By JOSE M. ROMERO
One of, if not the hottest, soccer tickets in the world is in Seattle this weekend, where the Sounders will host their biggest Cascadia rivals the Portland Timbers on Sunday.
Ticket sales have surpassed 66,000 for the match, according to a Seattle Times report. CenturyLink Field, already the site of some of the largest soccer crowds for any match in the sport's American history, will be packed once again. And this time, for a regular-season match between a playoff team, the Sounders, and a team just trying to finish the MLS season on an upbeat note, the Timbers.
A sellout, the Sounders first-ever capacity crowd at the downtown stadium, is expected. The crowd will break the record for the largest at a Sounders match — 64,140 came to say goodbye to Kasey Keller last October — and will push the mark for the largest crowd for any soccer match in Seattle history. That was 67,052 against Manchester United last summer.
The Sounders won't get to the record for the largest crowd at any MLS match ever — 69,225 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., to see the inaugural L.A. Galaxy match — but Sunday's crowd could move into second place all-time.
Sunday's game (9 p.m. ET on ESPN) will be at least the sixth match seen live by at least 60,000 fans in Seattle alone. Crowds of 60,000-plus have also turned out for friendlies against FC Barcelona and Chelsea (2009) and earlier this year against the Galaxy.
The Cascadia championship is also on the line. A win for the Timbers will clinch the regional trophy given to the team with the most points among Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, despite the Timbers' underachieving season. If the Sounders win, they'll leapfrog into first place in the Cascadia Cup standings with nine points from six matches against Portland and Vancouver.
There is an entire section of Portland fans. It is plenty big. Most likely the corner section of the Clink and the upper deck section above it — just as with the Vancouver game.
Pretty sure there are plenty of Portland fans who purchased outside the allotment. The Sounders FO is well known for finding tickets based on where people want to sit, so I imagine most Timbers fans will be seated close to each other.
Why would Sounders want a different stadium with smaller capacity? C-link is excellent. The location is unbeatable, near the transit hub for the whole region. I love going to soccer games at the current stadium, and I sit way up in the 300’s level. The Clink is already a “soccer specific stadium.”
I would have given Timbers 2000 tickets, just like it happens at Crew stadium, right. Another thing if i was part owner of Sounders, I would start looking around for land for a 50,000 to 60,000 SSS as soon as possible because the sounders fans DESERVE IT. How about make a survey, asking if you would want a SSS or do something with Clink that would benefit the Sounders. If the Sounders WOULD get a beckham signing, imagine the stadium situation. What about huskies new stadium, thats gonna be a rocking stadium without the track. Sounders owners are playing with their fans, its like college because at the end the college is only winning from the fan coming in and nothing big is coming the earnings.
JPR, that ticket price is for season ticket holders who have kept their season tickets since 2009. those tickets are now 53 for single match ticket and if you are not an 2009 season ticket holder than they are at least 46 a match for this season. one of seattle’s goals is to sell out the entire stadium all season, and they are slowly growing the fan base to be able to support a 67k fans for every match.
As for the stadium, it was built for soccer and football, currently they have the UW, Seattle Seahawks and Sounders FC all playing a full season on that field, plus WSU playing a game their this year. a natural grass surface wouldn’t last. There is talk of switching to a natural surface and it can have a natural surface but currently this is not the best time to switch, they say it will take about 6 months for it to fully take root. so they would have to plant during the off season for both Sounders and Seahawks. this will most likely be reviewed again in the following year. some point I think they will have a natural grass surface to play on in the near future.
Was about to write the very same thing. I’m at RBA every week and almost without fail, I’m disappointed in the attendance. 66k in Seattle and NYRB can’t get 25k to fill up their beautiful arena. Oh I know, you have to cross a river to get there from the city. Somehow, I don’t think that would stop Sounders supporters.
I’m a Die hard Timbers fan, I’ll bleed (FOREST) green till I die… But Damn this is beautiful.
The only thing I will cheer for over the timbers, Is the game itself, and up here in the PNW, we do it right… Turf? who gives a F*&@. We do it right, like it or not…
There are about to be SIXTY SIX THOUSAND PEOPLE TO WATCH A SOCCER GAME, IN THE UNITED FREAKING STATES.
Respect to the enemy. Respect to the PNW.
Go Timbers 🙂
Troll Go Away.
I can get $15 KFC tickets to any game at RSL. I just can’t sit on the sixth row for $36 bucks. Everyone should be able to afford to go. You know darn well that was not my point.
