Seattle

Not really hyping the move to MLS. Every season the A-League teams play friendlies against 1 or 2 MLS teams. Also it's a good chance that they will meet at least one in the Open Cup.

You might not be able to purchase season tickets, but maybe you can afford some single game tickets.

 

Actually, exhibitions between the Sounders and their MLS affiliates are pretty rare, but that may have had something to do with the facility they played in. It has been more like once every two years instead of twice a year. Hopefully there will be more now that they're playing in a place with better turf.

 

Please note GilbertBrown has this statement as part of his quote from the Sounders, unless he's just speculating and misplaced his quotation marks.

That's clearly more than pushing friendlies or US Open Cup matches. Certainly interesting that they would include that.

 

I think the reason that the Sounders are using the "we might be in MLS someday" angle in their marketing is twofold:

1) It helps sell season tickets NOW when you add the speculative incentive that you could be first in line to get tickets for the MLS team. It also brings a certain amount of legitimacy to the team to think "this is only an A-League team, but maybe some day, they could be top-flight."

2) This is a very safe statement to make since they aren't saying it will happen for sure, this is "just in case". The local newspapers keep talking about MLS lately because of the history behind how the new stadium got built and the fact that the Sounders are now in the new stadium. Rumblings in the media are more important marketing-wise than substantive fact. The only substantive fact is that Garber has Seattle on his list of potential expansion cities. No ownership group has appeared, though.

Welcome to Seattle, GilbertBrown! You picked the perfect time to move here, job-wise.

- Paul

 

Let's get this thread going...fans of soccer in washington, talk, about something i don't know...i read all the san diego, detroit, etc threads and they are pages long...we have nothing here....at least see how many fans we have of the sounders/MLS/Seattle MLS team when we get one...

We are actually a real city that is getting considered, not one of those "other" cities that are wishful thinking, like san diego, please...

info on me: 19 years old, usually travel to 1 LA Galaxy game per season (since 98), already got tickets for the Japan exhibition in march...soon to get sounders season tickets, waiting cuz i want to be in the supporters section and i need info, asked pugetsoundmls or whatever his name is (no offense meant there) in another thread to PM me some info...

I would love for MLS to come here, hopefully 2004!!!!!!

Even though i like the sounders name, i wish it would go with the a-league team, new era in soccer in seattle, i think we need a new name and colors...

the WNBA team might go under soon (thank god)...

I like the Storm name, actually on old fifa games (fifa sucks compared to other soccer games but i like creating teams and players) i would create the Seattle Storm, but then the WNBA stole "my" team name...so i've been using Seattle Emerald...a lot of people don't like singular "nicknames"...i like seattle emerald...

well thats all for now, just wanted to bump this up to the top...now if some of you fellow seattle fans could get something going, maybe a topic or two, i'll be checking this along with the other usual threads i check about once every few hours...except of course when i'm sleeping...

Matt Reaser - Seattle Soccer Fan

(actually from Tumwater, hour away, played high school football for THS, if you follow high school football, i was in the playoffs all 3 years i was on varsity, state playoffs in 99 and 00, lost our pigtail game in 01...I was the starting QB in 01)

 

Matt,

Buy those tickets, this year will be sort of a litmus test for the Sounders, it will make a huge difference if they draw 5,000 - 7,500 - 10,000 or 12,500 as an average. If its the latter MLS will be here drooling. Present management is taking a bit of a risk by playing in the new stadium, I for one think it will pay off. I'm not sure that the Seahawk stadium is the long term answer as its just too big. Midway may well turn out to be the solution. If the Sounders do well in the new stadium I think it'll peak interest from potential investors. As to the name Sounders it has brand name recognition and tradition, every youth league here has at least one team called the sounders, when you mention the name everyone knows what you are talking about. They may not know who the players, owners are but they know the name stands for soccer.

Regards

 

The problem with Midway is that Seattle sports fans have been conditioned for 3 decades now that professional sports are played in the heart of the city, either in Pioneer Square or in Seattle Center. Suburban fans are used to commuting to the city, and I think the city location adds to the charm of attending professional sporting events. For instance, I wonder how well the Mariners would do with their attendance if Safeco was in Midway? It may be a very tough sell to get fans to come out to Midway to watch MLS.

