Seattle Sounders (1994–2008)

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Seattle Sounders
Seattle Sounders USL logo.png
Sounders logo used from 1994 to 2002
Full nameSeattle Sounders
Nickname(s)Sounders
Founded1994
Dissolved2008 (transferred to MLS)
Stadium Starfire Sports Complex
Capacity4,500
Chairman Adrian Hanauer
Manager Brian Schmetzer (2002–2008)
League
2008 League: 6th
Playoffs: Did not qualify

The Seattle Sounders were an American professional soccer team that was founded in 1994 and played in several second-division leagues, beginning with the American Professional Soccer League. They played in the A-League, later renamed the USL First Division, from 1997 to 2008. The team was named for the Seattle Sounders of the North American Soccer League (NASL), which folded in 1983. The Sounders folded after the 2008 season as part of a transition to a new Major League Soccer (MLS) team named Seattle Sounders FC that debuted in 2009.

Contents

The team generally used blue and white jerseys. They played at Memorial Stadium and various small venues from 1994 until their move to Qwest Field (now Lumen Field) in 2003. The Sounders played their last season at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, Washington, which would become the training facility for the MLS team. Their head coach from 2002 to 2008 was Brian Schmetzer, who had played for the NASL Sounders and later coached the MLS team. A sister organization, the Seattle Sounders Women, played in the women's USL W-League from 2001 to 2015.

History

Leighton O'Brien in the Seattle Sounders away uniform during the 2008 season Leighton O'Brien.jpg
Leighton O'Brien in the Seattle Sounders away uniform during the 2008 season

The club was founded in 1994 and named after the original Seattle Sounders team, which played from 1974 to 1983 in the North American Soccer League. [1] [2] Former coach Alan Hinton had acquired rights to the Sounders name after the club folded and began a campaign to bring an American Professional Soccer League (APSL; later the A-League) team to the city in 1992. [3] [4] The league previously had another Seattle team, the Seattle Storm, that had joined from the Western Soccer Alliance and played for one APSL season in 1990 before they folded. [5]

A bid for a new APSL team, to be named the Sounders and owned by former Microsoft executives Scott Oki and Neil Farnsworth, was announced in September 1993. [3] The bid's approval was announced by United States Soccer Federation secretary general Hank Steinbrecher on January 30, 1994, during a men's international friendly match between the United States and Russia at the Kingdome that was attended by 43,651 spectators. [6] The reborn Sounders competed with a rival group that aimed to create a Seattle franchise for Major League Soccer, the new top-level soccer league for the United States. [7] Hinton was named club president and later appointed himself as head coach prior to the inaugural season. [8]

The Sounders played their inaugural season at the Tacoma Dome and Memorial Stadium. [7] The team decided against playing at the Kingdome and Husky Stadium due to their high rents, and found Cheney Stadium in Tacoma to be unsuitable for soccer use. [9] The Sounders finished the 1994 season with a 14–6 record, the best in the A-League, but lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Colorado Foxes. [10] Hinton resigned as head coach and club president in 1996 and transferred the rights to the Sounders name to Oki. [7] The Sounders played in the 1996 CONCACAF Champions' Cup and advanced to the final round in Guatemala City, where they finished at the bottom of a four-team group. They were the second Seattle-based team to play in the continental championship, after the Seattle Mitre Eagles in the 1988 edition, who also lost to Cruz Azul. [11]

For the 1999 season, the team played at Renton Memorial Stadium, a 6,500-seat suburban venue in Renton, while Memorial Stadium in Seattle underwent renovations. [12] The Sounders had an average attendance of 6,132 in 1994, but declined to 2,100 by 1999; the club had also lost its profitability during this time. [13] They attracted more spectators in Renton, but found group sales had declined and needed more locker room space for their various teams; in 2000, the Sounders returned to Memorial Stadium. [14]

The Sounders earned four A-League championships, winning the playoffs in 1995, 1996, 2005, and 2007. [15] Seattle finished with the best regular season record in the league in 1994, 2002, and 2007. [16] In addition to their titles, the Sounders finished as runners-up in the league championship to the Montreal Impact in 2004. [17] Seattle drew the Richmond Kickers 1–1 at Qwest Field before claiming the 2005 championship 4–3 in a penalty shootout. [18] In 2007, the Sounders defeated the Atlanta Silverbacks 4–0 to claim their fourth championship title, an A-League/USL-1 record. [19]

