By Scott M. Johnson
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – Seahawks Stadium will be christened with a different type of football this summer. The Seattle Sounders will officially open the new downtown stadium on July 28 with an A-League soccer game against Vancouver, it was announced Thursday.
The stadium will be open to the public the weekend of July 20-21, while the Seahawks will make their debut there with an intrasquad exhibition game Aug. 3.
The Sounders, then a member of the North American Soccer League, played before a sellout crown in the first sports event at the Kingdome in 1976. The current Sounders will play just the one game at the new stadium, then return to their regular home, Seattle Memorial Stadium.
“The local soccer community has waited a long time to showcase world-class talent and the most popular sport in the world in a facility like this,” said Adrian Hanauer, the Sounders’ general manager. “Hopefully it will be a packed house. It’s a great event for the city, the state and for the Pacific Northwest.”
Upper-deck seating won’t be made available for the soccer game unless ticket demand calls for it. The stadium seats more than 33,000 in the lower levels, 65,000 total.
From noon to 7 p.m. on the weekend of July 20-21, the stadium will have its grand opening, with a schedule of events that will include a number of Seahawks players and cheerleaders. Fans are invited to take self-guided tours of the facility during that weekend.
Open houses will continue at the stadium three hours before every Seattle Mariners home game between July 23 and Aug. 4.
The first football game played at the new stadium will be a Seahawks intrasquad scrimmage on Aug. 3. The Indianapolis Colts will be in town for a preseason game one week later.
First &Goal vice president Bob Collier, who has overseen the construction since it began in 2000 at the old Kingdome site, said the stadium will open one month ahead of schedule and “on budget.”
“I can’t tell you how excited we are to have our own stadium,” Seahawks president Bob Whitsitt said.
Tickets for the Sounders-Whitecaps game, which range in price from $7 to $25, are available by calling 1-800-796-KICK or Ticketmaster at 206-628-0888. The Seahawks are selling season and charter-seat tickets at 1-888-NFL-HAWK.
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