All Sounders FC league matches not aired nationally will be carried live in high definition on KING-5 or KONG-6/16 with Arlo White calling the action. All locally broadcast matches will also be aired either live outside of Seattle or on a delayed basis throughout Washington on FSN/ROOT SPORTS™* (Comcast channels 627 & 30). Select Sounders FC Spanish language TV matches will be aired on KOMO2 TV, Comcast channel 114, a Univision sister station.

Each match will also be aired live on the radio home of Sounders FC, News Talk 97.3 KIRO FM. All Sounders FC Spanish language broadcasts will be aired on La Gran D 99.3 FM, except nationally aired broadcasts.

A limited number of season tickets are still available. Season tickets may be purchased by visiting www.SoundersFC.com or by calling 877-MLS-GOAL.

Sounders FC open the MLS season on March 15 by hosting the L.A. Galaxy in First Kick 2011 on the Xbox Pitch at Qwest Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. PT.

For more information visit www.SoundersFC.com

Prompted by the high demand, tickets for the March 9th Community Shield match against the Colorado Rapids will go on sale on Wednesday, February 2nd at 10a.

The $10 tickets will be available at www.SoundersFC.com, by calling 877-MLS-GOAL, all Ticketmaster outlets and the Qwest Field Box office.

Tickets for the inaugural Cascadia Summit at Starfire Sports Complex will go on sale Tuesday, February 1 at 10a.

Sounders FC will host three days of events featuring preseason matches between Seattle, the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps FC. In addition there will be forums involving the coaches and supporters groups from each club.

All matches will be played at the Starfire Sports Stadium. Tickets are $10 for each day.  There is a two-day Sounders FC package for $18 that is good for both Seattle matches. No ticket is necessary for Saturday’s Supporters Event/Coaches Forum.

Friday, March 4

7p- Summit Opening
730p- Seattle Sounders FC v Portland Timbers [TICKETS]

Saturday, March 5
1p- Supporters Summit & Coaches Forum
5p- Portland Timbers v Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Sunday, March 6
12p- Sounders FC Academy U18 v Whitecaps FC Residency
3p- Seattle Sounders FC v Vancouver Whitecaps FC [TICKETS]

Two-Game Pass [TICKETS]

One note coming out of an Alliance Council meeting this week is that all 500 tickets apportioned to Seattle for the club’s matches in Portland and Vancouver will be distributed through the Supporter Groups.

So if you are a Sounders Fan in general or one of the 31,000 Season Ticket Holders not a member of a Supporter Group, you will not have access to Seattle’s section of travelling supporters; you will need to acquire your tickets via the Timbers or Whitecaps directly or on the secondary market.

What do  you think about this decision?

We know there has been rabid discussion of the allocation of tickets to away supporters with the addition of the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps to MLS in March. All three Cascadia Clubs have set the number of tickets for traveling supporters to 500 for the Seattle/Portland/Vancouver Derby Matches.

If you’re one of the 31,000 Season Ticket Holders who is not affiliated with a Supporter Group and you’re interested in traveling to the Rose City or British Columbia to sit in the travelling fans section you should pay attention to a passing note by Jeremiah on Sounder At Heart.

Distributing those tickets will be the province of supporters groups. Just how supporters will distribute their tickets among the three main groups — ECS, Gorilla FC and North End Supporters — is still being determined, but you’re probably going to have to be a member of one of those groups to get a ticket.

What do you think about this? Do you think the Supporter Groups should be responsible for Cascadia Derby away ticket distribution? How does it make you feel if you’re not a “member” of a Supporter Group but want to be in the Rave Green section in Portland or Vancouver? Do you think the Supporter Groups should make tickets available to non-members?

This proposal is not set in stone yet, so if you don’t belong in a Supporter Group and would like access to the Sounders’ allocation of away tickets, speak up now!

Photo by Chris Coulter of SoundersPhotos.com

This Year's Renewal Marketing Campaign

I have been in contact with Adrian over the matter, and we have had a few emails back and forth. I relayed the frustration of the fans, the lack of communication, and general overall confusion.

