Sounders v Timbers: In the Stands and in the Standings

As we come upon the eve of our first Cascadia Cup match of the MLS era, the Timbers prepare to head up I-5 with a gaggle of supporters in tow. This is an ebullient time for both cities, and you’ll surely hear quite a bit from our neighbors down the road. Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of revisionist history in the Timber’s oral traditions, primarily regarding their illustrious history and fan culture.

It is common to hear the old refrains, "Sure, the Sounders won, but we had 10 thousand fans in the USL days!", or perhaps "The ECS can’t touch the TA’s 35 year tradition!" We’ve all heard it all so many times (such must be the pain of not actually winning on the field), but how much truth is there to it? Is Soccer City, USA truly Portland (as the city declared itself in 1975), or is the current reputation built on a lie told over and over across the years until it was accepted as truth? Let’s find out...

I gathered attendance records and performance on the field from 1974 (the year the NASL Sounders came into the world in possibly the first case of a breech-birth bicycle-kick) through last season, comparing records, rankings/post-season results, and average attendance to get to the bottom of this critical matter. The record and average attendance are pretty straightforward, and the ranking is split into final placement in league standings and furthest point of playoff advancement (1st Round, Quarter Finals, Semi Finals, etc). Let's delve in, shall we? 

So, what can we glean from this information? Besides the obvious superiority on the pitch (which is so often over-valued in comparison to a really, really good "No Pity" call-and-response), the Sounders have a clear advantage in terms of attendance. The Timbers soundly defeated the Sounders at the turnstiles from 2001-2008, but were consistently out-drawn in their NASL guise (by NOT Soccer City!?! Gasp!). In fact, their vaunted fan support started to decline after their first non-winning season (their second season, for those of you scoring at home) and steadily dropped until the team took a two-year sabbatical before returning to the somewhat rough-shod and impromptu Western Soccer Alliance. Shockingly, for a city proudly proclaiming themselves to be "Soccer City, USA", Portland then went 11 years -- that's nearly a third of their history -- without a franchise. 

"While all this is true," your ever-moving-the-goalpost Timbers supporter friend might say, "Records don't really matter, nor do all those bandwagon (he says with a sneer) fans coming in to sip a latte and sit....what REALLY matters are the TRUE fans, the SUPPORTERS!" He would then brush back his bangs from his horn-rimmed glasses, push aside the mustache wax in his fanny-pack to get to his Pall-Malls, and mention the 35 year history of the Timbers Army.

 Unfortunately, even this last tenuous hold on superiority must slip, as the Timbers Army was created in 2001, an "extension" of supporters groups buried under the passing sands of the decade since the last match played under the Portland banner. 

So, to summarize: The Sounders have been better on the pitch 14 out of 21 years of league co-habitation, splitting the attendance title (Sounders "won" the NASL years, Timbers "won" the USL years they took part in), and have been a consistently quality side over the past 37 years (fielding a team in 33 of those years, and missing the playoffs in only 8). And the Timbers? Well, the Timbers...not so much. If only they were a little more quiet, the numbers indicate we might have a different arch-rival to the north. But, that's a thought for another day...