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Cast your vote for the Seattle MLS team name (write-ins added to ballot)

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If you want your say on what the name of the new MLS team in Seattle will be, now is your chance.

The Seattle MLS team’s website has opened voting on the team’s new name and, not only can you choose between Seattle FC, Seattle Alliance and Seattle Republic, but there is now word that voters can write in with suggestions. This mean voters can now choose to write in Seattle Sounders (or bitter Portland fans can write in with ‘Dirty Rats FC’, but I don’t think that will win).

Vote away people. Anybody can vote, though it appears season ticket holders will have their votes weighted more heavily than the general public vote.

I want to here some creative alternatives to the aforementioned team names. Let’s come up with some good ones.

Fire away!

Comments

  1. Ives:

    At some point you asked for folks to draft write-ups after MLS games this year. It would be nice if you responded to the e-mails people sent you expressing their interest…you know, just as a courtesy.

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  5. Seriously though, how about Olympic Seattle…references the Olympic Penninsula and mountains just across the sound, and has the ring of Olympic Marseilles…possibility of a sister club?

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  6. Since the Seattle Mariners mascot is a moose, could we call the soccer team the Seattle Moose, and have a mariner as the mascot? If not, there is always Starbucks United or Microsoft FC.

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  8. David Martinez:

    Actually, I meant F.C. attached to just the city name, like Seattle F.C.

    Were you suggesting Nirvana F.C. as in Seattle Nirvana F.C.?

    You made me think of another name. How about the Seattle Grunge?

    You know, I was suggesting that with tongue in cheek, but that sounds pretty good!

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  10. Sounders, a whopping 30 years of tradition and a BAD NAME. I agree, it sounds like a minor league baseball team name. NO!

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  16. I vote for the Seattle Espressos!

    Just kidding. I like the names with some history for the team like the Sounders. The FC thing is getting a little old.

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  18. Sounders have never played in MLS. It’s not like the Burn changing to FC Dallas. It even sounds like a semi-pro team. I hope they end up with FC, and you guys can nickname them anything you want. But Sounders? Blah. Don’t you want the MLS to one day have an ounce of respect worldwide? If not, let’s just start naming them like Minor League Baseball teams and their wacky names (Lansing Lugnuts, Montgomery Biscuits…). While you are at it, let’s rename Chivas USA as Los Angeles Goats. Or let Red Bull buy the WHOLE league and put that stupid logo over everything.

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  19. Seattle Sonics actually may not be available even if the team goes to Oklahoma, because that name is trademarked and owned by them and they will probably leave the team name and all the history with the city, so it won’t be available.

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  20. “Skid Row Seattle” has a real ring to it – it’s got history, the irreverence you’d expect from the birthplace of grunge, and an S. And it will probably make Drew Carey laugh.

    Failing that, how about Seattle Sounders 2.0? Paul Allen will dig the software reference.

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  21. I’ve always loved Seattle Blue Screen of Death. It’s quite intimidating. Maybe this would be a good fan group nickname.

    Or there’s Seattle Grace, for all you Grey’s Anatomy fans out there.

    In all reality, I agree with most people about bringing back the Seattle Sounders. And I know that the name references Puget Sound, but to me it also brings to mind the musical aspect of the city. So if Sounders doesn’t work, I wouldn’t mind another music inspired name, like Seattle Grunge…except way better and more creative than Seattle Grunge.

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  22. Can you say “forced option test”?

    League honchos have been consistent with their statements regarding their desire to have no association between MLS and the defunct, financially unsound NASL. Sounders is a brand from the NASL days. The USL-1 Sounders owner is a minority owner of the future Seattle team so I’m pretty sure trademark issues aren’t the reason Sounders isn’t officially included.

    Figure it out: Sounders ain’t gonna happen, regardless of how “webby 2.0/gonna have club membership and votes/gotta have a marching band to keep it/this is a democratic face” the ownership puts on.

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  27. All three suggested names are jokes. Sounders represents 30 years of Seattle soccer and 4 trophies since 94′. No reason to fix something that isn’t broken.

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  31. Seatle Alliance and Seattle Republic are a complete joke !! and people complain about “FC” in the name.. I say go with Emerald City (like Manchester City, Birmingham City..etc)

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  33. The actual Seattle Sounders organization is being folded into the Seattle MLS team as the USL teams owner is a part owner in the new MLS team so sharing the name isn’t an issue.

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  39. Forget the presidential elections… as you may or may not know there’s an even bigger election coming up: March 27 – 30 is our chance to name Seattle’s MLS team. Please go to mlsinseattle.com, using as many email addresses as you have, and write in ‘Seattle Sounders’. Please. (and to people who get this more than once: I’m sorry. Really. But this is a really narrow window of opportunity to get word out.)

    The Seattle Sounders have 34 years of soccer history behind them, and are quite possibly the winningest team in Seattle sports history (I’m too lazy to look up facts, but they’ve won four national titles, lost in the championship final 3 times, and have only had a handful of losing seasons. Really.). The fans have picked this name by a resounding margin in several earlier polls (mlsinseattle.com, Seattle Times, Seattle PI, BigSoccer, ESPN,…), was the leader in focus groups, *and* was submitted to the MLS for approval. But the league rejected the name, suggesting instead names that had done much poorer in the focus groups. Fans have spent the last week campaigning *hard*, and while we wish Seattle Sounders were a ballot option, it’s not. BUT we got enough pressure placed on the league that a write-in option was included in the final ballot, which was a huge concession from them. We have support from the Seattle Times, The Post-Intelligencer, the Olympian, Soccer America, the LA Times, KJR, and more. Really. You’d think the Seattle Sounders continued legacy was assured, and your vote isn’t needed, wouldn’t you? But it is. The election is going to be counted electronically, which has the downside that different versions of the team name will be counted as different votes, so we are putting out the plea to folks to vote for ‘Seattle Sounders’. Any other variation will count as a vote for a different name. Be consistent. ‘Seattle Sounders’. If you really want ‘Seattle Republic’ to win, go ahead and vote for it, but if you feel at all that you want the Seattle Sounders tradition to continue, if you really don’t care and have a couple of minutes to kill this weekend, or if you just want to shut me up: ‘Seattle Sounders’

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  41. I just went to vote and for the protection screen with “type these two words” to get access to vote, the two words were FIRE and OVERRATED… are those random or are they trying to start something? I was quite amused.

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  46. The voting process requires registration, and one of the questions is “What is your zip code?” I’m guessing an zipcode in the Seattle, pr perhaps northwest region, is required to vote. After entering the appropriate info, I received a congratulatory email saying I was “qualified to vote” with a unique link to submit my vote.

    Text from the vote page is pasted below:

    “Choose between three names OR WRITE-IN YOUR FAVORITE NAME. Fans will be allowed one vote per unique, valid e-mail address. The names are…

    Seattle Alliance: A bond or connection; an association to further the common interests of the members.

    Seattle FC: FC is a common international soccer acronym that stands for football club.

    Seattle Republic: An association in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote; a body of persons freely engaged in a specific activity.

    Write-In Vote: For fans who are passionate about another name.

    Voting ends on March 31st at 11:59pm.”

    https://eballot3.votenet.com/seattlesoccer/register/

    Reply

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