U.S. Soccer World Looks to Seattle Sounders for Business Model

The U.S. soccer world's attention was on Seattle this weekend as the MLS teams fought their final battle and people liked what they saw.

by:

Leslie D. Helm

SEATTLE - If Major League Soccer is looking for an ideal business model, it need look no further than the host club for this year's MLS Cup: the Seattle Sounders.

The first-year franchise didn't make it to the finals, but its 48 points were well ahead of RSL's in the regular season. The club sold out every home game this year and set an all-time league record for average attendance (30,879).

Games are played at Qwest Field with downsizing banners in the upper reaches.

Originally, 28,000 seats were allotted for regular season games, but when they sold out, the team increased the official sellout capacity to 30,000.

The Sounders sold out their first-ever playoff game in 30 minutes.

Part of the success is that the Sounders have a good team, one that includes such well established international players as Kasey Keller and Freddie Ljungberg, not to mention an American midfielder by the name of Stephen King.

So maybe he hasn't written any books.

The Sounders are writing one of their own.

For the rest of the story:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705346287/Real-Salt-Lake-Seattle-a-mo...

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