adrian’s live chat from seattletimes
adrian hanauer just finished a Q&A with fans over at the seattle times. there wasn’t anything earth shattering, and anything that would have been juicy for us fans, was received with a politically seasoned answer. adrian does have a sense of humor though. a couple of the stand outs were…
q- “Any good gossip you can share to get us through the next long, cold 3 months?”
a- “my best friends wife is pregnant”
q. “Adrian, I love the natural atmosphere that the fans generate at qwest, any chance that we work out other deals with some of the sponsors rather than horns or thundersticks which just don’t fit with the singing and supporter generated atmosphere?”
a. “We are actually giving away free horns and thundersticks at all games next season…” Read more
Watch the World Cup Draw with Adrian
Word from the Sounders Front Office is an invitation to watch the World Cup draw with Adrian Hanauer at 9a on Friday at the George & Dragon (206 North 36th Street in Fremont).
A new official 2010 FIFA World Cup match ball from adidas will be unveiled and raffled off at the event.
DC United’s Marketing Effort to get Butts in the Seats for the US Open Cup Final
It all started when Adrian Hanauer noted that he was “skeptical” of the USSF process and of DC United’s US Open Cup Final bid. He additionally noted that the Sounders would have sold out Qwest if Seattle was awarded the US Open Cup Final.
And with that, the Guantlet was laid.
This prompted a pointed reply from DC United head man Kevin Payne. With the “he said / she said” aside, the onus was now on DC to fill the seats of RFK for the September 2nd Final… Or at least draw more than the 8,200 8,212 they did for the 2008 US Open Cup Final and hopefully more than the 16,272 that they’re averaging in 2009.
They are trying. Here are some of the gimmicks & campaigns that the marketing folks at DC United have come up with Read more
DC United President Responds to Hanauer
DC United’s president, Kevin Payne, addressed the comments made by Sounders General Manager Adrian Hanauer today via Steven Goff.
On what Hanauer said…
“I was surprised and disappointed and offended. Adrian uses the word ’skepticism’ to describe the process, which seems to be implying that it wasn’t on the up-and-up. Which is really an outrageous implication. He is implying that we somehow are receiving favorable treatment. We bid aggressively at every level this year and last year. We did so because we didn’t want to travel if we could possibly avoid it, given the demands of our schedule [Champions League]. Seattle doesn’t have those same demands because this is their first year. Adrian has no knowledge of what we bid or didn’t bid; my guess is that we bid more aggressively than they did.”
“I appreciate that Seattle’s fans are great. Our fans have been great for 14 seasons. It’s really unseemly for Seattle to suddenly show up in MLS and everything should be handed to them. Their crowds are wonderful, we had a great time out there in Seattle [last month], but our crowds are pretty good too and we expect this year we will get far more people in the building than we did last year [8,200]. Last year we played a USL team in the final and, the way our team was going in general at that point, our fans were disappointed and disillusioned. That’s not the case this year. We are going to promote the game very aggressively.”
As a followup, according to Ruiz, Seattle indeed placed a bid for an afternoon game to host the Final.
Adrian Hanauer Frustrated
Adrian Hanauer (AP)
Don Ruiz and Jose Romero have provided some reactions from Adrian Hanauer on USSF’s decision to play the US Open Cup Final at RFK Stadium in Washington DC.
Apparently, the Sounders Front Office put in “a very aggressive bid” to be the host of the USOC final, yet somehow Qwest Field was not selected. Hanauer said that he “has spoken with other teams that have made bids for the Final who thought that they were going to win the bid, and our bid was twice, and in some cases up to three times, the size, financially, of those bids.” Read more
Expect Future Open Cup Games @ Starfire
(AP Photo)
Sounders FC General Manager Adrian Hanauer noted yesterday that fans could expect to see the Third Round match of the US Open Cup to be played at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila.
He noted that if the club wins and hosts a USOC Quarterfinal match, that would be at Starfire too.
Sounders FC “would eventually consider” moving Semifinal and Final matches of the US Open Cup to Qwest.
Adrian Hanauer on Fredy Montero
With yesterday’s discussion on Colombian Striker Fredy Montero’s status, GM Adrian Hanauer made this comment…
Fredy Montero traveled to South America to complete some personal administrative details that required the player’s attention prior to the start of the MLS season. The player’s contract is finalized and there are no open issues. Fredy is en route back to Seattle and we look forward to his participation in training later this week and on opening night.
mixed reaction to draft, but leaning to the negative
so the expansion draft happened today, and a lot of people aren’t happy.
not that the average fans opinion on a message board should always be given full credit, but where else to get the opinion of what the fans think of how the F.O. did today?
there is some praise, but mostly frustration. just a few select quotes…
“I’m pissed off right now!!!”
“This draft was crap”
“These are major decisions being screwed up”
“Terrible management” Read more
Expansion Draft Results
Welcome Back to the Pacific Northwest Nate!
Sounders FC have drafted 10 Players in today’s MLS Expansion Draft.
Here are the newest members of Sounders FC:
- Nate Jaqua, Houston Dynamo- Forward (14 games, 11 starts, 4 goals, 4 assists) :$174,125
- Brad Evans, Columbus Crew- Midfielder (26 games, 18 starts, 5 goals, 1 assist) :$33,000
- Stephen King, Chicago Fire- Midfielder (20 games, 8 starts, 2 goals, 1 assist) :$17,700
- Jeff Parke, New York Red Bulls- Defender (24 games, 23 starts) :$58,737
- James Riley, San Jose Earthquakes- Defender (24 games, 23 starts, 2 assists) :$33,000
- Khano Smith, New England Revolution- Midfielder (23 games, 18 starts, 2 goals, 3 assists) :$46,305
- rong>Jarrod Smith, Toronto FC- Forward (20 games, 6 starts, 1 goal) :$36,000
- Nathan Sturgis, Real Salt Lake- Defender (3 games, 2 starts) :$108,000
- Peter Vagenas, Los Angeles Galaxy- Midfielder (14 games, 11 starts, 1 goal, 3 assists) :$144,000
- Tyson Wahl, Kansas City Wizards- Defender (16 games, 16 starts) :$33,000
The Waiver Draft will take place at 1p. [MLSnet]
Freddie Ljungberg Meet & Greet
- 28 members of the Sounders FC Marching Band in attendance
- Starts with same video as the earlier pressed
- Kevin Calabro opens
- Todd Leiweke speaks
- Joe Roth: has hopes for a non-expansion team. “there is no way this team will pack up and leave Seattle”
He met Freddie when Ljungberg went to LA for a tatoo.
His dream is to build a Champions League team.
- Adrian Hanauer: brought up the same three characteristics; Character. Competitiveness, Intelligence
“Freddie is a winner at every level”
