It appears that the struggle between the NPSL and Tulsa Athletic regarding Tulsa’s preferred homefield are not over and, in fact, have escalated to legal action.

We wrote about this just before the 2023 season, at this same time of year. Tulsa Athletic has worked with the city of Tulsa and settled on making Hicks Park its permanent home. According to the club, the park “had two locker rooms, showers, a lit field, concession stand, bleachers for 650.” The club also agreed to work to make the park better suited for soccer play in a variety of ways, including the pitch. The NPSL disagreed with the choice and has battled the club ever since. That battle continued despite Tulsa’s success as it went on to win the 2023 NPSL title and advance the furthest of any amateur team in the 2023 Open Cup.

Today, in a statement to its fans, Tulsa appears to acknowledge that the NPSL is again seeking to prevent the team’s usage of Hicks Park. “To date, we have tried every mechanism at our disposal to work with the league to find a collaborative solution for Tulsa Athletic Community Field at Hicks. Unfortunately, the only communication we received from NPSL leadership is ‘it is an open park’ (which it is not).”

Then comes the bombshell. “Due to the unwillingness to elaborate or provide a pathway for our home field, we are forced to take legal action against the NPSL and its leadership. To be clear, we are seeking an immediate injunction in order to return to our home, Athletic Community Field at Hicks Park.” These quotes are from a large multi-part statement on the Tulsa Athletic twitter account.

A further statement from Tulsa Athletic was circulated to NPSL club ownership via email and Protagonist obtained a copy. It includes much of the content of the social media statement, but with some further information regarding why legal action was being taken by the club. “Over the past two years we have attempted to collaborate with league leadership in search of a viable solution for our venue, but no clarification was ever communicated to Tulsa from NPSL leadership. During this time period, we learned the National Premier Soccer League lacks an appeals process for these decisions. Our leadership then filed an appeal to USASA, followed by a subsequent appeal to US Soccer. Despite our efforts, we found both the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) and US Soccer do not rule on such matters.” The email also claimed “Tulsa Athletic lost over $30,000 in sponsorships and a significant amount of game day revenue due to being forced to play in a stadium more than 30 miles outside of Tulsa.”

When reached for comment regarding the matter, Tulsa Athletic co-founder Sonny Dalesandro responded in a fairly cautious and generic fashion. “I think only that our belief is that the league, when run well, can be a tremendous platform for teams wishing to impact their community through the sport of soccer.”

The ongoing battle between the NPSL and its more outspoken owners is well-known but sadly mostly undocumented. The departure of some of the largest and best-run clubs for other leagues and the strife between league and ownership is the elephant in the room the league would have you ignore. While the league has continued to brag about its reputation and status as a national amateur league, the rumors of discontent among its members is no secret to those in the know. This legal action by one of the most successful clubs in the league is another mark against the reputation of the league’s leadership.

We are currently waiting for a response from the league to several questions, which we emailed today:

Does the league plan to fight the injunction?
What are the issues with Hicks Park?
Can Tulsa Athletic improve the park to the necessary standard?
Is the league leadership in communication with Tulsa regarding this matter?

When the league responds, we will share their answers.

- Dan Vaughn