Soccer: The sport that healed Seattle

Published 10:00 am Wednesday, August 5, 2009

SEATTLE — Soccer may not always be such a hot ticket as it is this year in Seattle.

Somewhere down the road, Sounders FC may struggle, the novelty may wear off, or a new NBA franchise might come and take back some of the fans who converted to soccer during the first season of Major League Soccer in the area.

Don’t bet on it.

This region has always embraced soccer, it just never had soccer at this level to embrace before 2009. The highest level of U.S. soccer has come to Seattle in the past with leagues like the North American Soccer league, but Seattle has never seen a soccer love-fest like this.

Soccer is here to stay in the Northwest, and if anything the enthusiasm will only grow in coming years as Portland and Vancouver add MLS teams in 2011 to create what will be the league’s best rivalries.

And when soccer has established itself as a permanent residence here, when young stars like Steve Zakuani are household names like Aaron Curry, remember this year.

We’re witnessing a summer of soccer that has taken interest in the sport to a new level. Going back to a Thursday night in mid-March, Sounders FC has captivated a region of sports fans still smarting from a brutal 2008 that included losing pro and college football teams, a losing baseball team, and the relocation of an NBA franchise that was the city’s oldest professional team.

If anyone has their pulse on the soccer scene in Seattle, it’s John Bayliss, the co-owner of the George &Dragon Pub in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood. The George, which was named one of the top-10 soccer bars in America by GQ Magazine, has always been the hot-spot for watching games in the city.

And to ask Bayliss, who moved from England to the states in 1988 and opened his bar in 1995, the soccer experience at Sounders games rivals that of games in his home country.

“It’s second to none,” Bayliss said. “The first game, I stood there with a few other English guys that have all supported Liverpool or Tottenham or other teams since they were able to walk, and I saw guys on that opening night — I was wondering if they were going to be able to fall in love like that with this team because it’s where they live — and they did. I saw that atmosphere, people were choked up, and they adopted the team that night as their own.”

I’m not delusional. Soccer will not be here what it is in England, Spain or Italy. It won’t ever pass the NFL, Major League Baseball or the NBA in this country, but if this city is any example, it can become a legitimate part of the U.S. sporting landscape.

And in the summer of soccer, tonight’s game is the latest treat. FC Barcelona, fresh off a season that saw it crowned as the champion of Spain and Europe, comes to Seattle for a friendly that is meaningless in the standings, but will be a spectacle nonetheless. More than 65,000 fans saw Seattle fall to English power Chelsea last month, and a couple thousand more will fill a sold-out Qwest Field tonight.

Some of the game’s biggest names — Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, Xavi — will be at Qwest field less than a month after fans watched Chelsea stars Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack and John Terry take on the host Sounders FC.

What’s most remarkable, however, isn’t that the stadium will be full — that has happened a number of times for exhibitions featuring top European clubs playing in the U.S. — it’s that it will be full of Sounders FC fans.

That was the case against Chelsea, and for the most part, it will be again tonight.

“The fact that fans are coming out is not that much of a surprise for these big games,” said Sounders FC general manager Adrian Hanauer. “But for me the tremendous part is how supportive they are of the Sounders.”

Chris Henderson, an Everett native who went on to play for the U.S. National Team and have a long, successful MLS career, remembers looking into upper reaches of Qwest Field during last month’s Chelsea match and getting chills.

“I knew in the lower bowl it would be season ticket holder so there would be a lot of Sounders fans, but even in the upper deck, there were so many green jerseys up there,” said Henderson, now the Sounders FC technical director. “It was such a good feeling, and I’m hoping it’s the same Wednesday night.”

That might be a bit of a surprise to Barcelona, one of the world’s most popular clubs, and a team that is used to being showered with love when it goes on preseason tours in the U.S.

During a press conference in Seattle Monday, Barcelona star midfielder Xavi said of the team’s trips to the U.S. “We’re much calmer here … We’ve been coming here for many years, so we feel much calmer here.”

That may change a bit tonight.

And while 67,000 fans on hand tonight will be a good sign for the sport, what goes on week-to-week has been even more impressive. As Sounders FC goalkeeper Kasey Keller put it before the Chelsea game, Americans love an event. People will always turn out for a big spectacle — a World Cup game, a match against Manchester United or Real Madrid — but what’s always been difficult is getting soccer to work on a week-in, week-out basis. Yet that’s exactly what’s happening here this year.

Midway through the season, Seattle had to expand it’s seating to meet demand, and every game still sells out. Less than one year in, Sounders FC is the model franchise in Major League Soccer.

“Everyone throughout Major League Soccer that has come here for a game can’t believe it,” said Henderson. “It really feels like a European atmosphere, and I really give credit to our fans for getting so into the Sounders and supporting our team … It’s been exceptional. Just the way that the fans have supported the team, the atmosphere that’s created every home game, it’s the best in Major league soccer. It’s way beyond expectations.”

We’re in the middle of the summer of soccer in a suddenly futbol mad town, and it’s a thing to behold.

“I listen to people in and around the bar, and everyone’s on cloud nine,” said Bayliss. “We’ve had Chelsea here and Barcelona coming in. The team’s doing well, we’re in the final of the (U.S. Open) Cup, we’re doing well in the league. You couldn’t wish for a better first year.”

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.