The legacy of being a mediocre home team

Here's a list of Western Conference teams with a better home record in MLS than the Seattle Sounders – LAFC. Yes, that's the list when using a points per match average. The list of teams in the West with a better home goal differential is shorter, as there are no teams on it.

Compared to the full league things don't change much. Red Bulls and Charlotte are added to both columns.

The offense at home? It's good. Even including Concacaf Champions Cup and the Club World Cup, they've only been shut out three times. Brian Schmetzer's side, at home, scored 2+ goals in half of their home games across all competitions.

Not surprisingly, the defense is also good at home. That's been a hallmark of the Schmetzer era.

What else has been a hallmark of the Schmetzer era at home? Recently, it's been stagnant home play that fails to sell the experience.

While this year the squad is one of the best home teams in the league they were mediocre in 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2018 (the 2020 and 2021 covid restrictions seasons were left off).

Extended mediocrity is part of why the attendance chart is the opposite "goes up and right." The left and down trend makes matches less enjoyable for those that are there. It makes it harder to convince people to fill the empty seats, because there are years of flavor that the Sounders aren't fun anymore.

My biggest takeaway from the Club World Cup is that there's still a large audience for the Sounders. People want the spectacle. They want to see their home team play well, and they were rewarded in even those losses.

After years of playing not-to-lose, the Sounders in 2025 are a home team that plays to dominate. All of this is despite the struggles in the attack. Even without their best attacker and a set of wingers who don't really attack the goal as effectively as their history suggests they should, the Sounders at home are a team that attacks, attacks some more and then attacks again.

These attacks come from fullbacks and defensive mids. But that shouldn't matter – the vibe of Seattle's successful-so-far year is that the enemy's goal is down. It's a return to what made the launch of the team so much fun.

It's no longer up to the squad to play the type of soccer that attracts fans. That responsibility to attract fans lies in marketing and the business team, because the fanbase is still there. More than 130,000 people watched the Sounders take on giants, despite a price point at launch that makes the NFL seem affordable. Another 51,00 watched the team in the Concacaf Champions Cup (only one of those matches was part of the season ticket package).

People who want to watch their local team, powered by local players succeeding still flood this region.

Hopefully the backoffice can live up to the promise that that the players and coaches have shown in 2025. Because the best of 2025 Sounders soccer is still to come.