I don't know about that anymore. Reading the comments on this Boston article made me think about how different attitudes still are in Boston towards the sport: http://www.boston.com/community/blo...n_america.html?comments=all&plckCurrentPage=1
For some semi-objective color, I moved to Seattle from San Jose recently. The difference between the teams is blindingly obvious. In San Jose, the MLS team is completely invisible. I think the minor league baseball team in town has more visibility. I have attended games at Buck Shaw stadium rooting for San Jose and it was an unremarkable affair to be honest. In San Jose, the team is the San Jose Sharks hockey team. If you were a visitor to San Jose you would think it is the only team that exists. And to cap that off, they are a decent and dangerous hockey team that routinely lives in the upper part of the standings. Lots of rabid Sharks fans. In Seattle, the team is the Sounders. Yeah, the Mariners and Seahawks live in this town but you would barely know it living here. All of the rabid fans are Sounders fans. Much like San Jose, you have a deep population of obsessed fans that practically demand a quality side in the sport of the town. In Seattle, that sport is soccer. It is as though if you wanted to follow sports in this town you would be insane to follow any team except the Sounders. Bravo to the Sounders FO for creating that environment. I do not think most people appreciate how invisible MLS teams are in some towns and how incredibly visible they are in others. In Seattle, the Sounders are the true religion. Someone with excellent marketing chops created that.
Wait, then how come like twice as many follow the Seahawks at each home game? I'm not downplaying what the Sounders have done, because they're great for MLS, but is it possible you lived in Seattle outside of pointyball season?
Hes talking about the rabid/passionate fans. Yes, Huskies Seahawks and Mariners have a larger overall following than the Sounders. NCAA NFL and MLB are MUCH MUCH MUCH larger than MLS (more history more fair weathers etc.), but which team creates more of a buzz? Which team do you see represented best on game day? Sounders I'd say, but I'm biased.
He's overselling, but the one real difference I see is that wandering around, you see people casually wearing Sounders shirts and jackets and hats. I've been in Boston for 3 days now, and have seen exactly one sign that the Revolution exist (a car with a bumper sticker). In Seattle it's pretty omnipresent.
Those kinds of people exist in every city, even Seattle. The difference between Seattle and Boston is perception. In Boston, those people perceive the sport no different than they did in 1991, largely because they've seen no evidence of change. They rarely see anything about the revs, and when they do, it's "minor league" marketing (seriously, have you ever seen Revolution commercials?). In Seattle, those same people perceive that the popular sentiment is to support soccer. Therefore, they don't speak up for fear of being shot down. It's human nature to not go against the grain unless you have a significant motivator. The soccer haters don't have enough motivation to go against the perceived grain in Seattle.
I've lived here almost a year. I live and work in the general area of downtown. I know the Seahawks are a bigger team in practice but you would never know it if you were a random person walking down the street, which was my point. There is a general impression that Sounders are "the" team. You see Sounders stuff everywhere, a lot more than the Seahawks stuff (or Mariners stuff). Someone spent a lot of time and effort to create that impression.
100% agree but still the fans have been the huge key. MLS in the PNW have made MLS look like a real soccer league instead of the 5PM Scooby doo show like in 1999. Lots of passion lots of focus and teams doing things right. I hope this continues for the good of our league.
Admittedly I haven't spent that much time back in Seattle since the Sounders made the jump to MLS, but I think the Huskies have that vibe back that they had in the late 80's (not to the level of the Rose Bowl and National Championship teams of the 90's). Sark has turned the program around and shown that, once again, the Huskies are becoming top Dawg in the Seattle area. I'd agree that the buzz about the Seahawks and especially the Mariners (unless King is pitching) isn't there though.
Seattle as in Portland too.. Soccer has a very strong following by the young urban populace. Yeah,... the game is big in the burbs too.. The Game day experience in both of these towns is strong because the FO's figured out quickly that building a stadium in the burbs would not drag the fans out of the city.. bring the game to the fans.
This is mere anecdotal, but the number of kids at my daughter's elementary school who wear Sounders gear has passed the number of M's or Hawks gear by a long shot. Having visible soccer figures that young kids can aspire to emulate is what is going to move the needle in this country. Get the kids playing and watching soccer in this country, and the league will grow.
