Glendale, AZ - 252,136 - 248,325 (+1.53%) - NFL, rejected NHL Arizona Coyotes. Facilities for NHL
Kansas City, KS - 153,345 - 156,607 (−2.08%) - MLS stadium. No facilities for NFL or MLB.
Just don't see it happening--Kansas City, KS offering $2.8 billion subsidies for an NFL and MLB stadiums. It would take them (KCK) five years to plan and build infrastructure to move those franchises if they passed and approved $3 billion in subsidies this year for two stadiums. The State of Kansas would have to kick in some funds as well as a city the size of KCK offering to subsidize the bulk of the project.
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It would be a disaster for Oklahoma City to bring in an NFL franchise in addition to supporting the Thunder. Our city's MSA is 1,477,926; half-a-million shy for supporting two big league franchises.
There are 4.088 million in the State. Another big league franchise in OKC would put the NBA Thunder in shock and kill the Oklahoma Sooners' football and sports programs..
The state of Kansas is reportedly backing the plan. Almost half the metro is in Kansas, along with much of the money. Don't just look at KCK, look at Johnson County, KS. Jackson County, MO is where the tax plan for the teams failed, but next door Johnson County, KS is nearly the same size and much wealthier. Most of Kansas City, MO is in Jackson County while Johnson County is Overland Park, Olathe and a bunch of other towns.
Part of why the plan failed is that both stadiums are today among the best stadiums in MLB/NFL. The Royals' stadium is really only 14 years old since it was completely rebuilt. People in KC love both stadiums but hate where they are. Access to the Truman Sports Complex sucks and it is in a terrible, even depressing, area. I'm not sure holding a vote in Kansas changes those feelings.
Kansas has had a fund to attract pro sports teams since they set up sports betting in September 2022. The state gets about a 10% cut of sports betting revenue, and 80% of the tax revenue collected is supposed to be earmarked for that fund.
Local sports hosts interviewed the owner of the Rockies before their local opening day. He agreed with this statement and noted the bond issue to build the much less expensive current Bronchos stadium only passed 51 - 48% 20 years ago. That was also after a championship season. There was also something about a very expensive remodel of the Chiefs owners suite at the same time they were pushing for the stadium package that went over very badly.
Don't get me wrong, I would love to have NFL Chiefs in OKC, what a rivalry we would have with Dallas, Denver and Houston. Our population numbers and state corporate sponsorships don't add up. An NFL stadium in OKC would cost at least $1.5 billion.
Arena football didn't make it here when we had an original AFL (Portland Forest Dragons) franchise relocated here; later AF2 came to the city. Arena football never caught fire in OKC.
IMO Oklahoma City MSA should attempt to lure a spring football league like the United Football League (UFL) to either Edmond (12,000 seat Richison Stadium) or Norman (84,000 seat GF Memorial Stadium lower bowl) until we get the MAPS 4 multi-purpose stadium built increasing the seating capacity from 8,000 to 20,000 with the addition an upper deck..
The MAPS 4 Multi-purpose stadium needs to be ready to bring in another anchor tenant based on the track record of the Funk's USL OKC Energy.
While I happen to like both arena FB and spring FB neither seem to be more than barely existing. The two spring FB leagues merged and dropped a bunch of teams in the process. Arena FB looks like they're having their first season this year since filing for bankruptcy in 2019. I doubt very seriously that OKC could get either. Or really even want either.
The NFL prettty much works ANYWHERE and would work in OKC
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