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Soccer in America


Nacre

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Apologies for the exuberance and homer-ism after returning home from a game, but . . .

CSMilKMW0AAQTWc.jpg

Ahead of their postseason matchup with Steven Gerrard's LA Galaxy, the Seattle Sounders have finished the regular season with an average attendance of 44,245, pushing them above Liverpool to become the 28th highest attended club in the world.

http://www.soundersfc.com/post/2015/10/25/sounders-fc-sets-new-mls-average-attendance-record

I am not a fan of MLS talking itself up as a future challenger of the top leagues in the world, but little by little it is moving towards a brighter future.

Edited by Nacre
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Just checked the number for the season they usually average about 40k for home games with the exception of 4 games. When playing Vancouver, LA Galaxy and SLC they had about 53k, 56k and 55k attendance respectively. Their home games against Portland average over 60k in attendance.

Reading up more, they are the most profitable and most valuable MLS franchise. Part of where they're making profits is they save money from using the Seahawks stadium rent-free because one of the minority owners of the Sounders is also the owner of the Seahawks.

But that is pretty damn impressive. I wonder if keeping them at the Seahawks stadium instead of building its own stadium has been helping in the increase of fan base throughout the years.

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The Sounders have gone a good job of gradually building up their fan base year-to-year. They would only open up about 28000 seats per game the first year and would increase that number by a couple thousand each year. I think the base number is now 40000, plus a few special occasions when they will open up the entire seating area. They are a model franchise, which rankles fans of some of the franchises who have been in the league longer. Now if only they can get over this playoff hump.

I've been a big MLS fan since the beginning in 1996. The league will soon have 20 seasons under its belt. It has lasted longer than many pundits thought it would, and I thing it still has a tremendous future. The league has made all the right business decisions in order to get to where it is today, and it bothers me when fans impatiently implore the league to abandon what has worked thus far and become a more free-spending league. Of course these are the same fans who think our league should be like every other league in Europe. They are the people who decry the playoff format, the conference format, the lack of promotion/relegation, etc, This is America's league, so what if we are a little different. Sorry we do not have the bloated payrolls and star-studded rosters of the Euro leagues. What we have is the most competitive league in the world where anybody can beat anybody. After 20 seasons, MLS has nothing to apologize for.

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That is awful. If a city like Tampa or Anaheim hosts NHL hockey but Seattle doesn't, the system's wonky. I know it's all money but surely there's a market in Seattle?! To an outsider, it looks ridiculous :wacko:

There's been debate for years about a return to Seattle. They're trying to get an arena in place, and it wouldn't surprise me if they had a team within the next 10 years. For what it's worth though, Anaheim and Tampa are two of the better fan bases in the NHL, and both have had lots of success in the past 15 years.

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That is awful. If a city like Tampa or Anaheim hosts NHL hockey but Seattle doesn't, the system's wonky. I know it's all money but surely there's a market in Seattle?! To an outsider, it looks ridiculous :wacko:

I honestly don't think it would be good for Seattle or for the sport to have an NHL team here. The city has two major junior hockey teams (basically triple-A for hockey) in modern arenas in the suburbs, and it would kill them off if they had NHL competition. Adding NHL teams to Seattle and/or Portland would basically destroy the USA division of the Western Hockey League.

I made the mistake of bringing my niece to a Silvertips game last week without realizing there would be ads for Disney on Ice in November. There should be really be some kind of warning; I am now out $90 and have to see Frozen on Ice with a bunch of little girls.

Random sports trivia: the Seattle Metropolitans were the first American team to win the Stanley Cup back in 1917. Partly because the east coast Canadian teams were hurt by their players serving in World War 1.

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Only two cities submitted bids for an NHL expansion team: Las Vegas and Quebec. Not Seattle.

As for MLS, Seattle is one of the few teams I respect, because they didn't go with an idiotic European-sounding name.


EDIT - Gack... I have to retract that last statement. Didn't realize they have the mind-numbining stupid "FC" after Sounders. Nevermind

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Only two cities submitted bids for an NHL expansion team: Las Vegas and Quebec. Not Seattle.

As for MLS, Seattle is one of the few teams I respect, because they didn't go with an idiotic European-sounding name.

EDIT - Gack... I have to retract that last statement. Didn't realize they have the mind-numbining stupid "FC" after Sounders. Nevermind

You can respect the Houston Dynamo! :)

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Only two cities submitted bids for an NHL expansion team: Las Vegas and Quebec. Not Seattle.

As for MLS, Seattle is one of the few teams I respect, because they didn't go with an idiotic European-sounding name.

EDIT - Gack... I have to retract that last statement. Didn't realize they have the mind-numbining stupid "FC" after Sounders. Nevermind

So naming a football club a football club is mind-numbingly stupid?

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Only two cities submitted bids for an NHL expansion team: Las Vegas and Quebec. Not Seattle.

Seattle went through the initial expansion process but could not get the arena plan up in time. There is definitely a lot of support for an NHL team - not so much for a $400-$500 million arena. I wonder if Key Arena could be expanded? There is some surrounding space in the Seattle Center. Must be a cheaper option.

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