Largest Crowd for a Competitive Match in Qwest Field History

We’ve been sent a nice bunch of information from the Sounders press office with some interesting background detail about Sunday’s game.

The Crowd

The 2009 MLS Cup Final will attract the largest attendance for a competitive soccer match played at Qwest Field, since the stadium opened in 2002. As you can see from the table below, all the higher attendances were for friendlies organised for their popularity and mass appeal. 42,000 people to watch two sides, the nature of which Sounders had no control, is an achievement probably more admirable than 66,000 to watch Real Madrid.

The top 10 Qwest Field soccer attendances are as follows:
66,848        August 5, 2009             Seattle v Barcelona (friendly)
66,830        August 9, 2006             Real Madrid v D.C. United (friendly)
66,722        July 22, 2003               Manchester United v Celtic (friendly)
65,372        July 18, 2009               Sounders FC v Chelsea (friendly)
56,416        April 16, 2008               Mexico v China (friendly)
47,052        May 31, 2008               Brazil v Canada (friendly)
35,807        October 29, 2009          Seattle v Houston (MLS conference semifinal)
33,108        October 24, 2009          Seattle v Dallas (MLS)
32,776        August 20, 2009           Seattle v New England (MLS)
32,740        September 19, 2009     Seattle v Chivas USA (MLS)

Sunday’s final will however only be the fifth highest attendance for an MLS Cup Final. The four topping it are:

61,316        October 20, 2002          Gillette Stadium        Los Angeles 1, New England 0 (Final)
57,431        October 26, 1997          RFK Stadium            D.C. United 2, Colorado 1 (Final)
51,350        October 25, 1998          Rose Bowl                Chicago 2, D.C. United 0 (Final)
44,910        November 21, 1999       Foxboro Stadium       D.C. United 2, Los Angeles 0 (Final)

The Finalists

The Galaxy seeks to complete a year in which it bounced from worst to first in the Western Conference. Playing in its record sixth final, L.A. is going after its third MLS Cup victory and first since 2005. The Galaxy beat the Houston Dynamo, 2-0, after extra time to claim the West berth.

This is the first MLS Cup final for Real Salt Lake, which entered the league in 2005. RSL is the second No. 8 seed to reach the final in as many years. Real Salt Lake played the Galaxy twice this season, earning a home draw and a road win. RSL edged the Chicago Fire in penalties after the two teams were scoreless after 120 minutes of the East final.

Be a Part of it

Tickets for MLS Cup 2009 are on sale to the public. Fans can purchase tickets www.ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000. MLS Cup tickets are included in the Seattle Sounders FC 18-game season ticket package.

Last week, due to overwhelming demand, 6,000 additional seats were put on sale for the MLS Cup. The initial offering of 36,000 sold out.

Past Championship Games Played in Seattle

MLS Cup 2009 is the first North American soccer championship match to be played in Seattle since Soccer Bowl ’76 in the Kingdome. An NASL championship game then-record crowd 25,765 attended the game played between Toronto and Minnesota.

Four A-League/USL-1 championship games were hosted by Seattle from 1995-2007. FC Seattle played the 1988 Western Soccer League title game at home. In addition, NCAA championship games for Division I (1984, 1985) and Division II (1975, 1976, 1984, 1986) have been played in Seattle.

1976 NASL Soccer Bowl Toronto Metros-Croatia 3, Minnesota Kicks 0 (Kingdome)
1988 Western Soccer League FC Seattle 5, San Jose 0 (Memorial Stadium)
1995 A-League Sounders 1, Atlanta 1 (Memorial; Seattle won on penalties)
1996 A-League Sounders 2, Rochester Rhinos 0 (Memorial Stadium)
2005 USL-1 Sounders 1, Richmond 1 (Qwest; Seattle won on penalties)
2007 USL-1 Seattle Sounders 4, Atlanta 0 (Starfire)

Records Watch
The crowd of 66,848 for the Sounders FC-FC Barcelona friendly on August 5 was the largest for a soccer match played in Seattle. The largest attendance for a competitive match played at Qwest Field is 35,807 for the Western Conference Semifinal first leg on October 29 between the Sounders FC and Houston.

Other Bits ‘n Pieces – Draft Dates

Philadelphia Union, the newest member of MLS in 2010, will select 10 players in its expansion draft on November 25. The MLS SuperDraft is scheduled for January 14 in Philadelphia.

LA Galaxy v Real Salt Lake – Some Seattle Connections

It was a Sounders FC comeback win (2-1) over FC Dallas on October 24 which enabled Real Salt Lake to qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs. If Dallas had maintained its early one-goal lead, RSL would not have taken the eighth and final postseason berth. Seattle scored twice in the final 30 minutes to eliminate FC Dallas from playoff contention…

Real Salt Lake is the nearest visiting MLS team to Seattle (701 miles), 10 miles closer than San Jose…Los Angeles coach Bruce Arena began his coaching career in 1976 at the University of Puget Sound, located 36 miles south of Qwest Field in Tacoma…

Real Salt Lake rookie midfielder Raphael Cox, a Tacoma native, was drafted out of the University of Washington with the 54th selection in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft. Cox has appeared in six regular season matches for RSL…

Several members of the Sounders FC team staff have ties to the Galaxy. Head coach Sigi Schmid began his professional coaching career began with L.A. (1999-2004) and led the Galaxy to three major championships: 2000 Concacaf Champions Cup, 2001 U.S. Open Cup and MLS Cup 2002. Assistant coach Ezra Hendrickson played for the Galaxy (1997-2003). Midfielder Peter Vagenas played his first nine MLS seasons with L.A. before being selected by Seattle in last year’s expansion draft. Central defender Tyrone Marshall played for the Galaxy from 2002-07. Nathan Sturgis (2006-07) and Nate Jaqua (2007) also spent time with the Galaxy…Sturgis also played for Real Salt Lake from 2007-08. He was chosen by Sounders FC in the expansion draft.

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