Tough but honest answers from Mr. Hanauer, he lays it out to the fans and doesn't hold back when defending his and fellow owners choices and decisions. I was cool to the idea of the move up to the rodeo grounds but if it'll get the club on solid footing and into a market that will actually support the club than good for them and good luck up in Kitsap. off topic: I think the lack of support USL teams get from local soccer fans is the best proof why promotion/relegation will never work in America. For promotion/relegation to work, there needs to be loyalty to the local club.
The owners (so far) have not actually come out and said that the club will leave Seattle if attendance doesn't improve. However, they have begun to say *other* things, such as the responses from Hanauer above, and this... whole story here, from March 2006... http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/231604
There is a difference between a second or third tier league in which a team can move up and what we have now. I do not think it would work very well between MLS and USL, but perhaps with MLS1 and MLS2. USL will probably always have the stigma of being an underfunded struggling league. MLS could have 2 divisions (or 3, MLS1 and MLS2 west and MLS2 east) and still be seen as a unified league. This is not to say it would definatively work, but that it is plausible.
I don't think it matters one way or another how its set up, even if there was promo/relegation, people would still say they don't want to spend their money on their team if its not in the top league. Again for promo/rel to work loyalty to the home team is key and that is lacking here.
I was one of the fans to ask that question. In the Seattle sports market, it takes more than putting a winning team on the pitch year in and year out to get good attendance numbers. Why don't they offer a discounted season ticket to college students? Why don't they put ads in the Seattle Weekly or the Stranger (local alternative press). It seems to me that the things they have done in the past have not payed off. Why not try something different? If they are indeed busting their asses with the local media, then the local media is very much to blame for the lack of time during the news broadcasts. They have the time to cover high school sports, but not the Sounders? That doesn't seem right....
In a more "measured" follow-up Seattle GM Adrian Hanauer responded to some questions about the Seattle Sounders fate in Seattle... (New 5/22/06) Hanauer: "No decisions yet..." 3,051 fans watched the Sounders-Toronto match Saturday night, May 20 at Qwest Field.
Do you know if there has been any talk of the Sounders building their own digs as the Silverbacks are doing? Has that even been brought up?
Not lately. It was talked about around 2000-2001. They don't have the investors right now to do so. Also, the club does not want to "invest money" in the Seattle market in that way. They think it is a USL-1 failure. The current Kitsap "option" has a stadium that the county would pay to make usable for the club.
Hanauer (right) with former Sounder player (NASL) Jimmy Gabriel. Of course, holding coffee. Duh! Hanauer is ALL about Seattle! From 2002... So, the "5-year plan" approaches the reflection point...
The Hanauer "Google" search: 2002: Sounders' exec says club headed for better times 2003: Sounders look to increase attendance, improve finances 2004: Sounders Notebook: A-League team on hold to mull MLS bid 2004: Seattle must wait longer for MLS bid: League to expand to Salt Lake City in '05 2005: State of the Sounders: GM Hanauer talks USL-1, MLS 2006: Sounders consider move to Kitsap Co.
If fans had the carrot of eventual promotion to a higher league I think interest would iomprove dramatically.
SOUNDERS CONSIDER FOLDING FRANCHISE... http://soundercentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=5056 But they have done this every year for the last few, as very likely have other USL-1 clubs...
What's going to happen to our Sounders? http://soundercentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=5116
It really is sad. The Cascade Clubs are going in different directions. Portland appears to be trucking along, doing ok, getting fans and in cruise control. Vancouver seems to be making some waves, wants to build a new downtown stadium and Bobby Lenarduzzi indicating the Whitecaps will play in the top flight in the next 7-10 years, whatever the top flight is. ...............and then we have Seattle. I hope they are kicking up a fuss to get a new deal. The problem with crying wolf is one day when the wolf shows up nobody takes you seriously. If this is another Sounders attempt to get some kind of deal/stadium going I just don't think they have the leverage. If they are serious it will last all of 1 maybe 2 years. With 2 teams getting new stadiums this year, a team trying to get a new stadium in 2 years and a team signing Romario the USL 1 is looking up and Seattle is looking to a rodeo stadium and name change to a county nobody has heard of.
Absolutely not the case. I have been told directly by Hanauer that, as you say, the Sounders have no leverage whatsoever in the Seattle community. He also has said that Qwest Field, and the club's $6,000 per match rent are not the "real obstacles" in making Seattle work. Seattle's lack of support is. By that I mean by both the soccer community and business community. Forget the "sports community." They don't come/care at all. Not a single public notice/event by the city when the Sounders brought their 3rd championship to Seattle last year. Seattle cares very little for domestic soccer, even less for minor league domestic soccer. Moving to Kitsap is a plan hatched out of desperation. Another option is folding. A third option is getting more investors. However, Hanauer is NOT interested in investing more $$$ in Seattle for USL-1. Sounders owner Robin Waite is interested in taking over as majority owner. Since he lives in Kitsap county, and has seen the growth and opportunity to be the "number one dog" he has started orchestrating the move with County officials. A club needs several things to thrive in the USL-1, and "national prestige" is NOT one of them: 1. Rich, passionate owners 2. Supportive community/fan base 3. Supportive community/Sponsors 4. Own Stadium 5. Good management ------------------------------ In Seattle we have 1, and depending on whom you talk to, 5. 2,3,4 are missing. Who's to say they can't be found across the sound?
My source in Kitsap County Administration says the talks between the Sounders and the County over how to do a public/private finance of the stadium remodel are going "at a steady pace" and that there is "much goodwill" between the club reps and the County folks and local leaders. Summer (2006) is the target date to know if this thing (and this club) flies.
Kitsap County has almost $37 million in parks-related funds to use in the next few years. Some of it will go towards soccer, including a proposed $2 million for Field Turf fields to go with recent grass field improvements. The article also mentions this: $4 million could go towards improvements to the "Fairgrounds." Yes, that is where Thunderbird stadium is located... ------------------------------------------------ Kitsap soccer-related from today's Kitsap Sun... FC Crush Junior Academy player Alexis Conway-Newton, 8, chases the soccer ball during practice at Gordon Field on Tuesday afternoon. FC Crush Junior Academy player Taylor Mons, 7, winds up to kick the soccer ball during practice at Gordon Field on Tuesday afternoon. A six-year parks and open space plan proposes $2 million for artificial turf for the field located near the Kitsap County Fairgrounds. *think Sounders.