Yes to Major League Soccer! I'm in for season tickets. Are you listening, Mr. Allen?

Aren't the Sounders our MLS franchise? Or are we trying to get another?

why doesn't seattle have hockey? its cold and rains here. its practically canada. i don't even like sports but it seems silly that there is no hockey here. certainly soccer is a waste.

Wasn't Qwest Field sold as a soccer/football field? They play those Manchester United exhibition games there. I'm not sure what the requirements of a "dedicated" MLS stadium are. I can't believe that MLS has the power to demand communities build them a stadium. Seattle is telling the Sonics to get screwed, and basketball is way more popular than soccer in the US.

I heard a rumor that Paul Allen is going to turn the Seattle Center into a bucolic common garden. That's something that Seattle desparately needs. A central garden with a min mile and a half trail.

I was under the impression that Qwest Field was designed under the assumption that a MLS team would someday play there (they went back and forth about the use of turf or real grass in the stadium for this very reason). I've never heard anything about building a new soccer stadium.

Sorry, I think I may have started that rumor.

Wait till the contracts are signed.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Hockey Hair, you can thank Barry Ackerly for the one of the factors we don't have NHL in Seattle. When the Key Arena was remodeled for the Sonics, he specified the dimensions be just under the requirements for an NHL arena, so that no hockey franchise could use it, and the NHL wouldn't compete against the Sonics.

Qwest Field is far too massive to be used on a regular basis for an MLS team. It's fine when there are exhibitions of European teams, but MLS-sized stadiums should be about 20,000. Otherwise people just rattle about and it's a mess.

And I'm with Roag. Yes to MLS!

Is there any half-assed, ego-gratifying albatross project that Paul Allen won't bankroll? Just curious.

Well, Paul Allen is staying clear of RTID.

But everyone else drank the kool aid.

There is hockey in the area- 2 WHL teams.

The Seattle Thunderbirds who play at Key Arena (they will be moving to the new Kent arena next season) and the Everett Silvertips who play at the EEC in Everett.

It's really good hockey and the prices are cheap!

http://www.seattlethunderbirds.com

Some dude is trying to get an MLS team for St. Louis too, but he don't have the cash like Paul Allen, so this is bad news for me. I'm assuming MLS won't be expanding by two, so the law of dollars says Seattle will win. :(

What you have to remember about Paul Allen's campaign to get Qwest Field built by promoting it as a soccer field as well as a football field (the advertising posters showed soccer, not football), is that Paul Allen was LYING.

Qwest can't be used for MLS not only because it's too big but because it's not grass, which FIFA requires for top-tier club soccer. No grass = no FIFA, which has all kinds of negative repurcussions in terms of certifying clubs and players.

Some of you guys are way off base. Let me clear up a few things:

- MLS does not require a soccer specific stadium. It does want to see them, but the majority of teams began in non-soccer specific stadiums and a few, like the New York Red Bulls still do.

- FIFA does NOT require grass. Artificial turf can be used for any international match except the World Cup Final. Some of the Champions League matches and European Championship Qualifiers will be on artificial surfaces--Russian National Team home matches and CSKA Moscow home games are on field turf (the same surface that's in quest field).

Furthermore, you can but a temporary grass surface on top of an existing surface, which has happened at Quest Field.

-There are a least 3 different ownership groups that investigating bringing an MLS team to Seattle.

-Last Friday the Seattle PI reported that there was a story in SI.com that an announcement in the next two week was coming about an MLS expansion in Seattle for the 09 (I think) season.

Personally, I think it would be great if the Sounders became that team (I wish we had the relagation/promotion system that they do in the European leagues), but I'll just be happy to have a greater presence for the "beautiful game" in our backyard.

I'll be buying season tickets when it comes.

Sounders just won the treble (Cascadia Cup, USL Commissioner's Cup, and USL League Cup) finishing it off with a 4-0 win over Atlanta in the USL final.

Not to mention beating MLS sides Chivas USA and Colorado in the US Open Cup and taking Dallas to extra time in the USOC semi-finals.

There's already quality footy here... hopefully they'll get one more runout in 2008 before "promotion" to MLS in 2009.

Check out the the ECS supporters site and forums at http://www.weareecs.com. We are the hardcore supporters of Sounders in Seattle...

There's hardly enough room anywhere in SLU for a Walgreens, let alone a 20,000 seat stadium and the required parking (and don't be ignorant and hit me with the usual transit garbage; sports fans aren't gonna want to catch 2-3 buses to see 2nd rate SOCCER).

Bad rumor. No chance in hell, not even on paper.

Why would the stadium have to be in SLU?

ECS isn't just for hardcore or nutball fans. It is for anyone that wants to cheer for a Seattle soccer team. Granted it mainly focuses on the Seattle Sounders at the moment and there are a few rowdies, anyone who wants to root on soccer in Seattle is invited to join the Emerald City Supporters.

Come on over to our forums and check it out if you wish: http://weareecs.com/phpBB/index.php

We will be having some end of the year events which anyone is more than welcome to attend.

buy and refurbish memorial stadium. that'd be the perfect size. and close to slu

The Sounders orginally played at Memorial Stadium, then Kingdome, then Memorial, then Qwest (sometimes Starfire Sports, now... back to Memorial. At least they're versatile. I have also thought re-vitalizing Memorial Stadium would be great. There's sufficient parking already, decent bus lines, and it could continue to be used for special events (e.g. Bumbershoot, Bite of Seattle, etc.)

"sports fans aren't gonna want to catch 2-3 buses to see 2nd rate SOCCER"

I was catching a bus from Kent to Qwest to watch Sounders games all year.