Reign 2019

Hmm... Cost of living in Tacoma is significantly less than Seattle, so the players will be a lot happier down there pocketbook wise, but its also a good hour and a half drive away from Seattle, so the Reign just left their existing fanbase, corporate partners, etc. behind to move to a city that is 1/6th the size of Seattle with a significantly smaller GDP.

That being said, the Rainiers are building a new SSS in Tacoma for the Defiance (formerly S2), so that will definitely help with the team's profitability.

Long story short.. I think it hurts them with regards to corporate sponsors, but it could help them with regards to the fanbase as the Rainiers are used to bringing fans into games for niche/minor sports. I hope it is just a short term move and that they are able to move back to Memorial once the remodel is done.

 

Realistically this was their best option. CenturyLink wasn't going to happen. They'll be playing in a SSS eventually, but this move does alienate the Seattle fans.

 

This looks like an interim solution until the new stadium goes up in the parking lot. Had UW come up with the Stadium improvements they announced about 4 years ago but never did, it might have been different.

But with only 5K seating, about half of it endzone, it’s not going to help league or Reign attendance this year, in a year that will se decidedly lower league attendance until at least June.

Sounders 2 drew an average of 3,370 there in 2018. I would hope the Reign can do better.

Interesting that the Jersey sponsor ( Zulily) will be that same as the Sounders kit.

Let’s see... 2 hrs 21 minutes by car from my house in Portland.

 

supporters & maybe some sponsors are indeed screwed by this..but,

looks like the best that could be done under the circumstances.

 

shout out to the Predmores for their hard work and full transparency

 

Well, if the Tacoma group is building a soccer-dedicated stadium, that's a good thing and probably means this will be a permanent move, yes?

 

Seeing as how the Reign were stuck between a rock and a hard place, this is probably the best option there is stadium-wise in the Puget Sound area for the foreseeable future (Sounders don't seem likely to ever build their own SSS since attendance has remained strong, UW seems to have no interest in expanding their soccer stadium, and the Predmores don't have the financial wherewithal to go it alone). But the timing of this move is terrible. They should've remained at Memorial for the 2019 season as they had stated they were doing last summer and waited until near the end of this season to announce the move to Tacoma.

I am also very worried what this will do to attendance. It's asking a lot of the fans used to traveling to a central area of Seattle to now travel all the way down to Tacoma (as Yoshou stated, it's 1.5 hour drive, and if you don't have a car, it's over a 2 hour multiple bus ride). People didn't even want to have to travel to Tukwila which is much closer. So they're pretty much going to have to build up their fan base from scratch in 73 days. That seems to be asking a lot. Even if they have the full backing of the Rainers sales and marketing. FYI, The Rainers averaged 5,403 last season and S2 (now the Defiance) averaged 3,370. The Reign will have to hope they can do better than the Defiance did in their first season in Tacoma.

Also, here are some pics of the Cheney soccer setup:

 

Probably. While you can never say never, it seems like a pretty good situation for the Reign.. If it doesn’t work out in Tacoma, they are more likely to close up than move back to Seattle. If it does work out, I’d imagine they’ll stay as long as they don’t need a significantly larger stadium.. Even then, the fanbase that would necessitate a larger stadium would be in Tacoma, so...

 

Its a world cup year.. If the US women do well, that would be free advertizing.. The Rainers also do a fairly good job filling their stadium

 

Firs, I'm greatly impressed with the Predmores' letter and the details it provides.

Second, Memorial Stadium is in a great location, but the field itself is terrible. And, I gather the stadium itself also leaves a whole lot to be desired.

Third, I don't know how good access is to the new facility, but I'm guessing it's actually pretty good. I'd love to hear from those of you from the area on this.

Overall, my impression is this, and the other additional owners joining the Predmores, is going to be really good for the Reign over the long term.

 

And that also depends how much the announcers mention the Tacoma Reign...

Well, sure, if they were a NWSL team they would have the 3rd best average. But they were only the 10th best of any PCL team in 2018 (and 21st overall for all of Triple-A). So I wouldn't exactly say they were the greatest at the sales and marketing of niche/minor sports teams.

