The Seattle Sounders sent shockwaves around the fanbase last week when they suddenly announced that they were “seeking new investors” in what is the most significant ownership news with the club since at least 2019, when Joe Roth sold his stake.
But what really got people talking was the accompanying report in Sportico for which President of Business Operations Hugh Webber is clearly the primary source.
Although the only quote attributed to him is rather a benign comment where he says “we’re looking for strategic partner”, the story talks about how the new investors are expected to help fund a new stadium near the Longacres training facility.
It doesn’t exactly take a detective to figure out where they may have gotten that idea.
I will add that this very much jibes with what I’ve been hearing basically ever since the club opened that new training facility.
Way back in 2023, Webber told me on the record that the club was at least exploring the possibility of building a stadium in Renton, and over the last two years my understanding is that they have been operating under the belief that a move would eventually happen.
What this latest report has done, however, is shine a bright light on just how unpopular of a move that would be, at least among the current fanbase.
We recently published a survey that has nearly 800 responses.
Perhaps the most interesting question asks how fans would react to building a stadium at Longacres. More than 35% of respondents answered that they’d “likely stop attending games.” Just 22% said they were “open-minded” about a new stadium and a paltry 4% essentially said they would attend games no matter where a new stadium gets built.
Even worse, if you dig into the 12% who declined to pick one of the predefined options, the vast majority are expressing some form of outrage over the idea that the Sounders are even considering leaving downtown.
Acknowledging this is not a scientific study and is overwhelming made up of Sounder at Heart readers, having almost 50% express this level of displeasure has to be a worrying sign for anyone considering a nine-digit infrastructure investment.
