The city of Seattle will play host to the first MLS game of the season and the last.
Major League Soccer has awarded the 2009 MLS Cup to Seattle, which will see its expansion team, Seattle Sounders FC, open play on March 19th against the New York Red Bulls.
The 14th playing of the MLS Cup will kick off on Sunday, Nov. 22 at 8:30pm at Qwest Field, making Qwest Field the eight stadium to host the event. The game will be played on artificial turf, making it the first MLS Cup to not be played on grass.
What do you think of the choice? Glad to see it in the Pacific Northwest? Wish it weren't going to be on the West Coast for a second straight season?
Share your thoughts below.
I thought Garber promised a MLS Cup to Toronto?
Hmmm….wonder what happened there?
istvan13: The Grey Cup is on November 29th.
doug: Why should Garber “give” St. Louis a team? If they don’t have enough money they can’t get in. End of story. And as for giving the Cup to a city that deserves it …. Seattle has the most season ticket holders so they deserve it more than anyone.
For those who have never been in Qwest Field, let me assure you–this IS a soccer-specific stadium. I, too, would prefer grass, but beyond being a necessity in the NW, that stuff plays indistinguishably from the real stuff. I can’t say if Sounders FC will make a huge impact in wins/losses, but MLS tapped the #1 region for impact on their game. Now we need the Whitecaps & Timbers to teach folks about old-time rivalries!
Get over the field turf argument, because it isn’t going to change. I love the hate(jealousy) of a few, because the Sounders are showing that with a good ownershp group anything is possible. Why not play the game in a spot where youa re guaranteed 20 K for the Cup, before fans involved buy tickets.
Everything is about money, including expansion and we know that Seattle has money.
One more piece of good news today, they say freddie will be ready to play (sub) in the first game.
Win, lose, or draw this is going to be a fun year.
T-minus 7 days
There are some positives in this decision, but the negatives far outweigh them (see above posts).
Playing on turf is an awful mistake on the part of MLS management. It seems they (management) don’t have the courage to stick to their stated goal of playing on grass. Next we shall hear from the spin masters on why it is okay to make this exception and play on turf. For all the leagues positives this one and others (backig off of sss) make it a second class league.
great timing MLS. Put the game directly opposite Sunday Night Football. Whats next? MLS Allstar Game v. Inter to be held on the Monday of the NCAA Tournament Championship. MLS is a joke. Wasnt it not to long ago where Garber said, prerequisite 1 for having a team was a SSS? Granted, Paul Allen admittedly built Qwest with soccer in mind. But now to give them an MLS Title game, when they havent played a game, sold a concession, or dressed in the locker room sounds absurd. Hey Garber, get your head out of Becks’ rectal cavity and act like you actually enjoy soccer itself not just pimping the game for profit and ticket revenue. Reward teams and cities who DESERVE it.
1. Give STL a team already
2. Make the HDC the permanent home of MLS Cup
3. Figure out a way so that no team east of the Mississippi can be crowned Western Conference champions
Does this mean Red Bull Arena will get the MLS Cup in 2010?
Everyone’s missing the point. It’s 8:30pm on a Sunday night! That’s prime time (I work in television so don’t tell me a Saturday would be better). This is huge especially if the final is on ABC. I always hated the final when it was on at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon in the Fall. I think field turf or not, this is a good move for the league.
Field Turf…’nuff said.
The weather will be iffy, the crowd will be good. I hope the football lines are removed, and I’ll be surprised if they put in grass.
Game should be where the weather is likely to be decent, on grass.
Love Seattle, but this seems premature.
The hype surrounding this team is driving me nuts. And they get awarded MLS Cup before the have even played a game? Doesn’t make sense to me. I hope Seattle gets driven to the ground.
Sounders players have already said it’s the best Field Turf they’ve ever played on, and as close to grass as the real thing.
As long as there are no NFL lines on the field, I don’t care.
The new Sounders, Chelsea is coming to town, the Gold Cup, and now the MLS Cup … What a great year for soccer in Seattle!
