Seattle Breaks Attendance Record Before Season Starts

Still two months from their first match of the 2010 regular season, the Seattle Sounders FC has already set a new MLS record for average home attendance, based on the number of season tickets sold for the upcoming season. The club announced on Wednesday that they are setting the cap for number of season tickets available for purchase from 22,000 to 32,000 and that less than 1,000 of those remain. That means that the club can average no less than 31,000 fans per game for the 2010 season, which will break the league record of 30,943 set by the club a year ago. Now, the only question is how high Sounders fans will set the bar? Team officials have said the overall capacity for regular season games will be capped at 36,000, but they have been known to open up more seats from time to time if the demand is there.

“Our fans demonstrated their passion and commitment to the team by creating one of the best home field advantages in all the MLS,” said Sounders FC owner Joe Roth. “They took their match day role very seriously and renewed their season tickets at a 96% rate.”

On top of the 15 regular season games, this year’s season ticket package will include three international friendlies, one more than a year ago when Barcelona and Chelsea both played in exhibitions against the Sounders; each game drew more than 65,000 fans to Qwest Field. More big-name opponents are already being lined up for the upcoming year, but because of scheduling issues, Seattle may spread out the bonus games, in terms of both the timing and the origin of the opponent.

“We’re working on some big ones again, said Gary Wright, Seattle’s senior vice president of business operations. “We feel good about it. One of the tough things, we’ve got lots of teams that want to come and play here. It’s being able to fit them all in the same little window, because all of the European teams and a lot of the other clubs around the world, their training camp is July and that fits perfect for them.

“I don’t think we can fit all three of our friendlies [in July-August],” Wright continued. “We’re going to have to take another window and find a team from another part of the world than Europe to come play in October or May or somewhere that fits in their calendar.”