The team primarily played at Memorial Stadium, which was aging and in need of repairs, [20] and later Seahawks Stadium (Qwest Field) beginning in 2003 despite their low average attendance. [21] Seahawks Stadium had been designed to be used by a future MLS team, but an expansion team had not been granted after it opened. [22] In the early 2000s, the team considered plans to build a soccer-specific stadium with approximately 15,000 to 20,000 seats and a complex of fields in various suburbs, including Fife and Kent. [23] [24] In 2006, the Sounders proposed a stadium at the Kitsap County Faigrounds in Bremerton, one of Seattle's western suburbs in Kitsap County. [25] A 6,500-seat stadium was proposed again in 2007 as the home of a possible Major League Soccer franchise. [26] A move to Tacoma or folding the club were also considered in the event that a rival MLS bid won rights to an expansion team in Seattle, according to Hanauer. [27]

MLS expansion and final season

The Sounders looked to earn an MLS expansion team in the 1990s and 2000s while also competing with other prospective ownership groups. Farnsworth and Oki initially stated that they were interested in becoming minority investors in an MLS team and permit use of the Sounders name, rather than being majority owners. [28] In 2000, the club announced plans to pursue a MLS team that would play in the then-unbuilt Seahawks Stadium (now Lumen Field) and keep the A-League franchise as a developmental team named "Sounders Premier". [29] Later owner Adrian Hanauer also made a bid for a 2005 expansion slot that was instead awarded to Real Salt Lake. [30] On November 13, 2007, Major League Soccer (MLS) announced that it had selected Seattle as the recipient of an expansion team that would begin play at Qwest Field in 2009. USL Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer would become one of the team's owners, along with Drew Carey, Paul Allen and majority owner Joe Roth. [31]

The team's name, Seattle Sounders FC, was unveiled on April 7, 2008, continuing the Sounders name into MLS. The USL team would play their last season in 2008, mostly at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila. [31] [32] The Sounders made their second consecutive appearance in the U.S. Open Cup semifinals, where they lost to fellow USL-1 club Charleston Battery in a penalty shootout. [33] Following a regular season that finished with a 10–10–10 record, the second-division team were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round by the Montreal Impact and played their last competitive match on September 28, 2008. [34] The Sounders played a series of exhibition matches in Argentina against the reserve squads of local clubs as part of a farewell tour in late October 2008. [35] They won all six matches, which also served as a tryout for the MLS team for the existing members of the USL team. [36]

Club identity

The Sounders adopted a new logo in 1994 that featured an orca jumping from the wordmark to head a soccer ball. [37] It was replaced by the original logo from the NASL team at the beginning of the 2003 season. [38]

Year-by-year

This is a complete list of seasons for the A-League/USL club. For a season-by-season history including the current Seattle Sounders FC MLS franchise, see History of professional soccer in Seattle#Sounders season results.

Results of the Seattle Sounders by second-division season
SeasonLeague [39] [16] Position [39] [16] Playoffs [39] [16] USOC OtherTop goalscorer(s) [a]
LeagueDiv.ConferencePld.WLDSWSLGFGAGDPts Pct Conf.OverallCompetitionResultPlayer(s)Goals
1994 APSL 2 [b] —20145—013816+22121.725—1st SF DNE—— Chance Fry 11 [41]
1995 A-League 2—24134—524024+1651.688—2nd W SF [42] —— Peter Hattrup  ♦11 [43] [44]
1996 A-League 2—271211—403525+1040.519—3rd W QF [45] CONCACAF Champions' Cup 4th [46] Jason Farrell 6 [47]
1997 A-League 2Pacific [c] 28167—234219+2350.6612nd5th QF R2 [48] —— Mike Gailey 10 [49]
1998 A-League 2Pacific [c] 281710—106328+3552.6252nd6th QF DNQ [50] —— Mark Baena  ♦24 [51]
1999 A-League 2Pacific [c] 28168—315636+2081 [d] .6433rd6th QF R3 [53] —— Mark Baena  ♦20 [54]
2000 A-League 2Western281873——5638+1885 [d] .6963rd4th QF R2 [55] —— Greg Howes  ♦17 [56]
2001 A-League 2Western2613121——4039+157 [d] .5195th12thDNQ R2 [57] —— Leighton O'Brien 11 [58]
2002 A-League 2Western282341——7127+44107 [d] .8391st1st QF R3 [59] —— Brian Ching 16 [60]
2003 A-League 2Western281675——4524+2153.6612nd3rd SF QF [61] —— Kyle Smith 6 [62]
2004 A-League 2Western2813114——4034+643.5364th9th RU DNQ [63] —— Welton Melo 5 [64]
2005 USL-1 2—2811611——3325+844.589—4th W R3 [65] —— Roger Levesque 6 [66]
2006 USL-1 2—2811134——4248–637.464—7thDNQ R3 [67] —— Cam Weaver  ♦18 [68]
2007 USL-1 2—281666——3723+1454.679—1st W SF [69] —— Sébastien Le Toux  ♦10 [70]
2008 USL-1 2—30101010——3736+140.500—6th QF SF [71] —— Sébastien Le Toux 14 [72]
Notes
  1. ↑ Top goalscorer(s) includes all goals scored in regular season matches.
  2. ↑ The American Professional Soccer League was sanctioned as a Division II league but was the de facto top flight league in the United States until Major League Soccer began play in 1996. [40]
  3. 1 2 3 The USISL A-League used divisions as their equivalent to conferences from 1997 to 1999 before reorganizing them under conferences beginning in the 2000 season. [39]
  4. 1 2 3 4 From 1999 to 2002, the A-League awarded a bonus point to teams that scored three or more goals in a match. [52] The Sounders earned 10 bonus points in 1999, 10 bonus points in 2000, 4 bonus points in 2001, and 14 bonus points in 2002. [39]