The field surface at Qwest Field was originally planned to be natural grass.[25] The success of the new FieldTurf at Husky Stadium in 2000 and 2001 caused the Seahawks management to reconsider and install it at the new stadium in 2002. The Seahawks say it has several advantages over natural grass including easier maintenance. This caused concern with both the Stadium Authority and soccer fans since the artificial surface does not currently meet all FIFA standards. In a compromise, First & Goal Inc. agreed to pay for grass to be installed when needed.[26]
In the spring of 2008 the FieldTurf surface of Qwest Field was replaced because the previous surface’s sand and rubber infill had become compressed causing safety concerns.
-wikipedia
I would bet they put grass in for this game
(shaking fist in air with anger)
Are they going to have football lines on the field for MLS Cup? That would be horrible.
Posted by: A.S. | March 11, 2009 at 02:44 PM
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IT WOULD BE AN EMBARASSMENT!!!!
I don’t know, but it does not look like that the football lines at Qwest Field are permanetely painted on the turf as they are at Giants Stadium. Where they basically spray paint over them and can still see the outline. So, I don’t see why they would not remove them for the game.
So we’ll start the season away in Seattle and we’ll finish our run at Seattle in November. Go NY!
Posted by: Nando | March 11, 2009 at 01:48 PM
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I hope you are right, Nando.
That would be FANTASTIC!
It is a part of our season ticket package, and I will be there after a day spent watching football/drinking beer at one of the many nearby bars.
They tell us that the lines will be removed for each game. I would doubt that they will bring in grass unless the Seahawks are gone for two weeks. That being said I have seen more than a few games that have lines from other sports(Rugby) and I think they will survive.
As for the plastic I think people will be suprised by how close it plays to grass, and how much better it will be to play on in November in Seattle. Some of the new stuff that I have played on here locally is close to the real thing. Unlike the old stuff that you couldn’t get a ball to stop on, you can get a ball to check up on this just like grass. Lets wait and see what happens.I am assuming they have brought in the best stuff for both football and soccer.
Qwest is a SSS stadium it is just a little bigger than most. 🙂
Hey Ives when are you heading out to Seattle?
While being able to fill a big stadium has clear financial and PR rewards that you cant knock on…..it is somewhat of a punch in the mouth to those cities that have worked hard to build their own stadiums.
I also hope that these rumors are true about Qwest field being able to get some real turf in there for the game.
Will it go against the Grey Cup head-to-head like it did last year? The fact the MLS played the final on Grey Cup Sunday killed any possible national interest in the Canadian market. It’s the equivalent of going against the Super Bowl in the United States.
The real issues is the football lines for me…Field turf is not mayu favorite but the stuff Seattle has is top of line plastic…
It is just embarassing to me that we keep having important matches played in places where the real important sport is eveident…. so unpure that it makes me puke…
Are they going to have football lines on the field for MLS Cup? That would be horrible.
BS, its not even a real field or “pitch” as the Eurosnobs would put it.. Complete joke, rewards the cities/teams that build SOCCER STADIUMS WITH GRASS FIELDS
It seems like Big Don is putting all his eggs in the Pacific Northwest basket. Expansion, MLS Cup… the Sounders better be good this year or this may backfire. I’ve heard that this game will be part of the season ticket package for Sounders FC.
This stinks. Seattle should get in line — Rio Tinto and BMO field should have been rewarded for their efforts first.
And whatever happened to the idea that the team with the most points gets home advantage in the MLS cup? I think that’s the best approach to a final game.
Maybe it could’ve waited to pick Seattle until a season had been played on the turf and judgements could be made. Maybe it’ll be ok, maybe it’ll suck – what I think sucks about this is we don’t know and they went ahead and did it anyways.
Also seems a tad unfair to award to a turf field, thereby giving an advantage to any team who regularly plays on turf. All teams should be expected to play on grass, so having the final in a grass setting is not giving an advantage… but only a handfull play on turf.
I also thought that it would be nice to award it to a new SSS stadium (Rio Tinto) to promote that that accomplishment.
Qwest has put in grass for mulptiple games in the past, so it will be interesting to see if they do it again for this. Qwest isn’t soccer specific but it is very soccer friendly and I think Seattle has shown that this game will sell-out. Would you rather see a game played in a soccer specifc 12,000 seat stadium or in sold out 40,000 stadium which could just as easily be soccer specific?
Seattle is the most beautiful city I’ve been to and I’m willing to bet one of the top 3 most beautiful in the country. I’m glad it has soccer and I hope it gets a good high profile game next winter/spring for a World Cup warm up.