On the other hand, fans may find the suburban location a refreshing change. Eastside fans can drive down 405 just as easily (heh, did I saw 405 and easy in the same sentence?) as they drive across 90. And it is closer to Tacoma and the southern suburbs. How would the Snohomish County dwellers feel about the extra half hour drive to Midway?

Personally, I am wary about an MLS team playing outside of the downtown Seattle core. The A-League Sounders are a different story, though.

- Paul

 

Seattle will have MLS, most likely when Rochester comes into the league.

 

http://seattlepitch.tripod.com/loganltr.jpg

(I think this link works only if you first go to the Seattle Pitch site, and then paste that URL into the address bar.)

 

Re: Re: Seattle

try it now

 

Thanks for the effort, Jim, but the problem is that I think Tripod blocks people from seeing its images unless they visit directly from a Tripod site. Anyway, I linked to Mark Coker's and Ron Stickney's Seattle Pitch site incorrectly: it should be http://seattlepitch.tripod.com/. Then go to http://seattlepitch.tripod.com/loganltr.jpg the hard way.

If you don't want to bother looking, the image is a scan of a Doug Logan letter to Sounders season ticket holders on December 16, 1997. It again guarantees an MLS team for the 2002 or 2003 season, and promises priority seating for the MLS entry if they renew their season tickets for the 1998 season. So maybe people should avoid getting overexcited about this latest letter.

BTW, Matt, there is plenty of Seattle discussion in the Seattle Sounders Stadium thread.

 

So what if those other threads are pages long? It's not like Don Garber's gone pop over here, see those threads and be all "Holy ************, the San Diego thread's up to 300 posts! We gotta get them a team, right away!!"

Well, a good way to get info is to go where the other fans are. Check the USL forum. It'd probably be a good idea to sign up over at USL Discussions, because it's not uncommon for Sounders-related stuff to be posted and discussed there that doesn't quite make its way here to BigSoccer.

I'd also recommend visiting Seattle Pitch (see Geoduck's post above for link) and signing up for the mailing list.

You and me both, my friend.

This is where I'm going to have to disagree with you.

Talk about professional soccer in Seattle with just about anyone who lives around here, and if they don't look at you like you're some kind of loon, they'll just assume you're talking about the Sounders.

From a business perspective, how could you not want to take advantage of that built-in, pre-made brand recognition?

Put an MLS team in Seattle and call them something other than the Sounders, you're gonna spend time not only explaining to them why the team isn't the Sounders, but also why these new guys should get their support. The Sounders have a reputation as being Seattle's soccer team. An MLS team not named Sounders would get a bad rep as the team that was foisted upon us at the expense "our" team, the Sounders.

But suppose you put an MLS team in Seattle not called the Sounders, and suppose you were able to convince the public that your team wasn't a complete affront to everything they knew about local pro soccer. Somewhere along the line, the team will go through a rough period, maybe a couple of losing seasons, and attendance will start to decline. Some marketting bigwig's gonna be like "if only we had some history, then we could convince people that 'We'll turn it around next year' isn't just some hollow marketing promise." To make a long story short, there's a chance that at some point the team's gonna want to be able to tap into the history and brand recognition of the Sounders name. Why bother using a new name for a couple of seasons when there's a good chance that you'll just be switching back in a few years anyway?

Glad to see you're interested in the local team, at any rate. Hope to see you at a match sometime!

 

BlueLightning -

First I was just trying to see how many Seattle soccer/MLS fans there were around here is why i wanted people to post...not cuz Don Garber would check it and give Seattle a team, thats a pretty stupid thing to think...

Second, while I agree with you on the sounders, it is recognized on this side of washington as the soccer team, a minor league soccer team...Around Thurston County here if you say sounders they think minor league soccer...or they have no clue what your talking about...Like you said, the sounders have a rep as being Seattle's soccer team, seattle's minor league soccer team to be exact though...

