Cascadia Cup Ticketing Flap May Be Much Ado About Very Little

This has been a bit of a wild week for anyone who holds away support near and dear to their heart. It started with news that the Vancouver Whitecaps had turned over their away-ticket allotment to a travel agency. Then rumors surfaced that those tickets were being considerably marked up, and that many people who wanted those tickets would also be forced to purchase full travel packages. As the rumormill continued to churn, news that Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders supporters would be photographed as they entered Empire Field for Cascadia Cup matches.

Turns out, the truth doesn't appear to be nearly as interesting. While the Sounders and Timbers gave their away-ticket allotment directly to supporters groups, the Whitecaps did, indeed, choose to hand over their tickets to Uniglobe travel agency. Their reasoning for this decision is certainly debatable, as they are choosing to interpret all season-ticket holders as "supporters," but it at least seems defensible. Whether or not those tickets are actually marked up, though, remains to be seen. In conversations with Whitecaps officials, they have maintained that no money has been collected, that the tickets are essentially being sold at cost and that there is no limit on the "ticket-only" option. Assuming this is the case, there seems to be much more limited cause for concern.

More importantly to Sounders fans, Whitecaps officials are also vehemently denying that they intend to photograph away supporters as they enter the stadium. Rather, they say they will merely be checking IDs against a ticket manifest to ensure that those tickets are being used by the original buyer. Sounders officials, for their part, have said they also have no plans for over-the-top security measures.