While the idea has always seemed far-fetched, there has long been speculation that the Seattle Sounders could someday look to move into their own stadium.
The idea of a soccer-specific stadium in Seattle can now be put to rest for the foreseeable future, because the Sounders and First &Goal Inc. announced a 10-year lease extension, meaning CenturyLink Field will be the Sounders’ home through at 2028 season.
“CenturyLink Field has been home to many of our club’s most important achievements, including last season’s Supporters’ Shield-clinching win and back-to-back Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup victories in 2010 and 2011,” Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer said in a press release. “We are proud to call the venue home, and we look forward to many more milestones and victories in front of our passionate and loyal fans.”
While smaller, soccer-specific stadiums have become the preferred business model for most Major League Soccer teams, the Sounders have drawn so well in their first six seasons at CenturyLink Field that it wouldn’t make financial sense to build a separate stadium. Last year, Seattle drew 43,734 fans per game, and building a separate stadium that could accommodate anything close to 40,000 fans would likely be prohibitively expensive. And CenturyLink Field was built with both sports in mind, and the inclusion of soccer as part of its future helped get the stadium built (read Mike Gastineau’s book, Sounders FC: Authentic Masterpiece, for a lot more detail).
Even so, the Sounders’ decision to split away from their business partnership from the Seahawks last year, as well as the fact that a grass playing surface would be preferable for soccer and make Seattle a more attractive venue for U.S. national team matches, has kept alive the rumblings of a Sounders stadium.
While grass isn’t an option at CenturyLink Field—the Seahawks prefer FieldTurf, and with so little time between NFL and MLS seasons, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to install grass—this new lease will likely lay out a schedule for replacing the artificial surface more frequently. Seattle just began its fourth season on the FieldTurf surface installed in 2012, and Hanauer has been pretty vocal about the team’s desire to install a new field. While new FieldTurf, which would play more like grass, is preferable for soccer, the Seahawks like the faster, more matted down old surface.
Prior to the season opener, Hanauer said establishing a regular schedule for replacing the playing surface would be part of a new lease agreement.
“As part of that, there would be some established guidelines for the turf and how often it’s replaced,” he said. “… Everyone would prefer it was grass, if it’s not grass, then the preference is that the turf be as high quality as possible and switched out as often as possible and maintained the best way possible so that it’s optimal for our players.”
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