Rayo OKC’s turf being tested at MCU park

Rayo OKC’s Yukon Stadium was supplemented with turf for their games.

Remember Rayo OKC’s turf last season? It is singularly owned by Mr. Sean Jones — minority owner of Rayo OKC — as Rayo Vallecano declined to pay for any portion of the cost. Jones has been paying for the 96 pallets of turf for about a year now. They’ve been in storage since the end of Rayo and NASL’s 2016 season. Towards the end of last season, there was speculation whether Cosmos were trying to purchase the turf. While there is still uncertainty around that, Soc Takes can confirm that at this very moment, that same turf is on its way to NYC for a trial.

This week, that turf was transported to Brooklyn to be tested on MCU park surface. If the turf is considered to be in good enough shape, it will be purchased (Update: see below) by NY Cosmos for use for the 2017 NASL season. The turf is expected to arrive today.

The turf will not be the only connection between Rayo OKC and NY Cosmos this year; Alberto Gallego has joined the team as Assistant coach to Gio Savarese along with midfielder Richard Menjivar (As first reported on twitter by James Poling of The Oklahoman). Gallego has experience with the turf – a Rayo source informs Soc Takes that Gallego, on occasion, laid the turf himself in the 2nd half of the NASL 2016 season. Whether or not that had any bearing on the decision to try out the turf is unknown.

NY Cosmos, in spite of a tumultuous off-season, are clearly taking incremental steps to prepare for the 2017 season. As for Jones, he will be glad to not have to set aside payments towards the turf; and be one step closer to putting the Rayo story behind him, as he focuses on Oklahoma City FC.

Update (February 25th): Soc Takes has learned that NY Cosmos will not be purchasing the turf out right. If they like the turf, they will lease it for one year, with no plans to buy it. Soc Takes understands that COO Erik Stover believes the option of leasing the turf allows the team to find a more appropriate long-term solution for their field.

Samaras and other Rayo OKC players go through their warm up drills.