Tulsa Athletics co-owner Sonny Dalesandro is talking with NASL officials about moving his amateur team to the professional league, potentially competing with USL Pro’s Tulsa Roughnecks.
The Roughnecks are owned by the Tulsa Drillers min0r-league baseball team and are set to compete in 2015 at ONEOK Field. The Athletics signed a lease to play the former home of the Drillers, Drillers Stadium, and have taken steps to transform the old ballpark into a soccer-only facility, including the removal of bleachers to allow for a full pitch. Along the way a new name was applied to the facility: Athletics Stadium. From Tulsa World:
“They’ve (NASL officials) been to Tulsa on a couple of occasions, and our field now meets the standards of the NASL,” Dalesandro said Wednesday. “We stated about a year ago that our goal wasn’t to start and end in the NPSL, and we’re going to continue to press in the right direction to bring a major league sports franchise here.”