Ok, this post has been percolating in my head for weeks, and I’m finally getting it posted. But when the announcement was made about the MLS coming to Seattle, my first reaction was, "What a perfect city for pro soccer." Apparently, they already have 9,000 deposits for season tickets, so that instinct was right. Here is why I think we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg.
1) The Superstar Factor – I’ll bet you the stack of yellow cards I’ve collected in the last 12 months that the next huge European Footballer to cross the pond will end up here in the Emerald City. The reason – Paul Allen. A man who loves to surround himself with mega celebrities will not miss the opportunity to bring one of them to his own private playground, Qwest Field. Add to this the fact that co-owner Adrian Hanauer really knows soccer and has been able to draw some pretty major European teams over here in the last 5 years. (Don’t quote me, but I believe he was responsible for the Man United v Celtic, Chelsea v Celtic and RealMadrid v DC United games.) Plus, you have a celebrity co-owner in Drew Carry who has a few connections himself. I don’t know who it will be, but the next version of David Beckham moves to Seattle.
2) Seattle Summer Nights – 15 years ago, no one went to Mariner games, even with Griffey. But now everyone goes to Safeco Field to sit in a beautiful stadium on a 65 degree evening and watch a sport they barely understand or care about. And soccer is even better for this than baseball, a sport in which most of the time is spent either waiting for an inning to start or hoping something will happen. People will at least try one soccer game, if for no other reason, that it’s a nice way to spend a Tuesday night in July.
3) Soccer Has a Clock – A soccer game is over in 90 minutes plus halftime. Say the game starts at 7:00. You can absolutely bank on the fact that you can leave the house at 6:00, spend 30 minutes watching pre-game, 105 minutes in the stadium, and have Junior home and in bed by 9:30. How many people do you see leaving the Mariners game in the 7th inning? That is sub-optimal for everyone, especially a kid (who learns that you don’t have to complete things.)
4) Seattle Supports Winners – Seattle is fascinating. There is so much to do, we won’t deal with losers. But we have so much civic pride (or is it an inferiority complex) that we care about ANYTHING that wins. Mariners – sold out during the golden years. Seahawks – Adored statewide. Even the Storm were selling out during their championship run. Now remember that we have Paul Allen. This team will win. The MLS is not a hard league to build a competitor in. This isn’t like an expansion team in baseball where you have the Yankees and Red Sox to deal with. It’s a poor league that’s getting better, and even though there is a salary cap, I suspect Allen and his fellow owners will pour some money into top scouts, coaches and facilities to make this a place that good players want to come.
Now with all this being said, here’s how the owners or MLS could screw it up – which I don’t think they’ll do. But, if they make some of these easy mistakes, it will hurt their momentum.
Danger 1: Qwest concessions /Overall Costs – Football fans put up with the lousy and expensive Qwest concessions because a) it’s the Seahawks, b) They’ve already spent 3 or 4 hours getting lubed up in the parking lot or FX Mc Crory’s, and c) Tickets are already so expensive that getting jobbed for an extra couple of bucks on your beer is made relative. So that works for a sport in which a billion people watch the Super Bowl. And you could probably get away with that and more at a World Cup game here. But to anyone who knows enough about soccer to buy a ticket, the MLS is a minor league, and not a high minor league at that. Sure it’s called "Major League Soccer" but if the T-Birds change the name of their league to Major League Hockey, they’re still 16 year old kids. You can’t ding 23,000 people. You can price aggressively to 5,000 Sounder die-hards who love soccer so much that they skip work to go to the George and Dragon for a Champions League game. Premium pricing is a great tactic when servicing a niche. But if you want to fill 23,000 seats a game, make sure Dad can take his kids and some friends without feeling like he’s getting the shaft.
Danger 2: Acting like Soccer people – I have this debate with a friend of mine all the time. People who don’t know soccer, end up hating soccer when they hang out with soccer mega-enthusiasts. For example, when you are in Old Trafford and 65,000 Manchester United fans are all singing in unison – that’s cool. Better than cool – awe inspiring. When you are at a US vs Cuba friendly, and of the 20,000 people there, 25 guys from Sam’s Army are hammered and singing for 90 minutes straight, that’s annoying. We get it – we’re SUPPOSED to like soccer because the whole world does. We’re SUPPOSED to sing. We’re SUPPOSED to enjoy that the game will be 1-0 or 1-1. But we don’t, necessarily. It doesn’t make us bad people. It just means we need to learn and evaluate. And if I bring 3 friends to their first soccer game and have to explain why the fat guy with the drum is on his 42nd verse of "The Ref is a Wanker," while the guy next to him is on the 82nd consecutive minute of blowing his stupid horn, then I probably won’t get them back to another game. Do all that stuff, but in small doses. Save your uber-soccerness for US National games.
Danger 3: Too much Americanization – I think one of the coolest things in International soccer is when the two teams march out side by side before a game. The music, the drama , the tension. Imagine Seahawks vs Patriots and 90 guys came walking out in 2 lines of 45, with Hasselbeck and Brady walking lockstep trying not to look at each other. It would be fantastic. But at a Sounders game, some poor unknown soccer guy has to run about 90 yards by himself (except he’s usually trailed by 3 munchkins) through a little smoke to the pleasant applause of 5000 people. The American created "Tunnel run" is way cooler when there are 70,000 people and 100 cheerleaders. Americans want to see first class stuff. Don’t give us Domino’s Pizza and call it Italian food.
Ok, my longest post ever. Let me know if you disagree.