 

The stadium only holds 6,500 and they average 5,400. *shrug* That’s a pretty full stadium, IMHO. Especially when you consider their MLB club is a steaming pile of crap that averages only 4-6 times that and has the weakest minor league system in the league.

 

You mean if one lives in Tacoma? There's plenty of parking and it's right off of a highway, so sure if you live nearby and have a car it's pretty good.

 

I dunno, if they were really so great at sales/marketing, you'd think they'd sell out all the games... But, as to the 2nd part of your statement, I'll give you that.

 

cp's post pointed me back to this:

aren't these the most important points we're not talking about?

 

If you're gonna be snarky and call them the Tacoma Reign, might as well use Germantown Spirit and Bridgeview Red Stars, right? (Heck, particularly in comparison to the Spirit - Memorial to Cheney is literally closer than Audi Field is to the MD Soccerplex.)

I know they officially dropped "Seattle" from their name, but IMHO that's a bit of an overreaction - it's still less than an hour from downtown. Otherwise, though, I agree that all the changes they've just announced are all good mid- and long-term moves.

 

Let's hope it works out. Tacoma has an inferiority complex vis a vis Seattle -- so it might be a good idea to get some Reign players to do PR in Tacoma soon -- and try to build civic pride for the local team. Rah, Rah, etc.

 

I think this is good news for Reign. I lived in Seattle during the first two years of Reign and went to almost every game AND had Season Tickets for the Red Stars.

I know from the start that the Reign were not going to get much of the Sounders crowd, just like the Red Stars aren't getting much of the Fire crowd. Some, yes, but not overwhelming.
The move may become a great thing in the long run. Tacoma will have a pro soccer team of their own to support with a grass field and nice stadium that sells beer (very important for pro sports, IMO). The drop of the Seattle name may end up being a good idea as well as now they can draw fans from all over the NW. Maybe become a Raiders of NWSL.

If Red Stars would drop "Chicago" from their name they would also have to drop "Red Stars" as a nickname, as that is a reference to the Chicago flag and not to Red Star Belgrade as some people think.

 

This I wouldn't like, though: I don't even live in USA, so dropping the Seattle part is not actually a very big deal for me; but I must admit I grew an affection for the "Reign" name and for the crest, so I wouldn't like any kind of "Western New York Flash to North Carolina Courage" change...

 

---It's unfortunate that the city of Seattle couldn't come up with the money to renovate Memorial Stadium, though I read that is now on the drawing board, yes? I suppose if there had been a plan to renovate Memorial, it might have left the Reign with nowhere to play for a year, at least.

--Does it really take 1.5 hours to drive the 33 miles to Tacoma? Is traffic THAT bad?

--The Tacoma stadium seems weird for soccer--especially with the 2/3 grass, 1/3 turf field and given that, as I read yesterday, half or more of the fans sit in the "end zone", because of the odd configuration of the place. Not exactly good seats. But if they can average 5K or so at place, it does suggest that Tacoma has some potential as a fan base, especially if they build a standalone soccer stadium, which is supposedly in the cards.

--All of these points up the challenges facing new leagues. The Reign seem, to me, to be one of the best organizations in the NWSL but it's been held back by not having a proper venue for the team. Here's to success in Tacoma!

 

Yes, there is a bottleneck around Tacoma as you go down I-5. I remember driving from Seattle to Portland and always took account for the slowing of traffic around Tacoma. However, I grew up around Chicago so to me it was normal. I drive from the north side of Chicago to Toyota Park and it may take an hour and a half on a good day to see the Red Stars or Fire, and I would drive it anytime, every time.
It all depends on your heart. How bad do you want to see the game. For me it would be bad enough and I would drive it even if it was three hours long. But that's me.

 

This is odd because it was a condition of the hiring of the new Men’s soccer coach when they lured him away from Creighton, which has a wonderful stadium.

 

There are fans and then there are true fans, someone like you! To bad there are not more like you. With Tacoma being an hour and a half drive to get to games, and how that will play out in drawing the Seattle fan base, especially after reading some of the concerns of travel time in comments, it makes you wonder how LAFC would draw since most of the fan base traveling to downtown LA, would need to drive even further and in the LA traffic to get to the games.