Seattle and Soccer

[sounderfan]

Two older but still informative links...

http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/exclusives/346839.html


Seattle has a rich soccer history from associations with professional teams like the NASL Seattle Sounders to the University of Puget Sound where U.S. National Team head coach Bruce Arena had his first coaching job.

The city has also been a potent breeding ground of U.S. talent like goalkeeper Kasey Keller and Chris and Sean Henderson. Sean, a three-year player with Colorado, still lives in Seattle while Chris, entering his eighth MLS season, returns home to conduct clinics and visit family. Both remember that they were shaped by the soccer experience they had as children in the Emerald City.

"Seattle was a great soccer town to grow up in. We never missed a Sounders game. They played at Seattle Memorial Coliseum in the 70's and later in The Kingdome. All the NASL greats came through town. Pele, Johan Cruyff, George Best, The Cosmos," said Chris.


and

http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/exclusives/348954.html


The Sounders started in Memorial Stadium, building the playing squad around former English League talent like Geoff Hurst and Harry Redknapp. The squad was strong, and by their third year they were falling just short of a championship, losing to the Cosmos in the Soccer Bowl. By that point the club was playing in the Kingdome and had local competition in Portland.

Seattle stabilized under strong local ownership during the soccer boom of the late 1970’s with one of the league’s highest attendance averages and several strong showings in the Transatlantic Cup. Beating European clubs and the English players on the squad gave the Sounders a reputation in Europe. In the NASL, Roger Davies was named MVP in 1980 and Peter Ward won the award in ’82. That year the Sounders returned to the Soccer Bowl, again facing the Cosmos and losing.

[sounderfan]

from late 2002...


The Seattle Sounders’ announcement that they will play in Seahawks Stadium next season has produced the expected rumors among those interested in Major League Soccer’s expansion targets. Avoiding overt speculation, that stadium was always intended to be more than just an NFL venue and it’s the likely host for the Manchester United friendly scheduled for Seattle this summer.

Moving to Seahawks Stadium didn’t come out of nowhere, with the club running a season ticket drive for several months to prove there is fan interest. For those that haven’t seen the stadium, here’s a link to the architect’s site, who apparently think the Sounders are already a part of Major League Soccer.

As a club, the Sounders are most associated with their developmental model, described in the past as focusing on producing players as much as winning games. That was based off of an association with German Bundesliga club Werder Bremen, with the Sounders forming a nonprofit organization called the Seattle Soccer Success Foundation, aimed at forming a youth setup similar to the European model yet complying with NCAA regulations. When the Seattle officials described, described this to me in February of 2001, the goal was reinvesting all profits into the club, with MLS a possible fit at some point, but not their primary interest.

That seems to have shifted a bit, with both the general manager and coach telling local papers that fan interest will help them push towards joining Major League Soccer.

Speaking to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Jo’el Steven Rouse, Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer outlined the club’s plans. “Two years. Championship. Whether it's an A-League or MLS, I guess I'd like to challenge the people out there, the soccer fans of the Northwest to decide which one they want.”

This was echoed by Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer speaking to the Seattle Times’ Rosie Leutzinger. “(The fans) ask us when we are getting an MLS team. To that, I would answer it is now up to the fans of the Northwest and the media and business community in Seattle to support professional soccer in Seattle, and the MLS will follow.”