From what I've read, there's no guarantee that the team will be named "Sounders" until Spring '08. Plus the current Sounders will not be promoted to MLS.
Then you must've heard wrong. The only reason there is a USL-1 team this year is because our GM secured teritorial rights over the squad this upcoming year...
Oh, I see what Unak78 meant. No, they haven't announced a name yet. The soonest this will be done is in the new year.
No harm done. I had also heard that Seattle will have special protections over choice Sounder's players, so I'm up to speed on that. Just the name thing. And to that end, I read a suggestion in the Seattle Times a while back: Emerald City Sounders. Now that would have a real nice ring to it.
Probably in another 3 months or so -- no firm date given other than they are targeting end of Q1 2008.