Last week marked the two-year anniversary since the Sounders and Carlyle Group completed their purchase of the Seattle Reign, ending a long, drawn-out process which had left the team in limbo after its prior Lyon-based ownership changed hands in mid-2022 and the Reign became an afterthought. We need not rehash the challenges of the 2024 season, with several stars departing in free agency before the season and the team unable to effectively replace them due to uncertainty about whether the club would remain in Seattle long-term.
The sale was lauded, with the new owners commiting to boost investment and making promises of glory to come, both on and off the field. We’ve seen some of that reflected in a significantly enlarged technical and performance staff, including an additional assistant coach and more support staff. The club also now has access to vastly more resources for marketing and media.
Susie Rantz
But two years into this new era, at the midway point of another season, are we seeing enough? This year and next offer an unprecedented opportunity to get attention on the Reign, with tens of thousands of soccer fans in town this summer for the men’s World Cup and a Women’s World Cup with ideal kickoff times taking place in the Western Hemisphere one year from now.
Here are five things I want to see from the team before the end of the season to fix the bad vibes, maximize the opportunity that’s been presented, and show that Seattle truly can be Soccer City, USA and not just Men’s Soccer City, USA.
1. Use the HIP rule to make a big signing or two
When the NWSL announced their new High Impact Player rule earlier this year, there was some uncertainty about exactly how it would look when it went into effect on July 1. The NWSL Players’ Association had issues with how the rule was written and implemented without their input, and their grievance apparently remains unresolved amid rumors that the league would simplify the rule and vastly broaden the number of players eligible to receive this large pool of new off-cap money.
Reign GM Lesle Gallimore said that the team was monitoring the situation and had several plans lined up depending on how things shook out, but the club sounded as if they were committed to spending money to use this new resource to boost their cap and bring in a big-name player. The club also acquired an additional $300k in net transfer budget space as part of the transaction that sent Jordyn Huitema to Chicago, meaning they can spend over $900k on transfer fees (either internationally and/or via trades within the NWSL) before incurring any sort of penalty. In fact, they must use the Huitema money before the end of the season or lose it entirely when the net transfer budget resets for next season. While transfer fees in women’s soccer have been going up rapidly, a $900k fee would still be the 9th highest ever paid globally.
Susie Rantz
The club has some clear needs, and summer is a prime time to go shopping to fill those needs as European teams retool for the upcoming season. Bring us an exciting and experienced playmaking midfielder or forward to add to our promising pool of young talent, Lesle.
2. More marketing to adults
The club recently launched a new Future Fans Free program to offer free tickets to children 12 and under with the purchase of an adult ticket, and is working on an expansion of their Kids Club program. While this is laudable and a great way to improve affordability for families and build a future fanbase, it misses most core demographics for women’s soccer. Other teams around the league, such as Angel City, Kansas City and the Spirit, have made huge inroads by presenting themselves as an adult product and a quality experience worth spending money to attend. More needs to be done to promote the Reign to adult fans, particularly the younger and LGBTQ+ demographics which so strongly embrace the Storm and immediately connected with the Torrent.
There should be team posters and schedule pamphlets in bars around the city, partnerships with additional bars, adult sports leagues, community organizations, colleges and others, and things happening in-stadium that cater to adults to make Lumen Field a place that people want to be. We’ve seen a few meager attempts in this regard with concepts like last year’s Friday night happy hour deals and the two tickets plus two beers promotion. At this moment, with thousands of fans flocking to Reign and Sounders-sponsored World Cup watch party events, the team should be going all-out to get fans into seats for the next home game with promos and giveaways. The Sounders are offering a $20.26 ticket deal to pack the stands for their game against the Timbers, while the Reign are offering… the chance for a bunch of pre-teens to attend against the Thorns that same week?
We’re told that the kids ticket promotion is only the first prong of a new, multi-faceted marketing push, but time is quickly running out to launch other programs in time to have an impact on this season and upcoming renewals for 2027.
There should also be mature and ongoing storytelling on the team’s website to connect fans with player stories. It needs to be more than just the occasional sponsor-related profile where a player talks about their mental health journey or a simple look back on a player’s career upon reaching an appearance milestone. Early in the NWSL, the team gave players GoPro cameras and we got “Day in the Life” type content which helped fans develop connections with players (who remembers Haley Kopmeyer introducing us to the Groutfit?). We got glimpses of what’s possible in this era during the preseason Cloak and Crown series, but since then, the only two pieces of non-press conference/non-highlight video content on the team’s YouTube page are a profile on the equipment management team and an interview with the artist who designed the team’s AANHPI Heritage scarf.