Ives I’m curious, if MLS is willing to host the Cup in a non-SSS where field turf is the regular surface, and where weather can be very cold and rainy at the time, what else has stopped them from hosting it at the meadowlands(and taking advantage of the new york market?) Maybe a homer question but with the proximity to one of the world’s biggest markets, my thought was that we were waiting for the stadium and the grass to get a Cup here.
love seattle. and i do believe they will bring in real grass for the match.
mls needs a good rotation like Final Four or Super Bowl.
get those great host cities in a rotation and spread the wealth.
Seattle, DC, and maybe some non-MLS sites (san antonio, new orleans, etc..)
If all of the season ticket holders go to the game they’ve got 20K automatic fans in the stands. If they bring friends and general MLS fans make the trip they have a big event, bigger than any in recent history I’d guess. Great call on MLS’ part. A huge crowd should show well on TV and get some more media attention.
Definitely exciting soccer stuff happening in Seattle nowadays…
Good News: By probably moving the game to ESPN from ABC, MLS avoids another embarrassingly low network TV rating for a Sunday afternoon.
Bad News: Unless things change this year, two Eastern Conference teams will be in the final and in a bad economy supporters may not travel to the Northwest.
2009 continues to be the golden year of soccer in Seattle. Now, if we could manage to be playing that day…truly, even as a Sounders fan, I know that is too much to hope for but a fan can always dream.
I seldom single out individual quotes, but I have to get at this:
“Support for the Sounders has been amazing. They deserve to host the cup final. It’s actually a pretty good way to reward teams with good fan support.”
Joel,
Reward teams with good fan support??? The Sounders haven’t even played a game yet! Granted the fans appear to be passionate, and have showed their allegiance with an overwhelming number of season tickets being purchased. But that shouldn’t be rewarded prematurely! Lets see how the supporters do after a few years of losing. Will season ticket sales still be as high? Will the fans continue to be as loud and boisterous as we all suspect they will be? Maybe so, but they should only be rewarded after they prove it!
I fully agree with Will. MLS should not be showcasing its biggest game on turf after publicly stating that it is trying to get away from playing on turf. Grass should be brought in for this game. And we can only cross our fingers that the weather holds.
Experience
Qwest was built with soccer in mind so its not the same as other non soccer specific stadiums. there are no bad sight lines and the fans are right on the field. i understand the complaints about field turf, but you gotta believe Paul Allen didn’t pay for the cheap stuff. Good for Seattle. Looking forward to it.
“I wish it wasn’t going to the West Coast for a 2nd straight season; should alternate among the two coasts and midwest/mountain.” – Tim F.
Pretty much said what I was thinking. Did The Don not see the crowd at HDC last year? Pretty sparse beyond the supporters groups. Hope to not see this in Seattle on a cold (possibly rainy) night in late November.
And Fieldturf?! No Comment!
Will they might replace the field with grass temporarily for the game.
I never game much thought about visiting Seattle. That said, I’m going next week to watch my Red Bulls give the Sounders a nice welcome to MLS pounding. Now that MLS Cup is scheduled there as well, I’m going twice in one year to a city I’d never thought about visiting.
That’s 8:30 pm est, right? So 5:30 pm Seattle time.
So we’ll start the season away in Seattle and we’ll finish our run at Seattle in November. Go NY!
Glad they are going to get a chance to build on the great season ticket sales and start of the orginazation. But would love to get it back to the midwest or even east coast.
Support for the Sounders has been amazing. They deserve to host the cup final. It’s actually a pretty good way to reward teams with good fan support.
night game!
I’m in Seattle, so obviously I think it’s fantastic. One thing that could turn out to be a factor is the weather – from my own 25 years of living here, it seems we frequently have ridiculous storms around Thanksgiving. I’d love to see an MLS Cup in gale-force wind and driving rain!
Not to crazy about it if the game is played on fieldturf
I find it ironic that a league which appears to prefer soccer specific stadiums and real grass will be hosting their showcase event in a non soccer specific stadium without real grass.
cool…. now put it on a saturday
I wish it wasn’t going to the West Coast for a 2nd straight season; should alternate among the two coasts and midwest/mountain.
I’ll be there. I can’t believe I just left seattle 2 months ago… It’s about to be a great time for soccer up there.