Saturday, Jun. 27, 2009

Sounders outdraw many English soccer clubs

RICHLAND -- Life often is ironic, but just last night my wife, Traci, and I teamed up to debate a friend of ours and extol the virtues of the game of soccer.

I'll admit, that my interest wanes from time to time. Traci and I joined West Ham United supporters in the stands at London's Upton Park and sang I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles during the Hammers' season-ending match vs. Middlesbrough in 1999.

Traci & I also attended Manchester United's exhibition vs. Celtic in Seattle in 2003. And on Tuesday, I caught the second half of the USA's thrilling win over Spain. Thank you, Tim Howard.

Alas, I still miss the wit of Lionel Bienvenu when he anchored Fox Sports World's weekly English Premier League highlight show. My thirst for the EPL never has been the same since his departure.

But I digress.

This morning, Don Ruiz of The News Tribune -- the Herald's sister paper in Tacoma — reports that Seattle Sounders FC is selling more tickets than expected.

In fact, the Sounders' average attendance is the best in Major League Soccer — 29,364. No. 2 is Toronto, way back at 20,288.

Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer told Ruiz, “What maybe has surprised me is that (the Sounders have) become so mainstream, so prevalent, all the way through the community, through every type of sports fan so quickly ... I’ve heard so many stories: ‘I was never really a soccer fan,’ or ‘I’ve never been to a soccer game.’ (That was the) type of fan that we hoped to get someday. We didn’t think we would get them immediately.”

Ruiz points out the Sounders attendance this season would rank No. 12 in the 20-team EPL. That's just behind West Ham and just ahead of Middlesbrough. (There's some more irony for you.)

Soccer may never rank as popular as football, baseball and basketball in terms of American spectator sports, that is until Yanks realize that you can wager on the outcomes and "field" fantasy soccer teams just they do for the NFL.

And if the University of Oregon fielded a varsity program for men's soccer, I'm willing to bet that my Duck friend would take a liking to "the beautiful game."