3. Strengthen the case for buying season tickets
A curious quirk of the Sounders and Reign now being under shared ownership is that motivation for season ticket holders of one team to buy season tickets for the other is actually diminished due to the 15% discount offered on single-match tickets. This particularly impacts the Reign since they don’t offer a ticket return program comparable to the one offered for Sounders STHs. If you don’t expect to be able to attend every game for both teams, you’re better off buying a Sounders season ticket, returning the games you can’t attend for credit, and using your discount code to buy single-game Reign tickets. That leads to a negative loop where people attend fewer Reign matches, since they’re not already holding season tickets and feeling like they need to maximize the value of what they’ve already paid for.
Long-time Reign season ticket holders do see some benefit with a loyalty discount for continuing to renew their tickets, but the team could do a lot more to incentivize new fans to buy season tickets and to retain existing ones, particularly after the debacle with having three home games moved to Spokane this season after promises that all games would be in Seattle (and charging for ticket packages as if they would be), plus the ensuing communication snafus related to reimbursement or credit for those games.
I see a few potential paths that the team could take to improve the value proposition of season tickets, beyond the clunky merchandise and concessions discount QR codes:
- A ticket buyback program similar to what’s offered for the Sounders. This would go a long way toward convincing fans that there is value in committing to a full-season package.
- More options for the season ticket thank you gift. Sounders STHs can pick from four options, including a scarf where fans get input on the winning design. The Reign, meanwhile, have only ever offered a winter-weight scarf.
- Another option for fans who are unable to use the free Thorns away ticket offer. This season in particular, the Portland away offer was challenging due to the game being on a weeknight during the school year. If you can’t use that perk, perhaps the team could offer a free extra ticket to a Reign home game of your choice so you can invite a friend or family member along, or have a cross-promotion with other local women’s teams such as a discounted Storm ticket, etc. (While we’re at it, bring back the ReignStorm promotion, and add the Torrent for a Torrential Reign Storm!)
- Better access to merchandise and experiences. The season ticket member benefits page advertises perks such as exclusive merchandise and early access to gear drops, but aside from having the opportunity to purchase promotional items such as the Hello Kitty × Reign bobblehead and the Snoopy × Reign hat, these items have been few and far between despite a lot of new merchandise finally beginning to appear in the team’s online store. Similarly, the benefits page talks in vague terms about “exclusive invitations” to member-only events, content and perks, but to date that seems to have been limited to entering a World Cup ticket lottery and a presale for the USWNT game. In prior years, season ticket holders would receive invitations to training and to special events such as a meet and greet with players and team leadership.
4. Improve communications
As mentioned above related to getting a refund or credit for the “home” games in Spokane, team communications have been struggling this year. While there were ultimately some understandable reasons why the team had to wait to announce what some of the perks would be for fans who opted for credit (namely, they had to wait for US Soccer to announce the USWNT vs. Japan game), fans were left frustrated at being asked to wait and trust the team would deliver after promises had already been broken about all home games being in Seattle.
Things have not improved much since then – an issue with the team’s communications platform has caused emails sent to some recipients to be delayed by several hours to days, which led to fans getting “How to Watch” and “Know Before You Go” emails for games already completed... and this hasn’t happened just once or twice, it’s been multiple times for multiple games. A team spokesperson confirmed to Ride of the Valkyries that the organization is aware of the issue and has identified fixes and workarounds, such as using SMS and app push alerts for time-sensitive messages, but curiously the email issue has only impacted Reign communications and not the Sounders. I have to believe that if it had been impacting both teams, there would have been more pressure applied to their vendor to get the issue fixed promptly or to find a new vendor. A top-level professional organization can’t simply tell fans to watch for text messages and ignore days-late emails.
5. Get former players more involved
Something the Sounders have done remarkably well is to find ways to keep former players involved with the organization, either in front office roles, coaching, commentating, or even just as brand ambassadors doing outreach in the community. The Reign, despite also having a number of long-term former players still living in the area, have not yet been able to do something similar and keep that institutional knowledge. The Reign now have two local broadcast partnerships (Fox 13+ and KJR AM) where former player voices would be a welcome addition. They also finally have the resources and staffing to create positions that cater to the strengths of retired players, be that in youth player development, scouting, coaching, or even in areas beyond the field such as marketing and business development.
When Megan Rapinoe retired, one of the things she was asked was whether she’d like to remain involved with the team. She met that question with a resounding yes, and indicated that she had a lot of ideas for promoting and growing the club. At the time of her retirement, any further involvement with the team was complicated by the fact that her then-fiancée, Sue Bird, is an investor with Gotham FC. Sadly, they recently split up, and Pinoe has apparently moved back to the Pacific Northwest, so while A Touch More shall so be no more, this presents a big opportunity for the Reign to get her involved with the team again, even if just with a consulting title like “Creative Advisor”. Heck, Adrian Hanauer should consider offering her an ownership stake in exchange for what are sure to be some very bold ideas about how to grow the team. Those ideas might not all work out, but if there is one thing the Reign of yesteryear were known for, it was their willingness to take bold risks which created buzz and attention while fostering a winning and positive environment on and off the field.
Audaces fortuna juvat.
