From the Sounder at Heart Discord to reality: The Seattle Sounders took our idea to offer fans an opportunity to trade their Leo Messi Inter Miami kit for a Paul Rothrock Sounders jersey and ran with it. The offer is being made to anyone in attendance and is on a “while supplies last” basis.
I have no idea how many people will actually take the Sounders up on this offer, but I genuinely love it and not just because it came directly from an idea shared from our Discord community (it’s awesome, you should join).
More importantly, I think it shows the potential of this tournament and how the organizers can sort of lean into the meme-ification of it. Several years into the experiment, I’m not sure how much traction it has gained as a purely sporting endeavor. But anyone who has attended a game can attest to it being fun. Promotions like this — which are very clearly done tongue-in-cheek — are exactly the kind of thing teams should be trying.
Jeremiah Oshan
Beyond that, I do like the symbolism of offering this swap. Messi is pretty undeniably the best soccer player to ever live and is well on his way to winning the MLS MVP award. Paul Rothrock is a Seattle kid who has mostly made a name for himself with grit and hustle (and some genuine skill, let’s not forget that). These aren’t just two players on the literal opposite ends of the earning scale, they are two very different examples of what kinds of players can succeed in MLS.
Rothrock, by the way, is in the final year of his contract and is deep in negotiations on a new deal that should see him get a substantial raise.
