SoonerDave
03-16-2006, 01:38 PM
Let me preface this by saying I can only tell you what I know of this as was told to me by a third party, so that immeidately causes me to qualify it as, at best, an urban legend, or perhaps "friend-of-a-friend," but it's a very interesting story if only part of it is true.
I relate it here to see if anyone here has ever heard about the situation described, and can shed any light on whether it or any part of it actually happened.
Here's the story...again, this was told to me about 1996 or so (give or take a year or so), from a person I wouldn't presume to pass around junk..
It seems that a group of wealthy central Oklahoma investors had decided they wanted to elevate Oklahoma's profile nationally, and in particular wanted to pursue an NFL franchise for the Sooner State. These investors first realized they had to build a stadium, centrally located, and opted on a very large piece of property just west of I-35 on the near northwest corner of Norman. Whether they actually bought the property is not clear.
Time, and plans, progessesed even to the point of initial drawings and plans to amend certain entrances/exits to I-35 to accomodate traffic flow around the presumptive stadium, which was slated to hold about 60,000-65,000 people. The idea was also taking shape to solicit the transfer of an existing NFL franchise to the new facility, although which one isn't clear.
Plans are rolling, but then a glitch develops. Someone from a group of politicians and investors with a different agenda (let's call them Group "B") comes along and advises the original group that what they're doing would derail their original plans, and should consider abandoning them "for the good of the state." Somehow, somewhere, Group "B" manages to convince group "A" they should quit either politically or through external leverage, and Group "A"'s ambitious plans are abandoned. The new bridge/exits/entrances over I-35 south of the York plant are the only remaining artifact of that plan that ever came to fruition.
Who was the mysterious "Group B"? None other than some VIP's associated with Oklahoma City who, at the time, were working on some plan called "MAPS..." and were afraid the stadium project would dwarf the baseball park plans that were the centerpiece of MAPS, and kill it. One memeber of this group was, supposedly, Jim Brewer.
As I said, I make no pretense that this actually happened, and it may all well be pure garbage/fantasy. But I thought if someone else might have heard of it, they could fill in some details and separate fact from fiction...
-SoonerDave
I relate it here to see if anyone here has ever heard about the situation described, and can shed any light on whether it or any part of it actually happened.
Here's the story...again, this was told to me about 1996 or so (give or take a year or so), from a person I wouldn't presume to pass around junk..
It seems that a group of wealthy central Oklahoma investors had decided they wanted to elevate Oklahoma's profile nationally, and in particular wanted to pursue an NFL franchise for the Sooner State. These investors first realized they had to build a stadium, centrally located, and opted on a very large piece of property just west of I-35 on the near northwest corner of Norman. Whether they actually bought the property is not clear.
Time, and plans, progessesed even to the point of initial drawings and plans to amend certain entrances/exits to I-35 to accomodate traffic flow around the presumptive stadium, which was slated to hold about 60,000-65,000 people. The idea was also taking shape to solicit the transfer of an existing NFL franchise to the new facility, although which one isn't clear.
Plans are rolling, but then a glitch develops. Someone from a group of politicians and investors with a different agenda (let's call them Group "B") comes along and advises the original group that what they're doing would derail their original plans, and should consider abandoning them "for the good of the state." Somehow, somewhere, Group "B" manages to convince group "A" they should quit either politically or through external leverage, and Group "A"'s ambitious plans are abandoned. The new bridge/exits/entrances over I-35 south of the York plant are the only remaining artifact of that plan that ever came to fruition.
Who was the mysterious "Group B"? None other than some VIP's associated with Oklahoma City who, at the time, were working on some plan called "MAPS..." and were afraid the stadium project would dwarf the baseball park plans that were the centerpiece of MAPS, and kill it. One memeber of this group was, supposedly, Jim Brewer.
As I said, I make no pretense that this actually happened, and it may all well be pure garbage/fantasy. But I thought if someone else might have heard of it, they could fill in some details and separate fact from fiction...
-SoonerDave