Seattle soccer fans just became the most powerful soccer fans in America. Sorry, Philadelphia.Major League Soccer sparked a big fat controversy when it allowed fans to choose the name of the Seattle expansion team that starts play in 2009, then let fans vote on three really, really lame team names -- none of which were "Seattle Sounders," the name of the city's old NASL club and its current USL First Division club. After pressure from fans, however, MLS allowed a write-in vote, and fans organized a huge campaign to keep the Sounders name alive.
Guess what? It worked. MLS announced today that the expansion team will be called Seattle Sounders FC.
The transfer of the name shouldn't be too big a problem, given that Adrian Hanauer, the owner of the USL-1 club, is also a member of the new club's ownership group. Given that several players currently with the USL club will join the MLS expansion team next year, this could be the closest thing to a true promotion from second division to top flight that we'll ever see in American soccer.
The Sounders' next trick? Turning those Thierry Henry rumors into reality.
(H/T: The Offside)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-07-2008 @ 11:21PM
Tom said...
I think that the DC will be the champions this season!
http://euro2008-blog.blogspot.com/
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4-08-2008 @ 3:19PM
hwhilgerlps3 said...
Who the heck cares about the name of that American meaningless MLS team, it is just as much of a kickball team as the rest of them and they all are an embarrassment to the world soccer organization
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