area really providing lots of entertainment for all with good quality food, shopping, etc. It isn’t very walkable, but I doubt 10,000 people would walk or mass trans ro a stadium in Strawberry Fields, etc.

[Colbafone]

Wouldn’t this be like the Dallas stadium in Frisco? It isn’t near the Hispanic area of DFW and does well.

I know many or most on this board hate anything north of 30th street, but this is an area really providing lots of entertainment for all with good quality food, shopping, etc. It isn’t very walkable, but I doubt 10,000 people would walk or mass trans ro a stadium in Strawberry Fields, etc.

Have you ever walked around Chisholm Creek? Granted, there are no sidewalks, but it's early enough in development that's it's super EASY to walk around. And there's already ample food and drink in the DIRECT area. I'm oddly completely okay with this location for now.


And as far as traffic goes, this won't make it any worse, seriously. Memorial and Penn/Western is already so terrible, making it "worse" is inconsequential. What's 6,000 more people in the area that already sees an insane amount of traffic.

[Rover]

Have you ever walked around Chisholm Creek? Granted, there are no sidewalks, but it's early enough in development that's it's super EASY to walk around. And there's already ample food and drink in the DIRECT area. I'm oddly completely okay with this location for now.


And as far as traffic goes, this won't make it any worse, seriously. Memorial and Penn/Western is already so terrible, making it "worse" is inconsequential. What's 6,000 more people in the area that already sees an insane amount of traffic.

I was referring to the whole area not being walkable. Chisholm Creek itself will be walkable.

[jn1780]

Have you ever walked around Chisholm Creek? Granted, there are no sidewalks, but it's early enough in development that's it's super EASY to walk around. And there's already ample food and drink in the DIRECT area. I'm oddly completely okay with this location for now.


And as far as traffic goes, this won't make it any worse, seriously. Memorial and Penn/Western is already so terrible, making it "worse" is inconsequential. What's 6,000 more people in the area that already sees an insane amount of traffic.

That's an "optimistic" number really if your talking about soccer attendance. They don't get half that number now.

[Colbafone]

That's an "optimistic" number really if your talking about soccer attendance. They don't get half that number now.

Sort of my point. It's been like, 2,000 this season. Presumably with this new venue, you'd think they could average 6,000 being up into/near Edmond and North OKC though.

Even if we bumped it up to 10k, I really don't see it affecting traffic that much. You can't take a terrible traffic situation and dramatically make it worse. It's just going to get a bit slower. Still terrible, mind you.

[Tydude]

So far this season the averaged attendance is 3,964. Also moving to a new stadium can help energy fc be in compliance with USSF and able to host Open Cups games instead of going on the road to a really crappy stadium and play bad teams.

[Pete]

^

I think that # is paid attendance, not actual butts in seats.

[benjico]

The stadium that went from being a potential game changer in downtown OKC to ending up behind a Walmart in essentially Edmond. What a historic turnaround...

[Pete]

The stadium that went from being a potential game changer in downtown OKC to ending up behind a Walmart in essentially Edmond. What a historic turnaround...

Just an interim step. They still want to build near the river.

[dankrutka]

Wouldn’t this be like the Dallas stadium in Frisco? It isn’t near the Hispanic area of DFW and does well.

As a DFW resident, I can say that the Frisco site is such a monumental failure. Please don’t try to mimic it. Their attendance would be dramatically higher if they’d located in the Dallas or Fort Worth cores.

[benjico]

“multisport and entertainment complex in order to accommodate team sports such as soccer, rugby, track and field and concert events”....does not sound like a temporary complex to me.

[d-usa]

Pop-up stadiums are easy to build, and easy to expand or remove.

http://midfieldpress.com/2017/08/14/...vision-soccer/

http://www.us.jll.com/united-states/...soccer-stadium

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wir...ium-at-all/amp

[Pete]

“multisport and entertainment complex in order to accommodate team sports such as soccer, rugby, track and field and concert events”....does not sound like a temporary complex to me.

Temporary for the Energy, not necessarily that it won't live on when they move.

I've been told directly by people who know that this will be a 'pop-up' stadium and meant to be a temporary move until the Energy can build what they want in the core.

[Laramie]

[d-usa]

Regarding “pop-up” stadiums:

For the past few World Cups, and Olympic as well I think, many of the stadium expansions were basically pop-up stadiums attached to existing stadiums. Some of them were then moved to be standalone “new” stadiums in other cities after the event.

[ChrisHayes]

While I'd prefer a permanent and larger stadium along the river, I really like the idea of a small stadium at Chisholm Creek. CC is going to be a mecca of restaurants and other entertainment venues. I can easily see the stadium getting a large attendance there and the restaurants and other venues benefiting from the stadium. When the Energy goes to their permanent home, it can be repurposed into a multi use facility as stated above.