What we might be paying

Along with the team name and all the goodies that go along with it, details about season ticket prices will be released sometime this spring. We didn't want to wait, however, so we calculated the average ticket prices in MLS. We took 4 categories (the best midfield non-club seats, other midfield seats, corner seats and endline seats) from every club (except the Galaxy, their website hates us apparently) and plugged the data into Excel. Away we go:

Best midfield: $31.08 average per game
Other midfield: $24.46
Corner seats: $17.11
Endline seats:$14.27

Pretty reasonable, yes? Of course, there will also be suites and club seats up for sale, but if you're interested in those, the cost probably isn't all that important to you, Mr. Moneybags. For everyone else, you can anticipate paying under 20 bucks a game in 2009 if you're a season ticket holder. Also worth noting is that the most comparable stadium to Qwest, New England's Gillette Stadium, is incredibly cheap - they have midfield seats directly in the center for $24 per game and corner seats for $14. A sign of things to come? Hopefully...

And if you want our information/calculations and all that noise, send us an email. seattlemls@hotmail.com

Hungry for MLS? Here's some appetizers

Here's a quick rundown of the potential big friendly matches that may be coming to Qwest Field this summer.

-Mexico vs. China, international friendly: This would be an intriguing match between two seemingly unlikely opponents. Rumored to be April 16.
Probability: Fairly low. The supposed gameday isn't on a FIFA international date... and why would Mexico want a friendly in Seattle, anyways? (EDIT - we fail, this is happening. You should go! April 16!)

-US mens national team, World Cup qualifiers: One of three probable, hugely important matches could be held at Qwest, which would, being geographically far from the likely opponents, provide a great home-field advantage.
Probability: Moderate. Seattle is one of seven cities and there are just three games to go around. Having never before hosted a qualifier could come to our advantage.

-Seattle Sounders vs. KC Wizards, friendly: Seattle played at KC last year, and now it's our turn to host them. A win (albeit a meaningless one) here is very possible.
Probability: Moderate. The front office is still working on finding a suitable date for both clubs. If they can't work it out, the match will be played in 2009 instead.

-LA Galaxy vs. AEK Athens, friendly: Another odd pairing, this would pit David Beckham, Landon Donovan and Ruud 'Sexy Football' Gullit against... a bunch of Greek guys. Rumored to be May 26, though that could change.
Probability: Fairly high. While the rumored date might present a scheduling conflict for the Galaxy, they take every opportunity to play friendlies/make money off of Beckham. Something will probably get worked out.

Give a big hand to...

The incoming Philadelphia franchise, which will be the 16th to enter MLS, and will do so in their own waterfront soccer stadium (probably in 2010). It's about time that their fantastic media market and long history with soccer was rewarded. And we're especially happy for all the hard-core fans in Philly, who are so dedicated that they formed a supporters group long before their team was ever announced.

St. Louis seems to be a certainty for the 17th franchise, which almost certainly won't be until 2011 at the earliest. But after that, there's a bevy of potential cities that want and will be able to support MLS. Vancouver? Miami? Another New York team? Montreal? Anchorage??? These decisions, however, are likely a long ways off.

EDIT: With MLS saying that they're hoping to have 18 teams by 2011, those decisions might not be that far away after all! St. Louis is the definite front-runner for one of spots #17 and #18, and after that... who knows.

Soccer returns! Sort of.

While many in the sporting world are focused on baseball's spring training, MLS teams are already playing in games that mean something. At least, that's what they want you to think.

The Pan-Pacific Cup final was yesterday in Hawaii, crowning Japanese side Gamba Osaka victors of a 4-team tournament including Houston Dynamo, LA Galaxy and the Aussies of Sydney FC. In reality, this means nothing - the two MLS sides weren't fielding their most competitive lineups.
However, the tournament did introduce many American soccer fans to Gamba star striker Baré, a 26 year old Brazilian. With 5 goals in 2 games, 4 of them coming in the final against defending champions Houston, he put on a totally dominant performance. And he's been consistently good in the J-League, with 92 goals in the last 5 years. If he wanted to move to a higher-profile league and team, Seattle MLS would seem to be a good choice, yes?

Unfortunately, he's so good that acquiring him might be difficult. Says Adrian Hanauer, "...honestly, the salaries in the J-league are generally higher than those of MLS, and a team like Gamba Osaka would probably be looking for a multi-million dollar transfer fee, for a player like Bare. In MLS, Bare would probably command designated player type compensation." It appears that if Seattle MLS will sign a designated player, they're going to go out and pick up a real superstar. Sadly, Baré probably isn't that guy.

How to be awesome

Do you think this design looks pretty sweet? Do you often lay awake in bed wondering "How can I show my support for local soccer - and still save money?"

Then HOLY CRAP you're in luck. We've updated our store with this original logo on t-shirts, polos, buttons and stuff. Get this on a t-shirt for only 12 bucks! You know you want to. All profits go to us to help us move to a real website and purchase a real domain name.

The link now lives permanently on the sidebar, but here it is as well. All you Real Salt Lake fans, show us how much you love us and buy a t-shirt. Do it for the children.

The case for Salt Lake

If Seattle is going to enter the league with a rival already lined up, we can think of no better choice than Real Salt Lake.

There's a couple reasons. One, obviously, is their silly name. The Sonics and the Utah Jazz have a pretty good rivalry (when the Sonics are competitive) in the NBA. And RSL are possibly the closest team to Seattle (San Jose might be closer), which makes sense geographically. But the biggest reason? They cost us Seattle fans 4 years of MLS.

In 2004, as many may recall, Seattle was a leading candidate to score an expansion team. Don Garber, MLS commissioner went so far as to say that our bid "absolutely has an inside track." But then the Salt Lake City bid kind of came out of nowhere, throwing cash all over the place and stealing our MLS franchise away from us. Surely this is legitimate reason to consider them our rivals.

And seriously, who picks Salt Lake City over Seattle for a sports franchise? That's like, to conjure up a hypothetical example, moving a team from Seattle to, say, Oklahoma City.