Seatle needs and deserves a team

Move San Jose to Seattle.

 

Seattle's "bump" from the 25K crowd amounted to no more than a 2,073 crowd Wednesday night... back in the old rink errrr park, of course.

It's time to stop rewarding spikes and start rewarding consistency, as if we could determine that from scratch.

Actually, show me the investor, and they'll show you where the next teams go.

 

Houston????? If anything I can agree with Seattle/Tacoma, but not Houston. San Diego is much more logical because of it large soccer knowledgeable population. It will also create a good west coast basis for the MLS.

 

although i applaud the sounders 25,000+ crowd for one game but the simple fact is it was just that- one game.

the majority were there for the 'novelty effect'- it was the opening of the new stadium.

and like previously stated, when they returned to their regular home, attendance numbers returned to the regular amount.

 

Good point and this is for the best team in the A League, a team that is practically playing at an MLS level. Portland looks like a far more attractive market than Seattle for MLS. The Timbers draw around 6,000 per game in their 2nd season and they are a middle of the pack A League team. Portland doesn't have Major League Baseball, NFL football, or major college football.

There is a good chance the Mariners and the Seahawks would suffocate MLS in Seattle. Maybe Seattle would work, but I think it should be well down the MLS expansion list.

 

I believe Portland is the largest metropolitan area that doesn't have a Major League Baseball team.

 

One speck out of the galaxy of jabs us Portlanders take at Seattle is that they are first-order frontrunners.

I can tell you about U. Washington women's basketball and their "streak" of sellouts in the early 90s, for instance.

Unlike many, if not most cities, once the Mariner bandwagon falls apart just a little bit, the crowds will disappear mightily. Early in 2001, the Mariner brass were deploring poor advance ticket sales, and it took win after win after win to fill those seats last year and this. That's Seattle for ya.

In other words, it doesn't take much to make room for the Sounders if the room is there to be had. I do think the caveat here is that MLS will catch fire, A-League won't. Markets with more than one (probably even more than 0) "major league" team tend to think that way.

Now, OF COURSE MLS in Portland is something I wouldn't sneeze at. The $64 question is, well, chicken and egg. Portland needs the same thing Seattle doesn't seem to have... an investor. At least an appropriately sized stadium is available if baseball in PDX could be shot dead.

Necessity being a mother, if Seattle gets an MLS team, the effort to get Portland a team increases fivefold (the big crowds Portland gets- 3 out of 4 times, anyway- for Seattle is all the reason needed). If Portland gets a team first, and Vancouver folds, expect the same from Seattle, I think. There's some work to do before this deserves any further discussion, of course. Thing is, having one without the other misses out on a great opportunity for the league- a built-in rivalry from Day 1, and plenty of fans to go with it.

 

Well, I believe Houston gets the largest TV ratings for a non-MLS city.

 

Seattle has no investor right now, just wanted to get that out of the way before someone thinks that I am a delusional Seattle fan.

As for the 2,000 that regularly show up to Memorial, I admire them and at the same time feel very very sorry for them. Because they are treated with soccer on a narrow concrete field with gridiron lines in an old beat-up stadium where the ball takes ridiculous ten foot bounces, the bleachers (there are no seats) are covered in birdsh!t, and the bathrooms are like a trip through a haunted house.

I like the Sounders and have been following them closely for the past 4 years since shortly after I moved up here. I sometimes will catch a game at Memorial, but it is sooooo hard to get motivated to get out to that stadium. I want to see the team play very badly, but coughing up $10 to watch great players look like fools on that concreate field is just so upsetting. I leave the game cursing and angry even if we win. I am sure other fans leave laughing and never return to a game, and thereafter will spread negative propaganda to other soccer fans about how ridiculous a Sounders game is to watch.

The above paragraph is beating a dead horse for the Sounders' faithful, since they hear it all the time from Seattle-area soccer fans. I greatly admire the fans who attend every game, and feel guilty myself for finding it so hard to tolerate the situation at Memorial Stadium because our low attendances make our city and team look bad. But so many other hardcore soccer fans in Seattle feel like me.

The Sounders once averaged nearly 10,000 per game at that same piece of crap stadium in the mid-90's. Ownership really screwed things up since then, and that is a story for those who know the details.

The team also has the marketing budget of an A-League team, not an MLS team. They also really want to stay more focused on the youth and development level, and not on the big-time professional sports level, and so their marketing reflects that. However, I really respect this year's management for communicating better with the supporters groups, talking about bringing back the original Sounders colors and branding, and paying homeage to Sounders history at the recent game against Vancouver in the new stadium. They are trying to resurrect the soccer market here in a way that the past management did not. A side-effect of this is that they could be setting the stage for possible MLS expansion, even though they themselves are not in a financial position to be investors themselves.

If Seattle had an MLS team in the new stadium, I don't think they would pull in 25,000 per game, obviously. But they would do *way* better than 2,000 per game. We are talking higher-level quality soccer (although the current Sounders are very high quality in my opinion) and a higher-level playing and spectating environment. I think the Sounders in the new stadium could push 15,000 in average attendance. I know I would buy a season ticket instantly. I have many friends and co-workers who would do the same.

