For the first time in three years, the Seattle Sounders Annual Business Meeting will have a live audience. It takes place from 6PM-8PM tonight at Sounders FC Center at Longacres (enjoy that name before a sponsor is eventually attached).

In-person attendance was limited by a lottery, but all season-ticket holders were sent an invite to watch the event virtually. Virtual Registrations are accepted until an hour before the event starts with an email sent out to everyone who registered. If you’re not interested in participating but want to watch, the stream is attached above.

For those that don’t watch live, the videos will be available at soundersfc.com or check out Sounder at Heart for the highlights.

GM Vote and Future Plans

While it may not require Steve Kornacki at the Big Board, one of the top agenda items will be the announcement of the GM vote. The Sounders are the only professional team in North America to allow the season-ticket holders an opportunity to vote every four years on whether the General Manager should be retained. The vote requires 40% of all eligible members voting, but if that threshold is reached, a 67% super-majority would result in removing the GM. Not coincidentally, Lagerwey’s contract expires at the end of this year, so the results of this vote may not be the final determining factor on his longterm status with the club.

Speakers

Speaking at the Annual Business Meeting will be:

• Adrian Hanauer - Sounders FC Majority Owner
• Duane Nakamura - Representative of the Sounders Alliance Council
• Peter Tomozawa - Sounders FC Owner and President of Business Operations
• Garth Lagerway - Sounders FC General Manager and President of Soccer

Also, for the first time at the Annual Business Meeting, there will be four breakout sessions taking place. While only Maya Mendoza-Extrom’s presentation will be live-streamed, all four breakout sessions will be available to be viewed after the event at soundersfc.com. Those presentations are:

• Mendoza-Extrom - Sounders FC Chief Operating Officer speaking about World Cup and Social Impact
• Taylor Graham - Sounders FC Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer speaking about the March to the 50th Project
• Tom Riley - Sounders FC Chief Financial Officer speaking about the Longacres Training Facility
• Henry Brauner - Sounders FC Vice President of Player Development to speak about, well, Player Development

Question-and-Answer Session

The final 20 minutes of the meeting will involve a Q&A session with all speakers. The Sounders have three ways to submit questions. There was an opportunity to submit questions during registration. In addition, there will be questions collected on-site, as well as a Twitter hashtag given during the presentation to submit questions online. Given the way that 2022 ended, one imagines that the questions this year may be more intense than ever.

Scott Chupack is a member of the Alliance Council.