No MLS Cup in your trophy case for all of CASCADIA. Envious of nothing. Cheap tickets don’t hurt attendance, right? That was my point. If all the MLS teams didn’t have to spend money building stadiums they would all be playing in college and pro football stadiums that hold a lot more people and could sell tickets for much less. Still, very few places would draw crowds like Portland and Seattle. But I think the money should be used to support a soccer specific stadium where the game is played on grass. Century Link was built for dual purposes just like every NBA arena was built to hold the circus and monster truck rallies and Disney on Ice and terrible concerts. These structures are built primarily for one purpose to make money. I just don’t see why Seattle fans don’t demand a real stadium. It makes no sense to me. In SLC we were part of the reason we got a real stadium. The fans were sick to death of playing on a college football field where the field is curved. Don’t get it.
Believe what you want but Big attendance/support numbers at Sounders – Timbers – Whitecaps games is not a anomaly….. Soccer is a mainstream sport in the PacNW. Front of the sports page– talk on the sports radio dial.. that kinda Mainstream.
Do you think I’m gonna drop my SSFC season tickets to pay 3-4 times that amount for Sonics tickets?
Eurosnob much?
Love it how the pundits blame Seattle still.. even when the stadium is packed.
Hilarity..
SSFC must rightfully pound Portland..done..over…Crush them. with only a hand full of games left we need to get the ship righted and stop playing down to the level of the Timbers
Seattle is a perfectly lovely, ‘major league’ city, but it is orders of magnitude easier to be the toast of Seattle than it is NYC. With proper marketing, yes, Red Bulls should certainly fill their fine arena on a weekly basis and they don’t, so point taken. But the Sounders are the talk of Seattle in a way that’s just a lot harder to be in the very biggest cities.
it is particularly amazing or a sad commentary on the pacific northwest….that a game in MLS….as in Minor League Soccer….top to bottom the equivalent to the English 3rd Division…can draw that big a crowd…
This is a great thing for MLS. Seattle has a population of 620,000 while NYC has 8,200,000 and my Red Bulls can barely muster 20,000 in attendance on a Saturday night.
Don’t forget: Sounders had a bit luck in 2009 as the Sonics just left town, and the Mariners were terrible. If/when NBA and NHL come to Seattle, Sounders FO will have some challenges to deal with.
Because one of their owners is the owner of the Seahawks, so it works out great for them.
Last I heard the Sounders didn’t have to pay any rent. Even their Wikipedia page says so.
You do realise that EJ has 13 goals on the season? Someone is hater of EJ.
Cap shmap. Have you seen SJ’s payroll? Or, on the other end, ever heard of that Beckham guy, or these Red Bulls they have running around in NY/NJ?
Sure, it helps that the NFL is there to “supplement”, but I’m not sure that moving a football team to LA would help Chivas sell to 15k, let alone 66k+. Props to Cascadia.
And it translates gorgeously on tv for soccer matches. It looks like it was made for soccer. Even when it’s half closed off, it still looks and feels great. Just look at DC and New England for examples of the opposite.
so having reasonably priced tickets is a bad thing now? are you serious? not seattle’s fault they have smart enough not to price the average joe out of being able to come to a game.
You are aware of the MLS salary cap right?
Wow JRP. Your post smacks of envy and small mindedness.
“If they had to build a real stadium.” Right … a packed CenturyLink Field is not a real stadium.
That stadium was originally built as a dual-purpose venue for both football and soccer. Look it up.
Idiocy
The mindblowing thing financially is if they sold the 66K tickets at no less than $28 that’s $1.9 million revenues FROM ONE GAME. Plus another $18 million revenues based on 16 games of 42K average at no less than $28. Even with money going out that’s a mint for a MLS team. I’m not even sure LAG with sponsorships compares.
At which point I’d start asking particularly pointed questions, eg, how the hell does a team with this kind of money run 4th in the West, lose to San Jose, run out a roster with EJ, Caskey, Burch, etc.
Which leads me to a financial question. Does Seattle even pay rent? I mean, Houston’s attendance probably needs to stay pretty far up for rent purposes. For many SSSs it’s just a matter of changing the incoming and outgoing, fairness of the terms of the deal. But this……
Bodes well for Seattle obviously but anyone’s best case would make the industry look promising. The NASL Cosmos once drew well in the Meadowlands too. I still think the more telling aspect is how the teams turning out 10-15K are faring, if the SSS teams are making rent, whether the expansion choices remain wise. Need to be looking at how lessons from Seattle and LAG can be transferred around the league.