- Paul

 

Maybe Seattle deserves a team. But, I refuse to support MLS if it keeps moving into NFL caverns. If MLS is going to insist that it was necessary to cut a club like Miami, I'm going to insist on this.

So, if Seattle. That means soccer-specific stadium or nothing.

 

I don't think this is a realistic viewpoint. Look at Major League Baseball. Many major league teams played in rearranged football stadiums until fairly recently. Let the league get established and grow and the stadiums will come. But I think it will severely impair the growth of the league if a soccer specific stadium is a condition of entry.

 

I think the only way MLS expands into another NFL stadium is if the situation is similar to that of the Krafts in New England.

Also, I don't think the league would be too receptive to the plastic turf, no matter how grass like (or FIFA approved) it is. The things I've heard from Chicago seems to link the rash of Fire injuries this season to the field turf at Napierville. Josh Wolff is the latest victim as stated in an interview at the All Star Game, specifically blaming the Cardinal Stadium surface for his current foot injury.

I think Seattle would be a graet addition to MLS...But like every other expansion candidate, it all comes down to having a stadium and investor/operator.

Now if Mr.Allen decides to ante up and tell Homgren to piss off and put real grass in the new ( tax payer funded) stadium....

 

This sums it up for me. Good post.

I'd only add that I have my doubts that this new stadium is really as great a place for soccer as the First & Goal people claim it is. What do I know, I live on the other side of th country. But when you add up the 70 yard wide field (with a slight crown), the artificial turf, the size of the stadium and the fact that it would have to be shared with an NFL team, I wonder just why it's any better than a lot of other NFL-specific stadiums.

 

Great, I'm glad San Diego knows everything about soccer. Great, west coast. yeah. who cares? no investor = don't even worry about expansion.

 

It is a lot more intimate than you would expect from a stadium with such a large seating capacity. And it is in a great downtown walking neighborhood location with lots of bars and restaurants.

I do agree that this stadium might not be worth it for MLS if the lease isn't closer to the ones with CMGI and Arrowhead than to the ones with RFK and Giants Stadium. This basically means either Allen invests, or First and Goal (the Paul Allen quasi-corp that runs the stadium for the city) gives MLS and some other investor a sweetheart deal in order to live up to the "we promised an MLS team in the new stadium" promise.

Those are the financial realities.

The atmosphere, playing conditions, location, infrastructure, and fan appeal are totally there with this new stadium, though. It would make a great MLS stadium.

- Paul

 

I agree 100%. Out of all the new NFL stadiums, this is the only one that would make a good soccer stadium as well, IMO.

This new Seattle stadium is not huge and exagerated like every other new NFL stadium. It doesn't have 4 or 5 tiers like Cleveland stadium, Houston's new one or even CMGI for that matter. It's actually pretty intimate.

 

Well put. This should be required reading for all those out of town "know it alls" that don't know squat about why the Sounders attendance is the way it is.

I would just add to that, in answer to one of the previous posts about most of the 25K who showed up only because of the novelty factor, IMHO most of the people there were there for the soccer.

Why? If the person who didn't care for soccer wanted to see the stadium, he/she could have done so for free all day the previous Saturday and Sunday -- and have gotten to walk on the pitch, see the pressbox/suites/lockerrooms, etc which they would NOT have gotten to do at the Sounders game. And they wouldn't have had to shell out $20 a ticket either for something that "didn't interest them".

In addition, the stadium is opened for 3 hours after Mariner day games for free tours (basically a vehicle for the Sea-hacks NFL to try to sell their remaining tickets for the regular season). And the helmetball is starting this next week, so someone who wanted to see something besides soccer didn't have long at all to wait (I would have bought the argument about seeing the stadium rather than the soccer a bit more if there were like a 4-5 month time period between the soccer and other events -- not true in this case).

FWIW, I'm one of those who, despite all the crap we put up with in Memorial, attends every match despite the venue (and no beer in the stadium, ugh). And I go to as many of the road matches in Portland and Vancouver as I can fit in.

 

Eric is Da Man! Well, one of them. Good job in the pod at the Vancouver match.

As sad as it may sound, I actually prefer driving all the way to Vancouver to watch the Sounders play in Swangard or all the way to Portland to watch the Sounders play in Civic Stadium (aka PGE Park). Much better experience than Memorial, even with that gorgeous view of the Space Needle.

I forgot about the no beer thing at Memorial, since it is owned by the Seattle School District. Another notch in the negative column.

I live in Pioneer Square on 2nd Avenue with a straight line view of the north bleachers and inside the stadium, so I have seen the hordes of people crawling all over the stadium day in and day out since it opened up for the open houses and free tours. So trust me, no one was at the Sounders match just to check out the stadium. Everyone has already seen it for free.

For anyone who wants to support the Sounders playing in the new stadium next year, go to this link: http://seattlesounders.net/stadiumInterest.asp

- Paul

 

A must. Even if you don't plan on getting season tickets and just come out for a match or four next year, please take part and help get the Sounders OUT of Memorial!!!

If not for getting rid of the turf, at least for the BEER. Even if it is highway robbery at $7+ a pint.

 

Re: Re: Seatle needs and deserves a team

How do you know there are no investors in SD? We I am willing to pich in. How much does it take 10, 20 bucks to join the MLS.....