And having a new team named anything other than the sounders i don't think would get a bad rep as the team that was foisted upon us at the expense "our" team, the Sounders...cuz i've been to many sounders games, and its bush league at best, (no offense to A-League fans, I'm a fan of any kind of soccer and I'm getting season tickets so don't come back at me with anything)...but still, thats my only "beef" (if you will) with the name sounders, I guess it could also be thought of as the old NASL team, but I know my generation has no idea what the NASL is...and i'm almost 20, so "we'll" be the fans they need around for long term success....and I know for me personal i can't convince my friends that play soccer to come with me to A-League games...they always come back with is seattle in MLS yet, and i'm like nope....and they say so we still only have the "sounders"...saying it like sounders is minor league, division 2, bush league soccer...

But I could care less, I'm just thinking for the the people that really never have a clue whats going on, sounders=not major league soccer right now...and i think if they went up to MLS it might take some seasons for people to figure it out?...but keep the Sounders name, I'll be at every game no matter what, for the sounders now, the sounders of the future/MLS future team...

 

Sounders

I live in North Idaho, about a 5 hour drive away from downtown Seattle. If an MLS team would come to Seattle, I would probably buy season tickets and make the drive over every other week as much as possible.

As far as the team being called the Sounders or some other name. I for one would prefer the Sounders. The name is already known, there is a history there to draw upon...and besides, it kinda reminds me of that great Seattle band, Soundgarden. Who can beat that?

I will be sitting with Sam's Army at the Japan game, finally able to watch a soccer match at the new Seahawks Stadium. I've seen how the ball rolls on this new fangled turf on TV (Fire games last year), the verdict is still out for me...probably until I get to walk on it myself.

Still, there is something to be said for wet, rainy, muddy games played on a pitch where giant divots are thrown after every tackle. Ahh, the benefits of grass. We shall see if management installs grass for this game.

USMNT-Japan, Man U-Celtic....I'm started to get used to this! A MLS team better come soon!

Michael

 

It would be a great boost for soccer in Seattle if the Sounders were to make the move up to MLS.

Sachin

 

aye

it would expand the "footprint" of mls too


here's to hoping that an ownership group comes to the front and pushes them in

 

Great. Just what we need around here. More people.

However, since you're a soccer fan, I'll help. I sent you a PM; if you didn't get it for some reason, just click on the button that says "e-mail" on the bottom of my post and shoot me an e-mail. (PMs don't work for newbies, BTW.)

Eurosnob.

Seriously, I'm in the same boat myself, too, although I am doing temporary work right now. I think I'd try to support the Sounders first with some season tickets, though. But I'm going to try and do both, plus the USA-Japan friendly in March.

 

BlueLightning dealt with everything else regarding this post, particularly our wishes for MLS, especially in 2004. However ...

In all honesty, I don't see where Seattle's situation is that much different than San Diego's. Uncle Phil and Uncle Lamar have pretty much made it clear they want investors with balls of steel for this endeavor, and no one's really leapt out and said "Me! Me! ME!!!" in either city.

Before anyone brings up Paul Allen, I'm going to point out that Allen has had plenty of time to sniff at MLS since the stadium vote in 1997, and if he's interested, he's doing a worse job of letting his intentions be known than I did in high school with the cute women.

Yeah, I'd love to see Paul Allen get involved in MLS. But I'll believe it when it actually, y'know, happens.

And here we have another example of the Stereotypical Soccer Fan™ -- you know, the type Jim Rome craps on for fun -- indulging in the fantasy of "Oh, if only the WNBA/MLB/NASCAR would just go away we'd have it made!" This is the wet dream that gets soccer fans -- well, the dorky ones -- reaching for their K-Y jelly faster than the Britney Spears poster they shoplifted errrrrr bought from Wal-Mart.

But guess what? This is the real world. And in the real world, success for a sports franchise depends on convincing enough of the general public that the franchise is worth their time, energy, passion and money as a fan. If you don't believe me, go ask the Seattle Mariners.

As someone who's bought season tickets for both the Storm and the Sounders and is active on a Storm fans message board, I can tell you two things: One, the overlap of fans pretty much consists only of me and a buddy of mine, which completely screws any theory you might have of the Storm's demise helping the Sounders; two, as someone's who's active on a Storm fans message board, Storm fans don't sit around pining for the Sounders or the Mariners to go away. They simply realize that, hey, it's a tough market, so what is the front office doing about it? Which gives them scoreboard on soccer fans, IMNSHO.

