Expansion MLS Sounders FC Making Big Splash In Seattle
The expansion MLS Sounders FC have "already landed more than 30 sponsors" and sold about 20,000 season tickets ahead of their March 19 season-opener against the Red Bulls, according to Greg Lamm of the PUGET SOUND BUSINESS JOURNAL. The team expects to have "only a few thousand" seats available for MLS matches at Qwest Field, but it also anticipates playing "before sold-out crowds the entire season." Sounders FC's season-ticket total eclipses that of the Mariners, who expect to sell just about 14,000 by the start of the MLB season, though the Mariners "play more than four times as many games as the Sounders, and an M's season ticket therefore costs much more." While both teams "deflect any talk" that they are in competition for fans and corporate dollars, it is "clear that the Sounders have tapped into a segment of the market eager to be affiliated with something fresh after a disappointing" '08 sports season in Seattle. But Sounders Senior VP/Business Operations Gary Wright conceded that the team has "some built-in advantages in selling tickets and landing corporate sponsors -- namely their affiliation" with the Seahawks. About half of the Sounders' sponsors also have partnerships with the Seahawks, and Sounders VP/Corporate Sponsorships Ron Jenkins, who holds the same title with the Seahawks, expects that the MLS club will "wind up with about 50 sponsors this season" (PUGET SOUND BUSINESS JOURNAL, 2/27 issue).
SOUNDING BOARD: Single-game tickets for the March 19 Red Bulls-Sounders match sold out yesterday morning, and the Sounders will adjust the seating configuration at Qwest Field to accommodate 32,400 fans for the game. The team also announced that the seating configuration for all other regular-season matches will be increased to 27,000-seats, and the team will cap season-ticket sales at 22,000 (Sounders).
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