Honors

Team honors

Individual player honors

MVP

Leading scorer

Goalkeeper of the Year

Defender of the Year

Coach of the Year

Rookie of the Year

First team All Star

Stadiums

Average attendance
YearAttendance
19946,348 [74]
19954,571 [42]
19963,750
19972,873
19982,902
19992,243
20002,143
20011,885
20024,087
20033,357
20042,874 [75]
20052,885
20063,826
20073,325
20083,386

The Sounders originally played at Memorial Stadium, with select matches at other venues such as the Tacoma Dome, and moved to Qwest Field (originally Seahawks Stadium) in 2003. The Sounders and the Sounders Select Women played the first-ever sporting event at the stadium on July 28, 2002, before 25,515 fans—setting an A-League attendance record. [77] For Sounders matches, Qwest Field was limited to a capacity of 8,500 seats on the east side of the lower bowl. [78] After opening the 2008 season at Qwest Field, the Sounders played their remaining 14 league home fixtures at Starfire Sports Complex. [79]

Various exhibition matches against A-League and MLS opponents were played at local high schools, including Marysville Pilchuck in 1998 and Mount Vernon in 1999. [80] [81]

Ownership and management

In 2007, the team had eight owners: general manager Adrian Hanauer; former Microsoft executives Scott Oki, Neil Farnsworth, and Josef Bascovitz; tour operator Paul Barry; real estate developer Robin Waite; tech executive Rick Cantu; and investor Tor Taylor. The Sounders had been unprofitable for most of their existence in the second division of American soccer. [82]

Head coaches

Note: A-League/USL First Division did not have draws until 2000. [83]
NameNationTenureRecord
WLD
Alan Hinton Flag of England.svg EnglandApril 6, 1994 [8]  – January 22, 1996 [84] 3715–
Neil Megson Flag of the United States.svg United StatesMarch 1, 1996 [85]  – April 19, 2001 [86] [87] 89473
Bernie James Flag of the United States.svg United StatesApril 19, 2001 – November 9, 2001 (interim) [88] 13121
Brian Schmetzer Flag of the United States.svg United StatesNovember 28, 2001 – 2008 [89] 1226946

Affiliated teams

During their first years in the USISL/USL, the Sounders were affiliated with the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. [90] Their assigned affiliation was changed to the San Jose Earthquakes in 2001. [91] The Sounders formed a partnership with the German side Werder Bremen in 1998 due to Sounders USL-PDL player Andrew Dallman's involvement with the German side via US indoor soccer legends Fernando Clavijo, Raffaele Ruotolo, and Jean Willrich.[ citation needed ] The also formed a partnership with English side Cambridge United in 2006 due to the shared involvement of Adrian Hanauer, who bought the Sounders in 2002.[ citation needed ]

The Sounders founded a developmental USL Premier Development League (PDL) team, named Seattle Sounders Select, in 1999. They replaced the Seattle BigFoot, an independent team who had been considered an unofficial development squad. [92] [93] In the second round of the 2001 U.S. Open Cup, they eliminated MLS side Dallas Burn and advanced further than their parent club, losing to the Los Angeles Galaxy in the third round. [94] The team had financial troubles and folded after the 2002 season after failing to pay for its $85,000 budget. [95] The Sounders later formed a relationship with a new PDL franchise, the Tacoma Tides, which was established in 2006. [27]

A women's team, named Seattle Sounders Select Women, began play in 2000 and moved to the USL W-League the following year. [96] [97] The team was rebranded as Seattle Sounders Women in 2003 and was sold in 2008 to Tacoma Tides owner Mike Jennings as part of preparations for the USL–MLS transition. [98] [99] The Sounders Women was temporarily home to several national team players in 2012 following the collapse of Women's Professional Soccer. [97] The Sounders Women left the W-League when it folded in 2015 and moved to the Women's Premier Soccer League, where they won their first national championship in 2018. [100] The team terminated their branding agreement with the MLS Sounders in January 2020 and were renamed Sound FC. [101]