(Speaking of the front office, Howard Schultz's signing of Anne Donovan as coach -- it's kind of like the Metros signing Bradley -- can be taken as a signal that he's committed to this team. So go suck on that non-fat decaf with sweet and low.)

Riiiiiiighhhttt. The original Storm owners filed a lawsuit against the Storm. It's apparently gotten about as far as a Paul Schell bid for governor (inside local political joke). I'm no lawyer, but I suspect the legal case would've been stronger if they had actually, y'know, kept the team. I think that would have helped just a bit.

Personally, I wish they'd gone with Reign; but I also wish the ABL was still around. I also wish I had a great-paying job with plenty of vacation time to fly to USA matches and that I was in a relationship with someone extraordinarily gorgeous and that I was in a whole lot better shape. But life sucks sometimes. Grab a straw.

(I told you about my friend and I being Storm fans. We went to the logo unveiling, which was after it had been leaked to the media that Storm would be the nickname. My buddy dug his old Storm soccer shirt out of the closet and wore it around that night, getting a lot of "Huh?" looks. Classic move.)

Now this is impressive, said the ex-high-school sportswriter geek. Tumwater's got one of the best football programs in the state, so to start at quarterback for them is worth a raised eyebrow or two. Is it true Tumwater's got some rich fan who flew the coaches over to Eastern Washington one time to scout a playoff opponent over there? Man, that sure beats long late-night drives on the highway and mini-mart coffee to keep you awake.

Anyhow, here's hoping to meet up with you sometime in 2003 cheering for the USA or the Sounders and discuss this over a hot dog and Pepsi with you at Seahawk Stadium, Matt.

 

When you're like yep on the question of MLS, I have a hunch you'll have a better time convincing your friends to make the trek, regardless of having the Sounders name or not.

Personally, I'm for NASL nicknames. Like it or don't, they're the closest thing we have to a visible soccer tradition in this country. Unless Kraft gets it into his head to take that new stadium he just built and relocate it further away from Boston, like in Fall River.

 

Re: Sounders

Yeah. I just made that drive (at least to Spokane) for Christmas. One long haul, that is.

I've got a friend with a family and because family comes first with him, a Sounders game is currently a once- or twice-a-year treat for him. If Seattle had an MLS team, he'd get the season tickets.

Now, I know anecdotal evidence is pretty much no evidence, but it seems to me that Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley and company are just a little bit better of a draw than Digital Takawira and Iggy Moleka, as fine as those gentlemen may be. (Note: I know Moleka retired, but he's still on the All-Name team. )

So major-league designation does have a positive effect, IMVHO. Of course, kenntomasch will soon be along to either prove or disprove that theory with bars and graphs and pie charts in four-part harmony.

 

However, I would like to forthrightly sing praises to Kraft for naming the New England team the Revolution instead of the Tea Men.

BTW, while I don't think the Rapids should change their nickname, I do think they should have a throwback night with Colorado Caribou fringe uniforms.

It's late. I've monopolized this thread enough. Good night.

 

tcmahoney -

Thanks for breaking down my post...I don't see where i put that the WNBA team leaving would help MLS...but you can think that...

Ok, Seattle and San Diego are in the same boat?... we have a stadium (Giant NFL Stadium I know, but its been said to be "good" enough) and have been rumored for a long time to get a team...Plus the old promise to get a team, old commishioner so that promise went out the window with him, but still...I would say that Seattle has a better chance than San Diego, or at least heres me hoping it does...

I not sure about some rich fan, Tumwater=Not Rich...other side of town, Black Hills high school is the rich people...but we do have a lot of people in the program, former players do all this work for the team, and they have videos for every playoff bound team in the state every season, i know, i did all the video work for us, I had 1st period with the head coach, and instead of doing PE i studied game film....

Ya, not sure on the hot dog, but a pepsi would be great, we have a better chance at meeting at a sounders game sometime, even though US game could happen, just seems a lot more people will be there for that...

 

Also, bringing out the Caribou uniforms in a throw back night would be great, it would probably scare people away from the stadium though, those things were hidious...

 

As one of said Snohomish Co. dwellers, I'd drive much farther than that to see us stuff P*rtland I'm already driving 35-40 minutes as it is, what's another half an hour?