Seattle Sounders Will Open Entire Stadium For Cascadia Cup Matches, Don Garber Says

UPDATE II: Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer did not exactly confirm the report, but did say that the team is considering opening the whole stadium and seemed to indicate that it could be offered as part of a three-pack, similar to last year. He added that an announcement should be coming soon and that the number of tickets being allocated for visiting supporters has been decided, but declined to offer further details.

UPDATE: The Vancouver Whitecaps will not be opening additional seats at BC Place for Cascadia Cup games, a team official told me. No word yet on how many tickets will be allocated for away supporters at any of the three stadiums.

It looks like the Seattle Sounders will open all of CenturyLink Field for Cascadia Cup matches in 2012. Speaking to fans of Orlando City SC about the possibility of bringing MLS to Florida, Commissioner Don Garber let that news slip. This should come as a positive sign to those of us who had hoped this would be the case last year and is a sign that the Sounders see this as the opportunity it is.

MLS Commissioner reveals in Orlando: "They’re going to open up CenturyLink field, 66,000 seats for the Cascadia rivalry" @MLS

— Simon Borg (@SimonBorg) March 1, 2012

What, exactly, this means is not yet known. The Sounders have previously said they planned to offer another three-pack that would include the summer friendly. Last year, the Sounders opened up the entire stadium (except for the Hawks Nest) for the other two games. One of those drew about 46,000, while the other had an announced crowd of more than 64,000. If they were to include the home games against the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps, the Sounders could well surpass both those figures as this year the Hawks Nest will be open.