Rivalries

The Sounders had local two rivals—the Portland Timbers to the south and the Vancouver Whitecaps to the north. All three teams were successors to their respective NASL teams that competed in the 1970s and 1980s. [102] [103] They competed in the annual Cascadia Cup, which was established by fan organizations in 2004 and has been contested by the teams' MLS successors since 2011. The Sounders won the trophy in 2006 and 2007. [104] [105]

Supporters

Emerald City Supporters display at the 2008 home opener Emerald City Supporters Take 'Em All.jpg
Emerald City Supporters display at the 2008 home opener

The original Seattle Sounders were supported by the Seattle Sounders Booster Club in the 1970s and early 1980s.[ citation needed ] A small group named "The Pod", named for the Sounders' orca mascot, formed to support the second incarnation of the club in the 1990s. The Emerald City Supporters were formed in 2005 to organize fans and perform songs, chants, and displays during matches. They remained with the club when the Sounders moved to MLS in 2009. [106] [107] The Sounders organization created an official fan club, named the Sounders Legion, in 2007. [82]

References

  1. ↑ "Seattle Sounders: Kicking through the memories". The Seattle Times. May 6, 2004. p. C4. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
  2. ↑ Smith, Lauren (November 6, 2019). "Seattle's rich soccer history has had many defining moments, but none quite like this". The News Tribune . p. B1. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
  3. 1 2 Peoples, John (September 29, 1993). "Kicking back in Seattle". The Seattle Times. p. C1.
  4. ↑ Stinson, Dan (November 26, 1992). "Only two APSL teams on West Coast will be costly for Vancouver 86ers". The Vancouver Sun . p. D10. Archived from the original on December 23, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ Smith, Craig (February 21, 1992). "Curtain closes on Seattle Storm". The Seattle Times. p. E2.
  6. ↑ Knight, Bill (January 31, 1994). "U.S. tie with Russians brings Kingdome roar". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. p. D2.
  7. 1 2 3 Ruiz, Don (September 26, 2014). "Hinton among ex-coaches to be honored". The News Tribune. pp.  B1, B3 . Retrieved December 21, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  8. 1 2 Smith, Craig (April 7, 1994). "Hinton answers call to coach soccer again". The Seattle Times. p. C8. Archived from the original on December 21, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
  9. ↑ Stinson, Dan (February 9, 1994). "Sounder home no kick in the grass". Vancouver Sun . p. D14. Retrieved September 29, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Lawrence, John (March 2, 1995). "After successful first year, Sounders looking for more". The News Tribune. p. D2. Archived from the original on December 21, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ MacDonald, Frank (March 14, 2018). "When the Sounders lost 11-0". Sounders At Heart. SB Nation. Archived from the original on June 6, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  12. ↑ Rice, Micah (December 16, 1998). "Sounders to call Renton their new home stadium". The News Tribune. p. C2. Archived from the original on December 22, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ Saperstein, Aliya (August 31, 1999). "Money woes threaten Sounders' ambitions". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. p. E6.
  14. ↑ Moschetti, Mark (January 19, 2000). "Sounders leave Renton for Seattle". Eastside Journal . Retrieved December 21, 2022– via NewsBank.
  15. ↑ "Soccer Story Line". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. November 14, 2007. p. C2.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Litterer, David A. (June 16, 2011). "USA – United Soccer Leagues". RSSSF. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  17. ↑ Farrell, Sean (September 19, 2004). "Sounders fall in A-League title game". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. p. C2.
  18. ↑ Massey, Matt (October 2, 2005). "Sounders win championship in extra lengthy finale". The Seattle Times. p. C1. Archived from the original on December 15, 2005. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  19. ↑ Gaschk, Matt (October 1, 2007). "After slow start, Sounders win title, ponder future". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. p. D17. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
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  24. ↑ Ruiz, Don (August 5, 2003). "Sounders eye Kent for MLS-friendly stadium". The News Tribune. p. C2. Archived from the original on December 22, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
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  30. ↑ Romero, José Miguel (July 14, 2004). "Seattle group plans for MLS in 2006". The Seattle Times. p. C4. Archived from the original on March 19, 2005. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
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  46. ↑ Goloboy, James (July 25, 2019). "Central American Club Competitions 1996". RSSSF. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
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  72. ↑ Litterer, David (April 10, 2010). "The Year in American Soccer, 2008". Society for American Soccer History. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  73. 1 2 "Sounders FC 2012 Media Guide" (PDF). Seattle Sounders FC. February 2012. p. 151. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
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  76. 1 2 Crow, Robert (July 24, 2003). "Sounders make pitch, keep match in Seattle". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. p. C10.
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  82. 1 2 Meisner, Jeff (January 21, 2007). "Profit eludes the Sounders". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
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  85. ↑ Farnsworth, Clare (March 2, 1996). "Sounders hire Megson to be new player-coach". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. p. D1.
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