I don't think so. There just are a lot less of them to start with. Most people here have been involved with the sport at some point. It goes with being in this region. So while you are right that these people would not dare raise their ignorant thoughts on a public forum like that, there also is the fact that there are less of them to begin with, probably a lot less.
To increase ticket sales. Seriously. People buy tickets earlier and with more urgency, if they think they may want to go, but are afraid they won't be able to get tickets. And conversely, if people know they can buy a ticket as a walk-up, they may decide they are too busy when the moment arrives, and that becomes a lost sale. Honestly, the main reason I am a STH is because I could only get tickets to half the games during Seattle's year 1 in MLS. The benefit though, was that it compelled me to go to as many matches as possible, including the road trip down to Portland that year, and I have been a Cascadian traveler ever since as well.
Just to follow on to his point, many of the new sporting facilities (baseball, basketball, football at least) are being built with smaller capacities. The ballclubs have all realized what bgix says above: if people perceive that tickets will be hard to get then they'll pay for full or partial season ticket packages. They may be leaving some revenue on the table, but they gain is the security in knowing that they don't have to depend on day of game ticket sales.
It also helps that the Mariners, Seahawks (besides 07), and UW (besides last year) have all been terrible for the Sounders existence in MLS and even leading up to MLS post announcement of the franchise.
Just because we have a relatively small afro-american population (3.6% vs 12.6%) does not make our state less racially and culturally diverse. we have higher then average percentage of virtually every other racial group recorded in the most recent census and a much higher rate of people reporting mixed racial heritage. link As for economic equality, I'd wager there is a greater gap here then many places, what with Microsoft blowing the curve and a large number of migrant and agricultural workers swelling the bottom of the curve. I think your dirty little secret shows more about yourself then it does about the PNW.
That and he said many not most/all. And really I think that trend has only been true in baseball. You could argue MLS as well but since we are on round 1 of SSS construction you can't really say that MLS teams are downsizing their facilities from previous existing SSS. Now if C'bus gets around to building the 2nd Crew stadium and they build at 15k then you could say that trend may carry over to MLS. But by and large the recent NFL stadiums have all been bigger. The NBA/NHL arenas essentially the same. MLB facilities smaller (but possibly only because they were getting away from dual use facilities like the Kingdome, Three Rivers, Riverfront etc....) MLS otoh is building to suit its current upper capacity expectations, with an eye towards easy stadium expansion when that capacity is regularly met with additional demand. Seattle in essence does the same thing with the Clink only in our case capacity is increased by removing tarps rather than undergoing a construction project. And Jason you are correct about the Husky swagger coming back. It reminds me of 1988-1990 at this point. I expect this will be a 7-5 or 8-4 regular season and the recruiting will go through the roof as the reconstruction of Husky stadium begins. But I do not see the rise of UW athletics diminishing the current Sounders buzz. Time will tell, and Seattle has really only had one period where 2 local teams had equal excitement and expectations simultaneously, so one could eventually overshadow the other.
In talking with a long time Crew supporter ( cousin of my wife's), the current stadium could actually be dismantled and moved. Not sure if he was full of it, but it would be cool if it could.
First of all: respect to the PNW teams for adding such substance to MLS and US soccer in general. A rising tide raises all boats (or some other such slogan...). I don't think you can overlook stadium placement. Having been to games this year both at JELD-WEN and Qwest; the importance of location right downtown, near the target demographic and within walking distance of the central business district (with its residences, transportation, bars etc.) cannot be overstated. It creates such a more festive atmosphere all day leading up to the game that is infectious. As much as I hugely appreciate the various Rapids supporters groups' efforts to do a similar thing, the effort is hobbled by DSGP's location in the boonies. I think that Denver has similar potential to create such a buzz, but it starts with casual fans being drawn in. I've seen many friends start as casual fans and slowly get more and more diehard. However, the average 20-30 something Denver casual fan/bargoer is going to be less likely to consider going to a Rapids game on an idle Saturday night because 1) there is no infectious downtown atmosphere and 2) the park is inconvenent to get to (especially if alcohol is being consumed). Out of sight out of mind. My two cents.