A few notes worth passing along from today’s Sounders practice, which included a chat with general manager Adrian Hanauer.
—Hanauer confirmed what has been expected, that midfielder Mauro Rosales will be a designated player under his contract extension that he signed this offseason. Seattle already has two DPs (players whose salaries count only partially toward the salary cap) in Fredy Montero and Alvaro Fernandez, and Rosales was expected to join that list, but that wasn’t made official before today. Rosales signed a veteran minimum deal last year, but was one of the team’s best players and was expected to get a big pay bump this season under his new deal. Per league rules, the terms of his contract aren’t made public, though the league does release salary figures later in the year.
—The team announced the signing of backup goalkeeper Andrew Weber, who has been training with the team throughout the preseason. While it is unusual to have four goalkeepers under contract as Seattle currently does, the move was made necessary, Hanauer explained, because of the knee injury that will keep Josh Ford sidelined for a while. Coach Sigi Schmid said he has not decided who will be the No. 2 keeper between Weber and Bryan Meredith.
—A day after MLS commissioner Don Garber indicated that the Sounders will open up all of CenturyLink field for matches against Vancouver and Portland, Hanauer said options are being discussed, but nothing has been decided yet. He said one possibility is that those games could be part of a multi-game package similar to what Seattle did last year with the three-game pack that included games against Manchester United, New York and the regular season finale against San Jose.
Hanauer also said the three Northwest teams have come to a decision on what to do this season about ticket allocation for visiting teams, but he would not yet say what that decision was.
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