Here is his recent response.

I wanted to do a little digging and make sure that my memory wasn’t different from what the club had planned.
In 2008/2009, we launched the season ticket push, and had committed to the same price for the first 2 years, with a maximum price increase of 3% in the 3rd year. This was my recollection, and I can certainly understand that there might have been confusion about whether that would occur in 2011 or 2012. If you have anything in writing from the club, committing to no increase in 2011, that would be helpful. I have seen message board articles and comments about it, but nothing from the club. And our intent was definitely to raise prices in year 3.

On the friendly… we heard the feedback that 3 friendlies were too many, so we decided to focus all of our energy on a blowout single friendly. This will be against one of the top teams in the world, and will be a huge event. Given the cost of these top teams… we adjusted the premium so that we could afford to bring one of these teams in. That said… if someone is interested in skipping that friendly… I am certain that our customer service reps can help sort that out.

Finally, worst of all for me… was the poor communication of the overall package to our returning season ticket holders. We should have better communicated our intentions, and then better presented it on the renewal invoices. When I look at the renewal breakdown online… it’s a bit of a mess and very difficult to decipher.

Let me know if you have further thoughts on this issue.

Thanks.

Adrian

So where do I stand now? Well, I think that either some/most ticket reps were misinformed on the 3% increase, or they misinformed us… intentional or not.

The high price of the friendly does still frustrate me b/c it seemed to be “hidden” at least until a lot of us started questioning the price. But the reason behind it is understandtable even if you disagree with them doing it.

But most of all, he hit the nail on the head when he noted the poor communication. I can’t speak for all of you, but if I had an email, 2 weeks ago, that said… “Hey STH, here is what you can expect over the next few weeks. You will be getting a renewal email asking you to renew. You should expect your ticket price for MLS will be “X”, and the friendly, of which we think is going to be a huge event will be “Y” (but if you really don’t want it you can opt out). We hope you renew and thank you for your support”…. well I think that this becomes mostly a non-issue.

Hope that brings some clarity. I appreciate his response, and I hope the communication to the STH’s on whole is as good or better. Let’s hope they have learned from this.

I for one am done on the topic and am focusing on Sunday.

1. Our prices increased (I am certain we are grandfathered in for next year)

2. We are being asked to pay for 2 extra games… from 18 up to 20

3. I am really bad at math

I am unable to call my rep and dig in at this immediate moment. Anyone know?

** update. Talked to my ticket rep and there was indeed an increase in ticket prices. I swear that lock was for 3 years… and most of the people I am talking too are agreeing with me.

** 2nd update – Dave, over at goalseattle has been doing his best to get to the bottom of this. He does a good job of deciphering what he does know here.

If the 3% increase is indeed true, then the ticket brokers lied to many of us. And that doesn’t excuse the fact that they are hiding the increase in a FORCED friendly. This still reaks of Fuzzy math. I am going to reserve more judgement at this point until this is fully cleared up and communicated. I have been told to expect an email from the FO soon, explaining all of this. But not looking good at this point.

You can also call your ticket rep. Like I did. Although he didn’t sound terribly happy and did try to direct me to the TicketMaster site, after a bit of grumbling (“But Will, we both know TicketMaster sucks”) he gave me what I needed.

Good luck!

According to Josh Mayers of the Times and confirmed by Sounders FC Ticketing, approximately 4,000 additional seats have been made available for the US Open Cup Final between Sounders FC and the Columbus Crew.

The current seating will be set at a little more than 32,000 in the same configuration as the First Kick.

Where to Buy Tickets???

• Tickets start at $15 and are available on Ticketmaster.
• However, the secondary market sees great value for sub-$20 tickets on StubHub
• the Season Ticket Holder Resale Marketplace has tickets under $20.

The match will be on October 12th at Qwest Field.

Tickets are priced from $35 to $125.