Half of the reason they sell so many tickets is how cheap they are. I sat just off center six rows up and paid $36 per ticket which was the ticket price for the MLS final when it was played up there. The same ticket at RIO TINTO would have cost me $60+. They get a lot of fans because they can sell the tickets cheap and there are a lot of seats because they stadium is not a soccer stadium and every ticket is icing on the cake for the owners. If they had to build a real stadium for soccer and the fans had to pay the actual cost of that stadium then ticket prices would be higher and attendance would dip. They would still in the top five for attendance but it wouldn’t be so ridiculous if they built a real stadium. RSL has sold out its last 5 games at home in a legit soccer stadium. Maybe they under built but at least they are building the sport in the USA the right way and not on the backs of the NFL.
Our baby’s all growns up!!!
I think he was talking about marketing the league. It would be cool to see an entire section of Timbers fans — a la Dortmund fans at the Eithad — but if you’re in Seatlle or the Sounders ownership, who cares.
Marketing is for the league as whole nationwide…this will be the crown jewel of the season for games on TV along with that Galaxy game but not sure if that was on regular cable as well…..the game in Portland was on NBC and that was priceless…..wish ESPN would grow some more stones and convince ABC to air a game like this!
As for the seat allocation, the league had a lot to do with it and they agreed 1000-1500 was the max….depending on the stadium like more for Seattle and Vancouver when they hosted the games….
A lot of PDXers got tickets outside that allotment. If you wanted to go it should not have been a problem. Not sitting with the Army, but still there.
Nice thing I noticed at the last home game, some of the edge between the fans was off. Sounders fans wandered Jeld Wen with out problem. Assuming it will be the same in Xbox stadium.
“Marketing”??
If they can sell out 67K, I don’t think they need any assistance with marketing.
I believe that the number of seats each Cascadia team would offer to visitors was negotiated by the teams before the season.
Agreed, now if only they played on real grass …
Love the support from Pac NW. Have the Sounders surpassed the Seahawks for most popular sports team in the city yet? Wish we could fill out our stadium like that.
Portland allocated 500 tickets to the Sounders. Seattle allocated 1K to Portland. However, these seats are, unlike PDX, available for anyone to purchase. There is no geographic restriction on purchases.
Marketing my friend, marketing….
Being technical, Portland offered more seats than seattle if JWF seats a max 22k, and they gave them 500-1k, percentage wise that destroys the 66k+ and the 1500…just saying
the game is being played on everyone’s basic cable, to showcase an MLS game like never before, accentuates the look of the supporters culture.
It’ll outdraw several — I’m guessing about 8 — NFL games this weekend. Not bad.
The most passionate region for soccer in our country.
Love it.
The MLS attendance in Seattle is easily one of the most significant developments in US sports in the last decade. I’d go as far as to say that the Seattle Sounders fans should be considered for SI’s Sportsmen of the Year (and I’m from NY with no ties at all to the region). The notion that a fair team in a middle of the road league of a traditionally minor US sport can regularly get 30 and 40k people or more to show up for regular season games, and participate at the level they do, would have been unthinkable not so long ago, when “Americans don’t like soccer” was the common (if never exactly true) wisdom. My guess is that there are tons of professional sports owners in the US and abroad who look at the Sounders and wonder why they can’t replicate that kind of enthusiasm for their team. It really is a remarkable achievement for the city, the team, and the sport.
They offered more seats than portland did and there are obviously Seattle fans willing ot fill up the other ones. So why should the team feel obligated to give more tickets to the portland fan base when their own fans want them as well?
Will be coming, will be coming, will be coming down the road. RCTID
WOW 66k and you only offer a lil over 1k for away support…mockery
Go Sounders Go!! GO! GO! GO!
yelled into the ear of the guy next to me
I think there is a big game in Germany as far as the size of the Stadium Bayern Munich can fit 71K…but they would need to sell out, same thing with Roma they play Atalanta so doubt they sell out but they can fit 70K I think…so other than “El Clasico”, “Milan Derby”, Bayern Munich game and maybe the Clasico in Mexico for sure between America and Chivas since the damn things seats 103K and between Chivas fans alone they will have more than 67K….I think this Seattle v Portland game will be 5th most attended game in the world this weekend….
Hear, hear!
I want to see where the match ranks among all soccer games globally this weekend. You have the Superclassico that will outdraw it, you have maybe the Milan derby, and what else? ManU is away.
This will be a fun day.
One of the most positive developments in the history of MLS and US Soccer in general has been the passion and love of soccer in the Pacific Northwest. Now i will return to rooting for my beloved RSL to beat all cascadia cup teams. 🙂
i’m not a fan of either team, but this is a beautiful thing
Oh please oh please Sounders beat the Timbers.